Detroit's youngest mayor is now the first to leave office in disgrace. In a plea deal made Sept. 4, Kilpatrick pled guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice, admitting to perjury during a civil trial last year, and during a 2004 deposition.
He will leave office no later than Sept. 18; surrender his law license; serve four months in the Wayne County Jail; serve five years probation (during which time he can neither seek nor hold elected office); and pay up to $1 million in restitution. He must also surrender his state pension (he hadn't been mayor long enough to earn a city pension), which will be applied toward the $1 million. Kilpatrick had been a state legislator before being elected mayor.
Kilpatrick also pled no contest to a charge filed by Attorney General Mike Cox that in July he'd shoved a sheriff's detective attempting to serve a subpoena.
He will be sentenced Oct. 28.
Comments
Comment #1
(Posted by Skeo) Rating
Thank you Ms. Kim Worthy and everyone in the Detroit Prosecutors Office along with Governor Jennifer Grandholm who, at last, made kk tell the truth. Justice will prevail! KK, family and friends should have stepped down 9 months ago.
Comment #2
(Posted by W. Martin) Rating
Well, I for one think this entire issue was borderline foolish. The people of Detroit need to get their minds on the real issues which only keep getting worse. Our schools are sub-below the national standard, our children can't read... Our city is divided and the divide can only be worsened by the removal of Mayor Kilpatrick, there are no jobs, and the governor continues to allow our insurance rates to be one of the highest in the nation. Yet you applaud this woman? To borrow Mr. Cosby's phrase, "COME ON PEOPLE"! Next the water will be removed from our control along with the school system. Their are no longer any jobs, especially for our youth. Eventually all of the blacks will be forced to leave Detroit because there are no jobs for us? When the Mayor is long gone you will no longer be able to blame him. Blame yourselves for not getting up off your seat and making a real difference in your own community. It was said best, people im Detroit are stupid. We love to gossip and we love to be abused. We are not imfomred of the real essence of an issue and we believe everything we're told. We are book lazy and pushovers at best. We have no loyalty especially to ourselves. We allow outsiders to dictate our destiny instead of taking charge of our lives and situations. Why is it we believe only white people know the best path for our lives? Why do we think the only group who can lead us is whites? You have allowed media outlets to pump the nonense for eight months, non-stop about an affair, the lying of the affair, yet the real story is about a lawyer who was interested in being paid so he used the text messages as a weapon to bring down the Mayor. You see the lawyer, Stefani will walk away richer on your tax paying dollars, yet no one has ever raised his conduct as an issue, only the Mayor's. It's a sad day because we never learn. This situation has been unfolding for a long time. The truth is there are no accidents, every thing is relative. Detroit, stop looking for someone to blame and look at yourself. Do you really think other communities would allow their insurance rates to continue to spiral upwards and applaud the very govenor who decides to take charge of removing Kilpatrick yet do nothing about our insurance rates, health insurance, foreclosures, etc. Wake UP! This has nothing really to do about Kilpatrick, this is about your future. Will Detroit ever get it? My guess is NO! You will when your forced to leave the state, then you'll get it!
W. Martin
Detroit
Comment #3
(Posted by KWT) Rating
It amazes me that people will come up with outrageous conspiracy theories to defend Kwame Kilpatrick. Don't get it twisted. Kwame has no one to blame but himself. He has blamed everyone including, the media, the governor, the City Council, the white man, the prosecutor and anyone who does not agree with his agenda. As far as Mike Stefani, he went to work for his clients to ensure a just settlement, as any good attorney should. During last night's exit speech Kwame showed his true colors; he is only concerned about himself and not the citizens of Detroit. If nothing was ever reported by the media, it does not change the fact that he lied under oath during the whistle blower trial and committed perjury. He has done nothing but lie to the public regarding this trial and was caught in everyone. Kwame deserves everything coming to him.
Comment #4
(Posted by Sayeed Mulagata) Rating
Brother Martin:
The purpose of having Black elected officials is not to win arguments with the white press. The purpose of having Black elected officials is to provide services to the poor and working class people who make up the population of the City of Detroit. Kwame Kilpatrick was not elected so that he could use use tax money to hide evidence of his affairs. What is foolish is the idea that we waited 8 months for Kwame to resign when he should have done this as soon as the text were made public. I agree that we shouldn't let outsiders dictate to us. In fact Detroiters should have led the charge to rid ourselves of Kwame so that we could concentrate on those issues that you list. As far as loosing the Water Department goes remember that Kwame's appointee was pushing privitization of a number of services that are now performed by union employees. Furthermore he ordered the cutoff of water services to 46,000 poor folks in Detroit.
Brother Martin if you loved Black people you would not ask us to keep this Brother in office. If you loved him you wouldn't want to let him drive his self off of a cliff.
Comment #5
(Posted by T. Jackson) Rating
Forget Kwame. I cant believe the Chronicle actually did a story on the Mayor resigning.For such a major story over the last 8 months, how can a hometown black newspaper justify their complete lack of any significant coverage? My people, my people, my people! I wonder if the mayor was white........... hmmmmmmm.........
Comment #6
(Posted by alonzo maleek) Rating
I don't hear people like Karen Dumas now....I wonder what she is feeding her young daughter about Kwame at this juncture - "it's all a conspiracy". All these folks who followed him blindly or worse yet supported him due to financial considerations need to put their ego's aside and inform our young people of the pitfalls awaiting those like Kilpatrick.
Comment #7
(Posted by JerryM) Rating
I object to anyone who thinks this was about an affair. Or text messages.
This is about a man who made a mistake. A forgivable mistake. But then made it worse by firing two cops to cover it up. Then he lied about covering it up. Then he paid 8 million dollars of city money....money that could've paid for police, books, street lights, to keep a forgivable mistake covered up.
The only guilty person here is Kwame for letting a small personal mistake affect two career policeman and an entire city.
Put it another way...your next door neighbor's kid accidentally throws a ball and breaks your window. Option (1) he owns up, apologizes, and gets in a little bit a of trouble. Option (2) he beats up a kid who witnessed it, and steals from his dad's wallet to fix the broken window.
Which is the right choice? Which is the choice you'd want your own son to make? And would it really matter if the friend who saw the whole thing go down were white, black, or whatever?
JM
Comment #8
(Posted by KWT) Rating
This was not just a little mistake as stated in a previous post. Stealing 8.4 million from your employer to CYA in a whistle blower lawsuit is a serious crime. What would happen if you stole 8.4 mil from your employer? Better yet, if you are a business owner, what would you do if one of your employees stole $8.4 million dollars from you? Would you allow them to continue as an employee of your firm? Would you just pray for them and let them continue to handle your money? Or, would you take the appropriate action and fire them on the spot and file charges against them to try to recover your loses. What Kwame Kilpatrick did was not kid's play. I am glad that Kym Worthy had the character and integrity to file charges against him. This whole fiasco could have been taken care of back in 2003 when those police officers were harassed and lost their jobs. The stubbornness and arrogance of Kwame cost this city $8.4 million and lawyer fees close to another $1 million.
Comment #9
(Posted by Lawrence Daniels) Rating
This comment goes to W. Martin of Detroit.
You sound more like Kwame in your attack of the governor and using scare tactics against Detroit citizens. Kwame has told anyone who would listen that the "man" was out to get him and if we let it happen we would suffer for it. He has told us that they would take the water and eventually the whole city. But it is Kwame who tried to sell every city property that is not nailed down (i,e parks, buildings, land, the tunnel and parts of Belle Isle.)
I agree that there are things that the citizens could do to help the city but when there is a lack of integrity and honesty in leadership, the citizens are fighting a losing battle. The reason that insurance rates are so high is because of crime in the city. The reason crime is so high is because of the lack of police presence in the neighborhoods; and that can be directly attributed to Kwame closing all the neighborhood precints.
I for one am tired of paying taxes to a city that gives little in return. Street lights are out. Water runs freely in the street. The grass on the lodge and 96 local hasnt been cut in months. All people want to talk about is downtown development but that does not benefit the residents of Detroit. We want clean and safe streets. We want police, fire and EMS response in a timely manner. We want infrastructure that works. Ice rinks, river walks and festivals are nice but it doesnt improve the everday life of the average Detroiter.
So the accomplishments that Kwame laid out mean very little to me as a Detroiter if the rest of the city continues to crumble.
So when you go and defend Kwame you should check his whole track record and not lean on the weak argument that its the white peoples fault that Kwame is out of office.
He broke the law and he is paying the price.
Comment #10
(Posted by an unknown user) Rating
Mr. Thompson,
Detroit = Kwame Malik Kilpatrick = Michigan Chronicle
Comment #11
(Posted by W. Martin) Rating
Obviously you are in the dark. Think about it, if this case went to trial there are many questions that would have been answered. Was there a party? Who was at the party? How were the text messages given to the Free Press... Are these rumors or facts? Don't you want to know the truth as to what happened? I do! So my friend, Kwame was removed however we lost the war. In realistic terms Kilpatrick had to resign because with the over kill of media coverage there simply was no way due process would've been fair. Under our Constitution a guarantee right every citizen in America is entitled to is a right to due process. That also includes you! Of course the Mayor was wrong and he made many mistakes! However he doesn't stand alone. The city council rubber stamped every initiative he presented, they passed it. Also the spending habits of this administration continued to go unchecked by the council when they said they would demand review every month. What happened to their review process? More lies, it all political. Only recently was the audit of spending brought up again when we were told they would review every month. The council lied and yet you want to blame only the Mayor. If the government process really worked in Detroit none of this would have occurred. There has never been a real check and balance between the council and the Mayor. This is why our neighborhoods are in trouble. To me there needs to be a clean sweep and it won't happen. You all seen content that Kwame Kilpatrick is gone however you're content the next Mayor's chief of staff is filmed receiving a bribe for a contract. COME ON PEOPLE! So if you think removing the Mayor will make things better, think again. So don't be concerned if I am supporting Kwame Kilpatrick, not so! I for one saw this coming for a long time, many of you didn't. I support the truth and the process. One more point, if you think the changes needed in Detroit will begin with a Mayor, forget it. Change will only happen when the PEOPLE make it happen. How can we make change when we really don't know the truth. Guess what, if the truth be told we really don't care what the truth is. No one has raised any questions about the filmed bribe? Why not! Another cover-up? So Mr. Cockrel is your next Mayor? So the soap opera is not over, "As The World Turns" goes on, and on! W. Martin
