Ex-Detroit Mayor Convicted On Corruption Charges

One-time 'playa maya' will spend up to 20 years in prison

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been convicted of racketeering and extortion, marking an end to a more than decade-long public corruption investigation.

Kilpatrick was convicted on 24 of 30 counts, including five counts of extortion, racketeering, bribery and several mail, wire and tax fraud charges. On three counts, he was found not guilty, and on three no verdict was reached, reports The Lansing State Journal.

It's been a hard fall for Kilpatrick. Elected mayor of Detroit in 2001, the youngest person, at 31, to hold that position in the city's history, he was seen by many as a future star of the Democratic Party. With a stud in his year Kilpatrick was often portrayed as a "playa maya". His urban sensibilities and political savvy made him seem destined to lift Detroit out of economic hardship and then rise himself through the ranks of national politics.

But his tenure as mayor was plagued by scandal, his career cut short, reports The New York Times. He was soon fighting rumors about partying, questions about the use of city money to lease a luxury vehicle for his wife, and claims that he fired police officers for investigating his sizeable staff of bodyguards.

In 2008, Mr. Kilpatrick resigned after text messages were unearthed by The Detroit Free Press that exposed an affair with his chief of staff. The romantic revelation led him to plead guilty to obstruction of justice charges for lying about the relationship under oath in an unrelated lawsuit against the city.

Via The Lansing State Journal, The New York Times and Politix reporting.

What should be done to turn around Detroit?

[Vance1]

What should be done to turn around Detroit?.........LOL!!!!
Stop allowing Corrupted people to be in charge
Get back to Self Reliance and Hard Work as your City's Policy

[GuyFawkes]

A long entrenched culture of thuggery controls Detroit.
This culture does not value hard work, ethics, the wisdom of thrift and saving- nor does it belief in or value the Chastity of young Womanhood and the beauty, joy and wisdom such Womanhood bring to the family and community as a whole.
It instead embraces theft over thrift, death over life, lies, drugs, the victimization of women- violence, decay and failure are it's only lasting hallmarks.
Change must come from within this culture. It is too powerful to be influenced by the still, small voice of Goodness.

[Vance1]

@GuyFawkes
Great Post Thanks

[NTBFW]

@GuyFawkes if he ran again they probably would elect him again. Remember Marion Berry?

[GuyFawkes]

@NTBFW
Hahaha!
*chuckles*
Awww...yes, I think you're right.
Good ol' Marion Berry. Priceless.

[AntiPorcheria]

Detroit politics are always dirty and make for some strange bedfellows....and some not so strange.

http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/2008/06/large...

[Waynestew]

At this point I am Not sure I just pray for my city and that is all I can do.I am just so glad to see this Kilpatrick Fiasco is over and now we maybe can move forward in doing something positive

[Neo_NtheMatrix]

Surprise, surprise. Another Democrat from a liberal utopia like Detroit. Since all you Democrats said that Republicans are out of touch, is Kwame "Hip Hop Mayor" Kilpatrick the type of politician you guys see eye to eye with? He was a super delegate for yawl's boy obama. Shameful how Democrats have destroyed Detroit. Now they want the whole country to look just like it.

[Vance1]

Amen Bro...God bless ya!!!
Their X Governor "Granholm" played a huge part in the destruction of detroit.
She bilked the Michigan tax payers out of millions, and then ran.
Democrats have not only destroyed Detroit, They have ruined that entire state.

[Neo_NtheMatrix]

@Vance1 - obama is doing on a national level what Kilpatrick and Granhom did on local and state levels. We must concentrate greatly on 2014, because the whole country could end up as a burnt out shell of itself if we continue to let Democrats ruin this once great nation. God is not smiling down on America right now.

[falco_alba]

Do you know anything about Michigan? Do you live there? Have you ever lived there?

[drpeeper]

You mean a democrat run craphole is corrupt? Say it isn't so! Maybe New Orleans, Chicago, Wash DC are next.

[Vance1]

@falco_alba
Dear Sir, I grew up there, and I still have several family members that live there.
I try to follow MI politic's, GrandHolm trashed Michigan!!!
Think about this.......Toyota drivers in MI, Killed the economy and voted Obama

[wonka45ACP]

What can be done is the question, more accountability is the answer.

[Vance1]

100% agree

[One_and_Only]

declare Marshall Law first

[Sonny]

They already have....With the appointment of an "Emergency Manager"----ALL of the rights of the citizens of Detroit were wiped away with the stroke of a pen by the republican governor there...So...now---you can pose your question to him. Since HE now owns and controls the city!

[One_and_Only]

@Sonny they need to because its a economical disaster because nobody wants to work and pay taxes for anything which is needed to keep the city lights on an night which they cant understand which is why I dont care for Detroit or Southeast Michigan but the last time Michigan tried to place a Emegency Manger over Detroit they stopped it.

[Sonny]

@One_and_Only Well they certainly succeeded this time!---So now it Rick Snyders's problem---So go and ask him how long Marshall Law will continue to kill the civil rights of the citizens of Detroit.

[One_and_Only]

@Sonny I feel the People of Detroit voluntarily forfeited their Civil Rights especially for ones that told me to my face "why work when its free" and that there told me what type of Society Detroit had turned into and they got what Rick Snyder's plans coming and they brought it upon themselves and no one else.

[Sonny]

@One_and_Only NO, let me stop you right there...No one can VOLUNTARILY FORFEIT their civil rights...If you start a sentence like that...then you have lost MY attention for the rest of what ever it is that you want to say...good bye.

[Medicinebow]

Detroit may be too far gone....I hope not though. I see we have another that believes he should enjoy taxpayer funded protection. Maybe him and Blaggo can become cell pals.

[One_and_Only]

Declare Martial law

[Chromalord]

Decades ago, Detroit used to have the highest per-capita cluster of millionaires in the country. Detroit is now largely a war zone. People seem to forget that the bulk of the corporate offices and manufacturing are no longer in Detroit proper, they left a while ago. The actual unemployment rate there is 50%. The only way I see to fix Detroit is to re-locate vast neighborhoods, build new multiple-dwelling housing structures ( like they are doing in China. Plow down the run down areas, and rezone them for commercial usage. Offer tax incentives, lien-hold improvements, and build-outs to entice new business or relocations.

[tomincali]

thats a hard call when our whole gov promotes and excepts corruption, again back to those banks and the cartel money. this guy is guilty yet a small fish compared to what was just pointed out. those in washington need to lead by example, our leaders have all shamed us.

[seedtick]

Take control of the city finances away from the idiots elected as city officials. Make them prove the need for every penny they spend. Clear out the deadheads, eliminate or pare down any city service that the tax base cannot support. Re-evaluate the city work force and make the hard decisions demanded by the loss of revenue. And, above all, re-bid all contracts and reset the rules of providing services to the city. Take the control away from petty politicians.

[Sonny]

Old news...This has been going on for the last 5 years or so...I'll send him a cake with a file in it, and move on to something else.

[NavinRJohnson]

Y it gotta b a black man?!

[jessejaymes]

Probably the best thing for Detroit at this point is to fence it off, rent it out to Hollywood and start doing remakes of "Escape from New York". with a minor title change.

[kirbstomp1]

Lol

[whataGOVwehave]

Rename it and slap some gates around the outside.

[Knuckleballer]

Does Hiroshima mean anything to you?

[johnny_potseed]

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

[jessejaymes]

Despite knowing I will be called racist for this, Detroit is a black city. Black mayors have done just fine in less than majority black cities. Kevin Johnson in Sacramento seems to be a pretty sharp guy and that's not an easy city to Mayor. But in black majority cities, black mayors just seem to think that it's corruption beyond the norm. I saw a documentary on Detroit. Areas where the cops will not go in after dark at all and will only go into in the daytime with 3 cars full of 12 officers in a bunch. In one project they walk up to this guy and ask him if he's smoking crack. He says yes. They tell him he's under arrest. Man becomes concerned and asks could he finish the crack before they handcuff him because that was his last 40.00 to his name. Only after the cops say no does he try to run. They asked him why he ran, did he think he could get away and he said no but he was hoping to get another hit off the pipe before they caught him.

Detroit is not savable in it's current state. Detroit IS what happens when the "hip hop culture" is allowed to take over completely. You can call that racist all you like. After you do, YOU go spend a week in Detroit and let's see how long you survive before they take you down like the pack of wolves that the culture IS.

[seedtick]

You got it right, Jessie. You got it right.

[scotta]

Get rid if the Democratic rule.

[SmedleyButler]

Get rid of both. They're crooks.

[spluvsjp]

@SmedleyButler Get rid of him AND Obama?!?!?!
BUT wait....He was fighting rumors about partying, not playing golf with Tiger Woods while deadlines were looming? Using city money to lease a luxury vehicle for his wife, not stealing money from successful hard-workers to give to the poor because they don't get the same opportunities? Firing police officers for investigating his staff of bodyguards, but not threatening Sheriff's salaries in Colorado because they oppose gun control? He had an affair with his chief of staff, and didn't send his ambassador to the United Nations out on national TV to misinform the American people? He lied under oath, but didn't break every promise he made when he was running for election? Well AT LEAST the Mayor didn't cry about the cruelty of water-boarding and then kill a 16 year old American boy by ordering a drone strike, THEN take the credit for killing Osama bin Laden who's death was likely due to intelligence collected from that technique he banned on his 2nd day in office. My gosh that would make him a hypocrite too!! Well, all I have to say about that is.... Maybe he should get a law degree and THEN try for a seat in the Senate. With any luck he could become a very productive president:(

[SmedleyButler]

@spluvsjp I was referring to both parties. They're both crooks and liars. Yeah, and Obama too.

[spluvsjp]

@SmedleyButler Yeah..."sigh" It stinks. But what can we do? It is what it is. Just gotta try to roll with it.

[jessejaymes]

@spluvsjp did you say you gotta try to roll with it? What kind of statement is that? This is why we have the government we do. You're gonna "roll with it"? You need to get angry. At your OWN party no matter what party is "your party". Only YOU can throw these bums out of office in the primaries. Give some new blood a chance. This whole thing of rolling with it because "your side is the lesser of two evils" have caused these problems. Evil is evil. That's why there is name for it. There no lesser of two evils. There is ONLY evil.

[miketost]

So hard to believe. An ex democratic mayor of a major city that is now bankrupt ,this is so hard to believe.Wait until the fool obama (if ever)he leaves office is not the same as this POS.