Detroit Mayor Guilty of Perjury?
January 24, 2008
In case you’re not familiar with Kwame Kilpatrick — and there’s no reason you would be, unless you have a fetish for all things Detroit, or you live here — let me recap. There was the curious one-year lease on a Cadillac Escalade, to the tune of $24,995. Or, the use of a tax-exempt fund to pay for a personal vacation, while the city’s fire departments literally deteriorate by the minute. A whistleblower suit, filed by two wrongfully-terminated police officers led to a $6.5M settlement, in favor of the whistleblowers. There are also strange allegations about all-night partying at the Manoogian, and a dead prostitute (unsubstantiated). Then, last fall, his press secretary was arrested on domestic abuse charges.
Today, the Washington Post is bringing a new Kilpatrick story to the national stage, yet hardly an unexpected one. As reported, text messages from Kilpatrick obtained under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that he perjured himself in vehemently denying an affair with one of his top aides.
The county prosecutor’s office declined to comment on the legal implications of the report, posted Wednesday on the Detroit Free Press’ Web site. A conviction of lying under oath can bring up to 15 years’ imprisonment.
As I wrote a few months ago:
The fact that Detroit Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick’s press secretary was recently arrested on domestic abuse charges is not terribly newsworthy, except as part and parcel to an ongoing series of mishaps that seem to befall the Mayor and his associates at every turn…
…Trouble doesn’t find people. People find trouble. like a nightmare version of the Midas touch, eventually everything King Kwame touches turns to trouble.
Teflon Kwame won’t do any time. He won’t even be asked to resign his post. The citizens of Detroit elected him twice — once after many of these improprieties were made public. Kwame is embarassed, but he ought to feel like he’s 10 feet tall and bulletproof. Nothing sticks.
People will argue that we should forgive his indiscretions, and I’m inclined to agree. But what I’m unwilling to forgive is the millions on millions that he’s spent defending, deflecting, and denying charges throughout his tenure as Mayor. Look, I could care less about Kwame’s infidelity. I feel sorry for his wife and for his children. And I’m not even sure that the relationship with Beatty is even tangentially related to the whistleblower suit (details escape me…) Regardless, Beatty is still in the city’s employ. Kilpatrick is still the Mayor. And the city, more specifically, the taxpayers, are out millions of dollars.
Related posts:
- King Kwame
- Thug Mayor
- Mayor loots City, Fire Department crumbles
- Detroit Mayoral Primaries
- Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss…
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Agreed.
His personal dalliance is of no interest to me whatsoever.
Who he does, when he does them, or how he does them for that matter - who cares?
But the money? Yes, what about the money?
[...] As I wrote last week, Kilpatrick is under fire for allegations of infidelity with an aide and perjuring himself* in a whistleblower lawsuit which cost the bankrupt city at least $9M. I don’t care about his [...]
I think Congress should pass a law prohibiting any kind of inquiries on marital/sexual behavior of people (while on office or not). Exceptions would be, of course, if the inquiry is proven to be absolutely necessary to clarify other sorts of misconduct. Still, even in such cases, the details of the investigated’s sexual lives should be fiercely protected by Justice.