Much of history is all about moments in time and in this politically charged era, where black America stands on the precipice of possibility; Detroit's hip-hop Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is not doing anyone any favors.
The time has finally come for the lid to be blown off this case of 'textual healing,' (or text-gate if you're so inclined) and truth be told, it's not looking too good for the 38-year-old mayor of the country's most dangerous city. Today, the prosecutor, Kym Worthy, announced to a packed news conference that she is charging Kilpatrick with eight felonies and his former aide Christine Beatty with seven.
On the very basic level, it sounds like Kwame is guilty of perjury. Yes, the p-word which has made a name for itself by making many-a-corrupt exec shed a tear, throwing Marion Jones, and Scooter Libby in the slammer and making baseball pariahs Roger Clemons and (to a lesser extent) Barry Bonds cringe as they fight their losing battles, to name a few of its victims.
His attorney, Dan Webb is convinced otherwise as he states the questions asked were "too ambiguous." Of course translated, it sounds more like "my client may of may not have had a romantic relationship but he's just trying to save his ass and ya'll just didn't ask the right questions."
It's terrible that Kwame cheated on his wife and his infidelity was duly noted. But should he leave office? That's something that's at least debatable depending on which image of your politician that you choose to swallow and more importantly it's not the issue at hand.
In January, Kwame appeared on television with his apology game in full-effect and the requisite "stern-looking wife-who-acts-like-she-really-needs-to-be-there" swag in tow.
The perjury charges accuses the two (Kilpatrick and Beatty) of lying during a whistle-blower lawsuit about the firing of Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown and about their romantic relationship. The three officers, supposedly doing their duties were fired under suspicious circumstances.
Despite the false testimony, a Wayne County Circuit Court jury last September awarded Brown and Nelthrope $6.5 million in damages. Kilpatrick vowed to appeal, but on Oct. 17, abruptly decided to settle the case and a second police whistle-blower suit involving former mayoral bodyguard Walt Harris for $8.4 million – $9 million with legal costs.
Kilpatrick settled after the cops' lawyer, Mike Stefani, informed the mayor's lawyer that he had the incriminating text messages and would reveal them in court papers he planned to file to justify his request for legal fees in the whistle-blower case.
In what may have been the political move of the year, incumbent New York Governor, David Patterson set the tone by outing himself before the wolves came calling.
Now if only Eliot Spitzer had solicited a prostitute before Kwame was busted maybe he would have been able to take some notes from David Patterson and put his laundry out. But he didn't and now his drawers are all over town.
Like your average politician who gets caught with his pants down (literally and figuratively), the first thing that came to Kwame's mind was deny, deny and deny some more. All in hopes that with enough legal savvy, you can preserve your selfish hold on power. Um, just for the record, the justice department does not play.
If nothing else, his textual antics have taken sexual scandal into the digital age meaning similar to what Barack Obama is doing for the election, Kwame has done for political sex scandals... thanks for that.
But who knows, maybe Kwame will catch a break like this guy
But I wouldn't bet on it.
Kwame Kilpatrick Pictures
** FILE ** Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy addresses the media in her office in Detroit, Friday, Jan. 25, 2008. The investigation into whether Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former top aide committed perjury or other crimes during testimony in a highly publicized whistle-blowers' trial is all part of the job for the Wayne County prosecutor. And she doesn't even consider it the toughest assignment she's had since she's been in the prosecutor's office. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, file)
AP
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick addresses the media during a news conference in Detroit, Tuesday, March 18, 2008. A nearly unified City Council voiced its displeasure with Kilpatrick on Tuesday, calling on the scandal-tainted mayor to resign. A resolution, which passed on a 7-1 vote in the early afternoon, was more of a "no-confidence" vote. The council doesn't have the power to force Kilpatrick to step down. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
AP
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick addresses the media during a news conference in Detroit, Tuesday, March 18, 2008. A nearly unified City Council voiced its displeasure with Kilpatrick on Tuesday, calling on the scandal-tainted mayor to resign. A resolution, which passed on a 7-1 vote in the early afternoon, was more of a "no-confidence" vote. The council doesn't have the power to force Kilpatrick to step down. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
AP
** FILE ** Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox speaks during an interview in this April 11, 2005, file photo, in Lansing, Mich. Cox said Wednesday, March 12, 2008, that Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick should resign because he's a liar and a race-baiter "on par with David Duke and George Wallace," and no longer fit for office. (AP Photo/Al Goldis, file)
AP
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick gives his State of the City address in Detroit, Tuesday, March 11, 2008. A prosecutor says she will announce in two weeks whether she will file perjury charges against the mayor and his former top aide. The case stems from a criminal probe of whether Kilpatrick lied under oath when he denied an affair with former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty that was revealed in the text messages. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
AP
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick gives his seventh State of the City address in Detroit, Michigan, March 11, 2008. Embattled Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick on Tuesday said scandals threatening to derail his second term amounted to a "hate-driven, bigoted assault" against him and vowed to stay in office and fight for sweeping investment plans for the city. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook (UNITED STATES)
Reuters
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick points towards his family before the start of his seventh State of the City address in Detroit, Michigan, March 11, 2008. Embattled Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick on Tuesday said scandals threatening to derail his second term amounted to a "hate-driven, bigoted assault" against him and vowed to stay in office and fight for sweeping investment plans for the city. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook (UNITED STATES)
Reuters
The parents and sister of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (L), Ayanna (C) and Bernard Kilpatrick stand before the start of Mayor Kilpatrick's State of the City address in Detroit, Michigan, March 11, 2008. Embattled Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick on Tuesday said scandals threatening to derail his second term amounted to a "hate-driven, bigoted assault" against him and vowed to stay in office and fight for sweeping investment plans for the city. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook (UNITED STATES)
Reuters
DETROIT - MARCH 11: Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings says the Pledge of Alligiance before Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's State of the City address March 11, 2008 in Detroit, Michigan. Several members of the city council protested the Mayor by sitting in the audience instead of sitting on stage with the Mayor. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
Getty Images
Protestors demonstrate outside of Orchestra Hall where Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was giving his State of the City address March 11, 2008 in Detroit, Michigan. Four members of the nine-member council declined to take their customary seats onstage with the mayor, who is in the midst of a text-messaging scandal involving charges of sexual misconduct and of perjury related to a whistle-blower lawsuit filed by former police officers against the city. Bill Pugliano/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY == (Photo credit should read BILL PUGLIANO/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP/Getty Images


Comments: (99)
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By: Ashley on 3/25/2008 2:22PM
All men, no -- most men have infedelity in their backgrounds. And when confronted,will deny it. That's how most were socialized. Are we now going to go through all their 'love records' and accuse them of perjury. Waste of government's money our taxpayer dollars.
Reporting of these media stories are getting out of hand. First it was the governor of New York. Now "Many affairs" from the new governor of New York and.... now, Kilpatrick.
Unfortunately, we men never learn-- so I look to see other careers destroyed.
That said the media needs to move on to report how we can afford to put more 'bread and meat' on our tables, we are in a recession. Not interested who is committing adultery. ENUU..............ff!
http://manchestersquare.blogspot.com
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By: Shantel Leverson on 3/25/2008 3:02PM
This is just another sign of the time. God has gotten tired and fed up with our "we don't care" attitudes. The bible is fulfilling itself and nothing that we see or hear should shock us but the things that are going on and being exposed is just ridiculus. Corruption has been and will be a part of our country for as long as there is breath on Earth. God is still in control and being exposed is just his way of letting us know that he see and know everything that a man thinks and does before he even do it. Don't be so quick to judge, because trust there is someone out there in the public eye or that is in a postion of power that is doing the exact same thing or worse. We just don't see it, but the one who has the last say about all things knows all things. You can't hide from God! We just have to pray that he keeps us safe,honest, and true to those that have put their trust in us.
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By: Tish on 3/25/2008 3:08PM
Dedrick I hope that you are speaking about all races. This has been going on far to long. From the president to the common Joe. People have taken the word and put it to fit their agenda. It is time to go back to the basics.
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By: Minister D. on 3/25/2008 4:00PM
My God! My God! How could the Detroit News, and, other News Medias be so greedy to just Publish anything just to make 50 cents. These charges have not been proven as yet. Yes! I agree that "He without SIN, cast the first stone". It's God's written WORD. However! Why not be for real and wait for all the facts to be brought up front. It's more that meets the eye than any of us could imagine. Two of Detroit's Police Officiers were placed into a situation where they had to speak up for themselves and their Welfare, and, had no other choice than to seek Legal Council for this "Bad Situation" that they've been faced with. Now! To me that triggered somebody's evil passion to not stop until this situation got to far out of control, it became a situation for Revenge, as if it was a "Rolling Snowball", out of control, hitting some of everyone as it rushes downhill gathering more and more speed, gathering much more buildup,and, making it bigger, and bigger. However! This will come to a complete end, because, Our God in Heaven already knew what would happen before all this mess got out of hand. It seems to me, somebody got very, very angry because of the situation with the Detroit Police Officiers, and, thought maybe they'd get the Mayor back by causing all of this mess to get out of control before they it is corrected by the Law, in the Courts. God Bless these Familys, that's being torn apart by Bad Press, the Media is causing all of this mess to get out of hand, and, Selling Papers with all kinds of Heresys,with added Lies, and, all kinds of mess and heresay from people out there, and, this is not the way things should be handled. Surely! There are many, many more People that Serve in many Positions in almost every City, Federal, State Offices, and,are involved in some kind of wrong doings. We have many, many that are Heart Broken for our Mayor, His Wife, Children, and, All of their entire Family, Friends etc... Also for Christine Beaty's as well. Who can determine what drove them to seek outside Relations, we can't blame the Wife, and, Children, he came before the Media, with His Wife, they asked for THE CITY IF DETROIT's Forgiveness. God Bless their Souls as well as Both their Families, they stuck together because, it's called Unconditional Love for each other. No! Not because he was caught, but because, His Wife made this Statement to the Entire Networks. " I LOVE MY HUSBAND", just as the Mayor of New York, when he was Exposed of "His Sins." His Wife Loves her Husband, and, I'm sure many Husbands or Wifes can make that kind of Confession and, they're not in the Eyes of the "Entire Universe." Thank You!
People! Please have a Heart, this is not helping nobody get any Browny Points. Look at what's happened to these People's Lives, look at what's happening here, and not just continue making these really nasty remarks because, two people has been exsposed to Sins of their Flesh. Did it take the Person who revealed this information to the News and release this kind of mess to cause the State of Michigan and, The City of Detroit to be in such an uproar now? Because a MAYOR has been accused of SIN? NO! To the People who is responsible for all of this they have caused: "YOU All" are not going to go FREE either, now that you've caused so many People Lives to be in Jeopardy, and, so many Families to be torn apart for thinking you had a right to be Wicked and Evil to bring this upon your (OWN SELVES). GOD IS A JUST GOD, and, don't think you are free and will be HAPPY by doing so now. YOUR DAY (IN COURT), will come when the devil do worse upon you for not leaving things up to those who are best at handling situations in the Court of Law. Yes! You exsposed their SIN, but, now what are you Guilty for doing now? God knows every Crooked deed of every one of us, I, You, and everybody that have breath have committed some kind of SIN, be it in the way we think, or in the way we treat others, no matter, SIN is SIN,and, irregardless of who's committing it. God's Word still stands, and, is written in BLOOD, JESUS WENT TO CALVARY'S CROSS for All OUR SINs TO BE WASHED IN HIS BLOOD, and that includes YOU as well. So! Are we really ready to Find Fault in (Anyone Else)? Think of the Sins that's in your own Closet, and to the NEWS PAPERS, COMPUTERS, ETC, WHO MAKE MONEY, from all this BAD PRESS, God is going to deal with all of our Sins in the way he's already written in " HIS HOLY WRITTEN WORDS." may God have mercy upon all of YOU who are keeping this devil's mess going. NOW THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE IS AFFECTED BY ALL THIS MESS THAT'S BROUGHT ABOUT NOW. GOD WILL HANDLE ALL WHO ASK FORGIVENESS, AND WHEN A MAN, WOMAN, ETC IS TRIED IN THAT FIREY FURNACE, ONCE THEY ASK GOD TO HAVE MERCY AND FORGIVE THEM, THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS. AMEN? Familys are hurting, Friends and Loved ones are hurting, and all of us affected, just because SATAN used such Foolish, thoughtless minded, individuals to become SELF APPOINTED F.B.I's. The Temptations sanged that Song " Smiling Faces Tell Lies, and that's just the TRUTH. GOD BLESS THE MAYOR'S ENTIRE FAMILY, GOD BLESS MY SISTER CHRISTINE BEATY, HER CHILDREN AND ENTIRE FAMILY. PEOPLE! IT'S TIME FOR US TO DO AS GOD COMMANDED, LET'S OPEN OUR HEARTS AND EMBRACE THESE PEOPLE WHO'S CAUGHT UP IN THIS WORLD'S SYSTEM, OF JUDGING OTHERS, AND, FORGETTING THAT WE ALL HAVE SINNED, AND, LET'S STOP POINTING OUR FINGERS, DO SOMETHING GOOD TO HELP ALL OF THESE PEOPLE. LIKE "PRAY IN THE MORNING, AT NOON, AND, AT NIGHT." THAT'S WHAT JESUS WOULD DO. THIS IS GOD'S WILL THAT WE PRAY FOR THOSE WHO ARE COUGHT UP IN THIS FILTHY TRAP THE devil HAS SET FOR THESE PEOPLE. I STILL LOVE ALL OF THEM, I LOVE YOU ALL ALSO, I DON'T HAVE TO KNOW YOU TO DO WHAT MY FATHER IN HEAVEN HAS ORDAINED US ALL TO DO. LOVE COVERS A MULTITUDE OF FAULTS, LET YOUR LOVE COVER THEM. GOD WILL BLESS YOU FOR DOING SO. HALLELUJAH! ANYHOW!
A WOMAN WHO'S SINNED AND COME SHORT OF GOD'S GLORY, AND, PRAISING HIM FOR FORGIVING ME BY SENDING HIS ONLY BETOTTEN SON ON THE CROSS WHO BLED, DIED AND SUFFERED ON CALVARY'S CROSS TO PROVE HIS LOVE BY SHEDDING HIS BLOOD FOR ALL THE SINS OF THE UNIVERSE. GET ON YOUR KNEES PRAY FOR THESE PROPLE, PRAY FOR THE ENTIRE STATE OF MICHIGAN. PRAY FOR YOURSELVES THAT YOU WON'T BE EXSPOSED TO SUCH AN AWFUL SITUATION SUCH AS WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE IN THE STATE OF MICHIGAN, IN THE CITY OF DETROIT. GOD IS STILL WITH US HERE, EVEN WHEN ALL THE DUST SETTLE, I'M STILL GOING TO PRAISE HIM. ANYHOW! THAT'S MY OPNION, AND, MAY GOD GET ALL THE GLORY, PRAISES, ALL THE HONOR, HE SO RICHLY DESERVES FROM THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE. AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!
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By: la tasha richards on 3/25/2008 4:08PM
All I can say as A Detroit resident all my life for 31 years. I feel KYAME NOT A MAYOR shame on you for shamming your family and LYING to the city of DETROIT. I pray that you get it togetter for your sake and family but for the CITY just GO.
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By: Chingy on 3/25/2008 4:34PM
Kwame is just another of many arrogant porch monkies who feel they are above not only the law, but above everything.
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By: PEETE on 3/25/2008 4:46PM
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahaha,,,,...First of all never say your sorry, say I appoligize fool...this guy think he's a thug(NOT) I was just in Detroit it looks like shit know wonder the Mayor was out getting his freak on
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By: Tired of Blacks Making Excuses on 3/25/2008 4:54PM
How would he pull it off? I wondered.
How would Barack explain to his press groupies why he sat silent in a pew for 20 years as the Rev. Jeremiah Wright delivered racist rants against white America for our maligning of Fidel and Gadhafi, and inventing AIDS to infect and kill black people?
How would he justify not walking out as Wright spewed his venom about “the U.S. of K.K.K. America,” and howled, “God damn America!”
My hunch was right. Barack would turn the tables.
Yes, Barack agreed, Wright’s statements were “controversial,” and “divisive,” and “racially charged,” reflecting a “distorted view of America.”
But we must understand the man in full and the black experience out of which the Rev. Wright came: 350 years of slavery and segregation.
Barack then listed black grievances and informed us what white America must do to close the racial divide and heal the country.
The “white community,” said Barack, must start “acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination — and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past — are real and must be addressed. Not just with words, but with deeds … .”
And what deeds must we perform to heal ourselves and our country?
The “white community” must invest more money in black schools and communities, enforce civil rights laws, ensure fairness in the criminal justice system and provide this generation of blacks with “ladders of opportunity” that were “unavailable” to Barack’s and the Rev. Wright’s generations.
What is wrong with Barack’s prognosis and Barack’s cure?
Only this. It is the same old con, the same old shakedown that black hustlers have been running since the Kerner Commission blamed the riots in Harlem, Watts, Newark, Detroit and a hundred other cities on, as Nixon put it, “everybody but the rioters themselves.”
Was “white racism” really responsible for those black men looting auto dealerships and liquor stories, and burning down their own communities, as Otto Kerner said — that liberal icon until the feds put him away for bribery.
Barack says we need to have a conversation about race in America.
Fair enough. But this time, it has to be a two-way conversation. White America needs to be heard from, not just lectured to.
This time, the Silent Majority needs to have its convictions, grievances and demands heard. And among them are these:
First, America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.
Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American.
Second, no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the ’60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream.
Governments, businesses and colleges have engaged in discrimination against white folks — with affirmative action, contract set-asides and quotas — to advance black applicants over white applicants.
Churches, foundations, civic groups, schools and individuals all over America have donated time and money to support soup kitchens, adult education, day care, retirement and nursing homes for blacks.
We hear the grievances. Where is the gratitude?
Barack talks about new “ladders of opportunity” for blacks.
Let him go to Altoona and Johnstown, and ask the white kids in Catholic schools how many were visited lately by Ivy League recruiters handing out scholarships for “deserving” white kids.
Is white America really responsible for the fact that the crime and incarceration rates for African-Americans are seven times those of white America? Is it really white America’s fault that illegitimacy in the African-American community has hit 70 percent and the black dropout rate from high schools in some cities has reached 50 percent?
Is that the fault of white America or, first and foremost, a failure of the black community itself?
As for racism, its ugliest manifestation is in interracial crime, and especially interracial crimes of violence. Is Barack Obama aware that while white criminals choose black victims 3 percent of the time, black criminals choose white victims 45 percent of the time?
Is Barack aware that black-on-white rapes are 100 times more common than the reverse, that black-on-white robberies were 139 times as common in the first three years of this decade as the reverse?
We have all heard ad nauseam from the Rev. Al about Tawana Brawley, the Duke rape case and Jena. And all turned out to be hoaxes. But about the epidemic of black assaults on whites that are real, we hear nothing.
Sorry, Barack, some of us have heard it all before, about 40 years and 40 trillion tax dollars ago.
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By: PEETE on 3/25/2008 4:54PM
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah this want to be thug who has done NOTHING for the city of Detroit BUT screw THE CITY!!! the improvement that you see Casino,sport stadiums ect: were put in place by the last Mayor Archor, this guy wants to be a star not a mayor.....and never say your sorry say I appoligze fool
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By: White NeoMafia Victim on 3/25/2008 5:09PM
Come on people, we can't be surprised that people of color and minorities are prosecuted for answers questions they didn't have to answer http://whitemalesneverlie.blogspot.com/ while white male after white male go unpunished even after they are caught telling dozens of lies in sworn statements
http://fraud-corruption-mnat.blogtownhall.com/default.aspx they where required to answer and they still get paid. See, when the white lawyers tell a lie, they have their former lawfirm partners working at the DOJ decide not to prosecute. Talk about conflict of interest. What kind of revolution will straighten out the corruption in the prosecutors offices? Why does everyone stand around and let white supremacists enforce laws based upon color and politics?
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