Kwame Kilpatrick

[Bubba Wheels]

Mayor of Detroit discusses his recent scandal. http://youtube.com/watch?v=0_ZevFbcIIo

[JonInMiddleGA]

Wasn't he just traded to the Grizzlies in the Gasol deal?

[Young Drachma]

I saw this yesterday. What a disaster that whole text-gate thing has become. As if Detroit needed more credibility problems. But he's just the beneficiary of nepotism, so...I don't know why anyone expected him to ever be anything other than a cheap shill for the status quo.

[TLK]

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[Abe Sargent]

Kwame is as dirty as Nixon but not as good an administrator.

[cartman]

Wasn't he just traded to the Grizzlies in the Gasol deal?

There's a can't miss high school prospect that Detroit should elect with the 2010 pick they get from the Lakers. He's won both his class presidency elections, and swept the state debate meets. He might have troubles qualifying with his low ACT scores, but his handlers are working on addressing that.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Detroit deserves much, much better than the fraud currently referred to as a "mayor."

[Drake]

Kwame Kilpatrick has to be one of the oddest colineation of names in political history. It always makes me giggle.

[Abe Sargent]

Detroit deserves much, much better than the fraud currently referred to as a "mayor."

Not when they chose not to vote for Hendrix they don't. After four years of Kwame, they knew who he was, and chose to keep him.

[BigDawg]

Yup the whole thing is sad, as I sit here and watch the city go down the drain. The prople is the people their just keep voting for this idiot. It goes on and on they sit their and spout off... " were not gona let whitey who lives in the suberbs tell us what to do" when it has nothing to do with that but the city goverment plays along as they suck everything out of the city they can.

They pick the pockets of Detroiters from behind as they look and shake their fingers at the white suberbs...LOL

[Bubba Wheels]

Not when they chose not to vote for Hendrix they don't. After four years of Kwame, they knew who he was, and chose to keep him.

So true, so true. You get what you pay for, and Detroit has chosen to pay for Kwame for years to come.

[Shkspr]

Kwame Kilpatrick has to be one of the oddest colineation of names in political history. It always makes me giggle.

He's Black Irish.

Reeeally Black Irish.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Not when they chose not to vote for Hendrix they don't. After four years of Kwame, they knew who he was, and chose to keep him.

I believe the vote was rigged. All the polls showed Hendrix on top while Kilpatrick stayed almost too confident. Then a pile of votes happened to come in, with some question as to whether many of those casting ballots were deceased. Kilpatrick then claimed "God" put him back in office... Hmmm...

Hendrix also ran an awful campaign, allowing Kilpatrick to cast him as the choice of the suburbs (while Kilpatrick pulled in a lot of cash from suburban sources.) It's too bad that Ken Cockrel doesn't run against him.

[DeToxRox]

Here's the problem in Detroit.

There's a HUGE population there who love Kwame for being against the Burbs. They feel these stories are attacks by the white media on a black man with power. Dennis Archer wasn't very liked in Detroit because this section of people felt like he was in it for the white man and he's the best mayor the city has seen in ages.

Until this us vs them mentality is stopped, Detroit is in trouble.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Here's the problem in Detroit.

There's a HUGE population there who love Kwame for being against the Burbs. They feel these stories are attacks by the white media on a black man with power. Dennis Archer wasn't very liked in Detroit because this section of people felt like he was in it for the white man and he's the best mayor the city has seen in ages.

Until this us vs them mentality is stopped, Detroit is in trouble.

This attitude is a two-way street. How is the population of a city supposed to embrace suburbanites who hate the city and its inhabitants? Kilpatrick thrives off this divide while playing both sides against each other.

Detroit needs leadership that is willing to deal with the suburbs, but not at the expense of the city. Detroit needs a leader who can unite a majority of Detroiters in making the city live up to the potential it has, not down to the level which it has been cast. Detroit is not the problem. Detroiters are not the problem. The problem is the economic depression which Detroit faces, and a true leader would do a great deal in leading the most populated city in the state in rebuilding itself into the great city it could be.

[Passacaglia]

Kwame Kilpatrick has to be one of the oddest colineation of names in political history. It always makes me giggle.

It's still a better name than "Gil Hill"

[JonInMiddleGA]

Until this us vs them reality is stopped, Detroit is in trouble.

Fixed that for you.

(and that's certainly not a situation I'd limit to Detroit, just sayin' ...)

[Young Drachma]

This attitude is a two-way street. How is the population of a city supposed to embrace suburbanites who hate the city and its inhabitants? Kilpatrick thrives off this divide while playing both sides against each other.


Though the whole city v. suburban thing quite as huge a deal (though, it's close)...Sharpe James in Newark,NJ managed to do the same thing for decades in a state that's corrupt as hell to begin with.

Now that he was finally disposed of and Cory Booker (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/02/AR2006070200814.html) was elected, the city still faces the same problems as before, but the tide is slowly but surely changing in a city that still has a lot to do with itself to get better and has a lot of the problems (though more acute and it's not as isolated as Detroit is relative to Newark being in the shadows of NYC), but make no mistake that New Jersey folks treat the place the same way and so, it'll take ages before the city restores what was once a proud face.

But...at least they were able to dispose of their big boss and didn't replace him with a silver spooned son of a politician who wanted to continue business as usual and actually got a guy who didn't need the job, but rather, wanted it.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Wasn't he just traded to the Grizzlies in the Gasol deal?
I know I'm a couple of days late, but I was coming into this thread to post exactly that.

[Schmidty]

This attitude is a two-way street. How is the population of a city supposed to embrace suburbanites who hate the city and its inhabitants? Kilpatrick thrives off this divide while playing both sides against each other.

Why shouldn't suburanites (and the rest of Michigan) hate them? They've run the city (and the entire state) into the fucking ground.

Detroit needs to learn about a little thing called personal responsibility, and stop being a bunch of fucking pussy-ass whiners.

[M GO BLUE!!!]

Why shouldn't suburanites (and the rest of Michigan) hate them? They've run the city (and the entire state) into the fucking ground.

Detroit needs to learn about a little thing called personal responsibility, and stop being a bunch of fucking pussy-ass whiners.

Who ran the city and the rest of the state into the ground? The people who were left in an economic vacuum, or the people that ran for the suburbs (selling their homes at ridiculously low rates to real estate prospectors) rather than live in a neighborhood with a black family? It's a lot easier to blame the people left to clean up a problem than to blame our parents.

The current state of Detroit is due to a complex combination of circumstances (which I do not have time to delve into at this hour...) Governmental policy, real estate swindlers, the automobile industry, political corruption/stagnation and good old fashioned racial prejudice all have a hand in tearing apart a fine city.

But please do not place the blame solely on the shoulders of Detroiters. They are the least of the problems Detroit has had to endure. They are still there.

[JonInMiddleGA]

They are still there.

Which is the biggest problem Detroit has.

By golly, I believe we're right back where this conversation begins.

[Passacaglia]

Who ran the city and the rest of the state into the ground? The people who were left in an economic vacuum, or the people that ran for the suburbs (selling their homes at ridiculously low rates to real estate prospectors) rather than live in a neighborhood with a black family? It's a lot easier to blame the people left to clean up a problem than to blame our parents.

The current state of Detroit is due to a complex combination of circumstances (which I do not have time to delve into at this hour...) Governmental policy, real estate swindlers, the automobile industry, political corruption/stagnation and good old fashioned racial prejudice all have a hand in tearing apart a fine city.

But please do not place the blame solely on the shoulders of Detroiters. They are the least of the problems Detroit has had to endure. They are still there.

But "white flight" to the suburbs is a problem that a lot of cities have had to deal with -- it's not like Detroit was alone in that.

[Young Drachma]

Who ran the city and the rest of the state into the ground? The people who were left in an economic vacuum, or the people that ran for the suburbs (selling their homes at ridiculously low rates to real estate prospectors) rather than live in a neighborhood with a black family? It's a lot easier to blame the people left to clean up a problem than to blame our parents.

The current state of Detroit is due to a complex combination of circumstances (which I do not have time to delve into at this hour...) Governmental policy, real estate swindlers, the automobile industry, political corruption/stagnation and good old fashioned racial prejudice all have a hand in tearing apart a fine city.

But please do not place the blame solely on the shoulders of Detroiters. They are the least of the problems Detroit has had to endure. They are still there.

This is a problem duplicated in cities across America and I'm glad you said it, because I was thinking about, but didn't want to go there.

The chronic mismanagement and victimization of people in the cities by their "own people" is really the shame of it. It's the whole "us against them" mentality that's exacerbated the situation in recent years, but even with well-intentioned people at the helm, it's very difficult to fix a problem that people created decades ago with flawed policies and de facto segregation of poor people into enclaves of their own in cities.

There is more than enough blame to go around, but I do think one of the worst explained phenomenon of the late 20th century is the death of the city and how it happened. The rise of power changed hands and rather powershare and foster the sort of growth and prosperity that could've benefited everybody, folks took their toys and went to the boons to create their idyllic enclaves that were free of the "scourge of the uncouth" that were in the cities.

But in recent years, poor management and third-world governments have been permitted to operate their fiefdoms without any real check from the state who permits this ridiculousness to happen. Realistically is there anything they could do? Who knows? Throwing a few corrupt politicians in jail would only incite the "us against them" masses and "activists" who break windows in their own communities and then get mad because it's that way.

I think that the absence of feeling empowered leaves people in a state of perpetual desperation and leaves those who angle for power in a position to "play the game the way it's played" or who eventually get blinded by their own ambitions and eventually disillusioned by the muck of inner-city politics.

Or maybe that's too much infusion of my own story into this post.

I was going to rant about the whole idea of an "ownership society" and the talk that hasn't been met with action by the GOP seeking an inroads, but I do think that the revitalization (not gentrification, but actual renaissance) of these communities represent the next big financial growth opportunity. Not just in real estate, but in a wealth of other areas.

People are already discovering it in other parts of the country, but I think the whole decline of industrial centres and diversifying them through a mix of entrepreneurial spirit, creativity and passion for place will be the way that they eventually turn the tide. And once it turns, people will swear it's a "miracle" and all of that, but...it's not something I see happening through public-sector projects alone, it has to come from a desire and an embrace of the private sector to recognize and appreciate the need for metropolitan cities to thrive and succeed.

[BigDawg]

Who ran the city and the rest of the state into the ground? The people who were left in an economic vacuum, or the people that ran for the suburbs (selling their homes at ridiculously low rates to real estate prospectors) rather than live in a neighborhood with a black family? It's a lot easier to blame the people left to clean up a problem than to blame our parents.

The current state of Detroit is due to a complex combination of circumstances (which I do not have time to delve into at this hour...) Governmental policy, real estate swindlers, the automobile industry, political corruption/stagnation and good old fashioned racial prejudice all have a hand in tearing apart a fine city.

But please do not place the blame solely on the shoulders of Detroiters. They are the least of the problems Detroit has had to endure. They are still there.


Sorry they didn't flee so they didn't have to live next to blacks, they left because the jobs left to Troy, Auburn Hills, ect. You also find blacks leaving the city to follow the jobs/money as well. Colman Young to Kwame ... 30+ years of not addressing the neighborhoods of Detroit that are in shambles, who wants to live in a place where 1 out of every 4 houses on a block are abandoned rats nests? Garbage picks up , city services crap.

Downtown is a nice area with the water front, casinos, parks, greektown, ect but not a penny has been spent outside of that. Do you realize their isn't a movie theater or even a frickin grocery store in the area's people live?

[miami_fan]

Judge orders Detroit mayor jailed - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/08/07/mayor.jailed.ap/index.html)

DETROIT, Michigan (AP) -- A federal judge ordered Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to jail Thursday for violating the terms of his bond in his perjury case, a decision the judge said he would have made for any "John Six-Pack" defendant before him.

The mayor made an unauthorized trip to Canada last month, leading the county prosecutor's office to request Kilpatrick be punished and triggering the judge's ruling.

Only minutes earlier, the mayor offered an apology to the court, telling Giles that for seven months, "I've been living in an incredible state of pressure and scrutiny."

But Giles sent the mayor to jail anyway, telling him he would have given any defendant the same treatment.

"What matters to me though is how the court overall is perceived and how if it was not Kwame Kilpatrick sitting in that seat, if it was John Six-Pack sitting in that seat, what would I do? And that answer is simple," he said.

"The judge did what he thought was right. We don't agree," said defense lawyer James Thomas

Earlier Thursday, Kilpatrick waived his right to a preliminary examination and will head to trial on perjury and other criminal charges that could land him in prison for up to 15 years.

[molson]

If "John Six-Pack" isn't a legal term it should be.

[flere-imsaho]

Only minutes earlier, the mayor offered an apology to the court, telling Giles that for seven months, "I've been living in an incredible state of pressure and scrutiny."

He shouldn't have run for mayor, then. :)

If "John Six-Pack" isn't a legal term it should be.

Agreed, though I always thought it was "Joe Six Pack". :)

[Abe Sargent]

I watch the local Fox news at 5, and I swear there's a new Kwame is an Asshole update every day, with something new he's done, whether its cussing at photogs or assaulting a police officer distributing supeneas, it is always something new.

[Young Drachma]

Why is that crook STILL officially "the mayor?"

[Honolulu_Blue]

Why is that crook STILL officially "the mayor?"

He will not go quietly into that goodnight.

Cold dead hands and all...

[Greyroofoo]

Lack of Convictions perhaps?

[JPhillips]

Will he still be able to play for the Pistons?

[CamEdwards]

He will not go quietly into that goodnight.

Cold dead hands and all...

Hey, mind the Heston reference! :p Kilpatrick actually belongs to Mike Bloomberg's anti-gun mayor's group (and Bloomie hasn't kicked him out despite Kwame's legal troubles).

[thesloppy]

Ha-Ha! Yo game is way on, baby.

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[Senator]

This guy is a train wreck. First rate entertainment, courtesy of the good citizens of Detroit.

[Greyroofoo]

That guy is a wonderful voice actor

[Young Drachma]

That guy is a wonderful voice actor

He makes it worth listening to, for sure.

[JPhillips]

Ha Ha.

[thesloppy]

"Helllllll yeah."

[wade moore]

Voice Actor definitely makes this.

[Passacaglia]

Ha ha. Jerry Maguire was in 1996, bitch!!

[flere-imsaho]

That clip is full of win. :D

[Honolulu_Blue]

So, working in Detroit, I get daily emails from "Crain's Detroit Business", a local business magazine.

I have received two "BREAKING NEWS" emails already this morning.

The first "BREAKING NEWS" email read:

"An appeals judge has changed the terms of the ruling that sent Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to jail for a bond violation."

(The judge said that the circuit judge should have considered other alternatives before sending the Mayor to jail for the night. He did change that conditions of his bond as follows: the new bond includes a $50,000 cash bond, a complete ban on travel, and an electronic tether. That's our mayor.)

The second "BREAKING NEWS" email (received approximately 12 minutes later) read:

"Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox has charged Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick with assault in connection with a confrontation between Kilpatrick and a sheriff's detective."

Wheeeeee!

[thesloppy]

DAMN THAT! NEVER BUSTED! HA-HA!

[fantom1979]

http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/rids/20080808/i/r3477727916.jpg?x=250&y=345&sig=bgW2KqRTy3tL9zvAFZ1Bjg--


The charges are starting to pile up

[fantom1979]

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"Who cares if he is banging Christine Beatty on the side, even though she looks like Scotty Pippen."

classic

[Senator]

He is starting to remind me of a fake ass Idi Amin.

[Honolulu_Blue]

He is starting to remind me of a fake ass Idi Amin.

Kwame coming back to work after spending the night in jail...

file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Peter/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-5.jpgfile:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Peter/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/moz-screenshot-6.jpg
http://cmsimg.freep.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=C4&Date=20080808&Category=NEWS01&ArtNo=80808064&Ref=AR&Profile=1003&MaxW=550&MaxH=650&title=0

[JPhillips]

He is starting to remind me of a fake ass Idi Amin.

There's nothing to worry about until he starts eating people.

[fantom1979]

Might be headed back to jail

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080810/NEWS01/80810051

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick violated the terms of his bond by spending time at his mother’s house in Detroit on Saturday while his sister, a witness in an assault case against him, was there, a spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office said Sunday.



State lawyers will take action Monday in 36th District Court, according to Rusty Hills, a spokesman for Attorney General Mike Cox.

Ayanna Kilpatrick, the mayor’s sister, was present when Kwame Kilpatrick allegedly pushed Wayne County Sheriff’s Detective Brian White into JoAnn Kinney, an investigator for the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, while White and Kinney were attempting to serve a subpoena to Bobby Ferguson, one of the mayor’s friends.

Also present were his brother-in-law and officers in his security detail. The incident happened July 24 at Ayanna Kilpatrick’s home in Detroit.

Cox charged Kwame Kilpatrick with two counts of felonious assault in the case.
“The order’s clear,” Hills said. “There’s not supposed to be contact. There was contact.”

Hills declined to say what bond modification the office was going to request. During a hearing in 36th District Court on Friday, Magistrate Renee McDuffee set Kilpatrick’s bond in the assault case at 10% of $25,000, or $2,500, after he spent a night in the Wayne County Jail for violating the terms of his bond in a perjury and obstruction of justice case.

Marcus Reese, a spokesman for the mayor, denied that Kilpatrick did anything wrong. He said defense attorney James Thomas clarified with McDuffee that Kilpatrick could associate with his sister, his brother-in-law and his bodyguards.

“We think the attorney general” is “more interested in political grandstanding here, than in truly trying the facts of case,” Reese said.

Hills would not comment on reports that Detroit police Sgt. Jefferson Travis, a member of the mayor’s security detail, who is also a witness in the case, was at the home of the mayor’s mother, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Detroit.

[fantom1979]

Mayor Kilpatrick's attorney asks about pardon from Granholm

Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's General Counsel Sharon McPhail on Wednesday sent a letter to Gov. Jennifer Granholm's attorney Thursday suggesting that Granholm offer to pardon Kilpatrick on criminal charges in exchange for his testimony at the Sept. 3 removal hearing.
In a previous letter, McPhail had asked Granholm's staff if immunity would be available to Kilpatrick if he testified. But Granholm's attorney Kelly Keenan responded saying Granholm didn't have the power to grant immunity in a criminal case.
McPhail argues that Granholm can't hold an administrative hearing while criminal charges are pending and inquire about the facts surrounding the charges if immunity is not offered.
She argued in the letter again that Granholm should hold off on the hearings until Kilpatrick's criminal charges are resolved. She said she will file motions arguing that the hearings should be delayed.