Kirkpatrick Charges

Looks like Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is getting formally charges with "misconduct in office, obstruction of justice, conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice and perjury" including charges of "authorizing the city of Detroit to settle an $8.4 million lawsuit with several former police officers “with the corrupt motive” of preventing the release of text messages which would have revealed that he had lied under oath in the case." This, unlike last week's city council vote, may actually get the dude out of office.

The city of Detroit is obviously facing structural problems that go beyond any one person's conduct, but this sort of corruption among public officials doesn't help. Meanwhile, at the bottom of this post, Dave Weigel notes some Royce-esque re-election icononography.

Comments

I believe that Granholm has the power to remove Kwame from office. I wish she would pull the damn trigger already, despite the fact that Kilpatrick still has fairly strong support in the CoD.

Posted by yoyoyo | March 24, 2008 4:55 PM

He needs to resign, but it sounds like he wishes to fight this out until the bitter end. I do not agree with yoyo that Granholm should remove him. That would just serve to make him a martyr.

Posted by bperk | March 24, 2008 5:02 PM

As I understand it, Michigan's term limits prevent Granholm from running for another term, so I don't understand why she wouldn't pull the trigger and remove him. He makes all Democrats look bad, with his machine style corrupt politics.

Posted by freddiemac | March 24, 2008 5:02 PM

Granholm won't do it. Despite the fact that Kwame is an unbelievable shitbag, the act of a white governor intervening to remove a race card playing black mayor won't go over too well in Detroit. She's already made some fairly unpopular moves recently, and she may not have the "political capital" to do this at this time.

Remember, this guy...somehow...got re-elected, so he still has some fairly strong support in the city. The race carding he engages in only cements it.

Posted by DDP | March 24, 2008 5:02 PM

That your latest typo appears in the blue underlined hyperlinked text makes it particularly difficult to ignore.

It should be "formally charged," not "formally charges"

Posted by MY strikes again | March 24, 2008 5:03 PM

Granholm won't do it. Despite the fact that Kwame is an unbelievable shitbag, the act of a white governor intervening to remove a race card playing black mayor won't go over too well in Detroit. She's already made some fairly unpopular moves recently, and she may not have the "political capital" to do this at this time.

Remember, this guy...somehow...got re-elected, so he still has some fairly strong support in the city. The race carding he engages in only cements it.

Posted by DDP | March 24, 2008 5:05 PM

He needs to resign, but it sounds like he wishes to fight this out until the bitter end. I do not agree with yoyo that Granholm should remove him. That would just serve to make him a martyr.

Posted by bperk | March 24, 2008 5:05 PM

Maybe there could be a reality show staring Eliot Spitzer and Kwame Kilpatrick, and a few other disgraced pols. They could travel around the country in a van (Kwame would drive) solving problems for ordinary folks, like The A-Team. Depending on the situation, one or another of the disgraced pols would take the lead. Say one of your underlings at the office forgot to put a coversheet on his TPS report -- Kilpatrick could close-line him, office linebacker style. If your mutual fund tanked, Spitzer could threaten to find and publicize their regulatory infractions unless they made you whole.

Posted by Fred | March 24, 2008 5:28 PM

Fred:

I like your idea about the reality show, but wasn't Kwame already on The Apprentice? I thought he should have won that season.

Posted by laborlibert | March 24, 2008 5:32 PM

why does Kwame drive, Fred?

Posted by Ben Cronin | March 24, 2008 7:29 PM

"why does Kwame drive, Fred?"

Same reason that Mr.T drove in The A-Team.

Posted by Fred | March 24, 2008 9:01 PM

Impressive performance today by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy. Rave Reviews all around:

http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/OPINION01/303240007

Posted by JB2 | March 24, 2008 9:53 PM

Coincidentally, there's going to be an A-Team movie in 2009, directed by John Singleton: "The A-Team Countdown Begins". Those of you too young to remember this show, missed out on some unique aspects of this classic '80s show:

It featured copious gunfire, but no one ever got shot.

The members of the A-Team were frequently locked up, but the bad guys would stupidly lock them up in industrial garages/metalworking shops. The A-Team would build a makeshift tank out of scraps and breakout.

Posted by Fred | March 24, 2008 11:20 PM

laborlibert,

I didn't see it. Was there a fellow on the show who looked like Kilpatrick?

Posted by Fred | March 25, 2008 1:26 AM

Fred:

No, there was a contestant named Kwame, and mine was a poor joke about how white people (like me) can't tell the difference between one black person and the next, particularly where they share a name.

Posted by laborlibert | March 25, 2008 11:11 AM