Detroit's mayor charged w/ perjury in relation to lying over a HOT STEAMY SEXY AFFAIR

[House Music Aficionado]

....

LINK: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080324/detroit_mayor_080324/20080324?hub=World


Allegedly lied (under oath) about booty call sessions with a staff member, his subordinate.

....

[Myron]

I wouldn't be surprised if at least 60% (and I'm being generous) of politicians are either having affairs or seeing prostitutes. It's part of the social culture in many political chambers. Something tells me if we exposed all the politicians that either have affairs or see prostitutes many places wouldn't have enough people to represent them.

[House Music Aficionado]

I wouldn't be surprised if at least 60% (and I'm being generous) of politicians are either having affairs or seeing prostitutes. It's part of the social culture in many political chambers. Something tells me if we exposed all the politicians that either have affairs or see prostitutes many places wouldn't have enough people to represent them.


That seems about right, approximation wise.


I would peg corporate executives and the likes, at a higher rate.


I know this gentleman -- colleague of mine -- he is only 47 years old, and is at his 3rd wife, and she's quite young and extremely attractive.


I think it's that wealthy men feel that they can use women like disposable commodities.

....

[Long Island Head]

I think it's that men feel that they can use women like disposable commodities.

....

And whats wrong with dat :conf06:

[House Music Aficionado]

And whats wrong with dat :conf06:


Absolutely nothing, kind Sir.


In fact, there are plenty of women that love to be dominated by wealthy, affluent men in powerful positions.


I've always contended that women will be inclined to fall for and be bedazzled by a man with an excessive amount of money (and valuable property) at his disposal, despite his cosmetic looks, physical posture, character traits, etc.


Even when women find themselves to be the victims of infidelity, they would much rather opt to hang on to their men with the $bling$ (i.e.: a la Hilary Clinton, Silda Spitzer, Vanessa Bryant, et al).


....

[Detroitbootybass]

Don't be fooled... this has to do with a LOT more than just lying about an affair under oath (and the text messages that proved Kwame Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty were both perjuring themselves). The 'sex/text' issue is just the part that blew the lid off a whole list of scandals.

[dj-chefron]

How is this important? 4000 thousand dead in Iraq. Oil companies cutting back on production to maximize profits. Our tax dollars bailing out Wall Street because of their own greed and stupidity and this is news because he wants to bang his aide? :wtf: We deserve to get lather up in vaseline and get screwed

[Detroitbootybass]

and this is news because he wants to bang his aide? :wtf: We deserve to get lather up in vaseline and get screwed


Again... this NOT just about sex/text. That is only the part that officially opened the Pandora's box.

We have a dead mother, exotic dancer Tamara Greene, gunned down in cold blood and who was about to testify about 'entertaining' the mayor and his guests at the city owned Manoogian Mansion (she had also filed a police report about being attacked by the mayor's wife and having to be treated at the hospital - a report that the now chief, Ella Bully-Cummings, claims doesn't exist, but the then head clerk, Joyce Carolyn Rogers, distinctly remembersand swore to in an affidavit). Three police officers were then fired (a fourth resigned) for trying to investigate the murder, including the then Deputy Police Chief (and head of the internal affairs unit), Gary Brown. The city's taxpayers had to shell out nearly 9 million dollars when these four men sued the city over wrongful termination in the now infamous 'whistleblower' suit. A 'secret settlement' (which was previously unavailable to the public or the City Council, who had to approve the settlement) was to keep the text messages sealed... and it almost worked. That is until the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News won their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request just this year and got a hold said text messages and started to report on what transpired over the years. The mayor and city lawyer's fought the release of these documents all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court (which refused to even hear the case and let stand the two lower court rulings against the mayor and city). The 'secret deal' was uncovered in these documents...

Add to that the two Lincoln Navigators that the mayor's chief of staff, Christine Beatty, conspired to obtain ($24,995 one year leases for each SUV, five dollars under the amount that would have required City Council approval) with the then assistant chief Ella Bully-Cummings to go behind Gary Brown's back and have the police lease these vehicles for the mayor's wife (never mind the the mayor gets a free mansion and $176,000 annual salary and is quite capable of buying a car and not charging two of them to the already overburdened city taxpayers - which is unethical). By the way, the leases were from a dealership owned by one of the mayor's biggest campaign contributors... and also a major contributor to the mayor's mother's campaign - she is Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick.

You also have two other officers who are suing the city after stopping Christine Beatty for speeding, to which she exclaimed, "Do you know who the fuck I am?!?". She then quickly put in a call to the chief, Bully-Cummings, who dispatched the officer's supervisor who said he had orders to let the chief of staff go free and to tear up the ticket. The mayor then claimed in a radio interview the next day that he believed that that two officers had 'set up' Christine Beatty (this slander is the basis of the suit). Never mind that Mrs. Beatty (now Ms. Beatty after her recent divorce) was going almost 30 mph over the speed limit on a rainy night... and that the mayor never produced a single shred of evidence as to why he believed his 'mistress' was being setup.

The mayor's cousin, Patricia Peoples (deputy director of human resources), and the city's top lawyer, John Johnson Jr., recently have both been charged with contempt of court for destroying documents and severely delaying other papers that were part of an investigative subpoena sought by Wayne County prosecutor, Kym Worthy, in the whistleblower scandal.

Kwame had charged well over $210,000 in personal expenses to his city issued credit card to buy his wife and kids presents, take family vacations, meals & alcohol, and other entertainment (a lot of it at various clubs across the US). He vowed to pay it back and wrote a check for $9,000 - the rest of the balance is still outstanding. This was during his first three years in office (2002 - 2005) when the city had a budget deficit of nearly 300 million dollars. The former mayor, Dennis Archer (who was the first African-American president of the American Bar Association and the legal guardian of Rosa Parks), stated that he never charged alcohol or meals over $40 to the credit cards - instead, he payed for that out of his own pocket stating that "the city really had no funds to entertain anybody".

The mayor has - three times - created made up jobs for his friends and family... all of which paid close to $100,000 per year with no responsibilities (local news reporters followed all three for two months and found that they never actually reported to 'work'). All three later resigned when the press reported the stories to the public.

A year ago, a local TV station reported that the mayor used $8,600 from a civic fund (that is controlled by his sister) to take himself, his wife, kids, and their babysitter to a five-star resort in California for a week. The money in this fund is supposed to go to crime prevention, voter education, and economic empowerment - this is a violation of IRS rules and regulations.

Kwame's best friend, Bobby Ferguson, has been repeatedly given no-bid contracts for work that was later deemed to be unnecessary by auditors. More information revealed in the text messages show that Mr. Ferguson, Christine Beatty, and the mayor all conspired to cover up any potential controversy by "strategically losing" a major bid so they could use that as proof that favoritism wasn't a factor in previous (and future) contracts.

Washington D.C. police also have had to state that they won't anymore give the mayor after-hours protection escorts unless the mayor is on official business. This is in response to past incidents at local D.C. clubs and formal complaints by the officers themselves.

The mayor has the largest Executive Protection Unit (policemen working as personal 'bodyguards')... only the President (George) and Vice-President (Dick) have more people guarding them. By contrast, past Detroit mayor Dennis Archer had no bodyguards for either him or his family (he said it wasn't needed and the city couldn't afford it even if there was a need). He increased the size of the EPU from 50 officers to 85 at the same time he approved the job losses of 1,000 beat officers from the Detroit Police Department. He gets more protection at a time when the city's residents get less. It should also be noted that many of the EPU officers are former high school classmates.

...and of course, Tamara Greene's 14 year old son is suing the city and the mayor for $150 million dollars for sabotaging the investigation into his mother's death (all the officers who looked into the case were either fired or transfered out of the Homicide division). All indications are that the city's taxpayers will, yet again, have to pay another in the long list of court ordered settlements for improprieties by the mayor, his staff, and his friends.


Honestly, the list could go on and on... but I have to make my son and I dinner. This is just a tiny bit of what the taxpayers have had to deal with from the 'hip hop mayor' in his seven years at the helm.

I guess for someone from Oklahoma, this isn't too big of an issue... but if you were paying for this man and his many cronies to further drag this city (and by extension, this region) down even lower than anyone thought possible, you might be inclined to disagree.

[jimmymack-2000]

Again... this NOT just about sex/text. That is only the part that officially opened the Pandora's box.

We have a dead mother, exotic dancer Tamara Greene, gunned down in cold blood and who was about to testify about 'entertaining' the mayor and his guests at the city owned Manoogian Mansion (she had also filed a police report about being attacked by the mayor's wife and having to be treated at the hospital - a report that the now chief, Ella Bully-Cummings, claims doesn't exist, but the then head clerk, Joyce Carolyn Rogers, distinctly remembersand swore to in an affidavit). Three police officers were then fired (a fourth resigned) for trying to investigate the murder, including the then Deputy Police Chief (and head of the internal affairs unit), Gary Brown. The city's taxpayers had to shell out nearly 9 million dollars when these four men sued the city over wrongful termination in the now infamous 'whistleblower' suit. A 'secret settlement' (which was previously unavailable to the public or the City Council, who had to approve the settlement) was to keep the text messages sealed... and it almost worked. That is until the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News won their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request just this year and got a hold said text messages and started to report on what transpired over the years. The mayor and city lawyer's fought the release of these documents all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court (which refused to even hear the case and let stand the two lower court rulings against the mayor and city). The 'secret deal' was uncovered in these documents...

Add to that the two Lincoln Navigators that the mayor's chief of staff, Christine Beatty, conspired to obtain ($24,995 one year leases for each SUV, five dollars under the amount that would have required City Council approval) with the then assistant chief Ella Bully-Cummings to go behind Gary Brown's back and have the police lease these vehicles for the mayor's wife (never mind the the mayor gets a free mansion and $176,000 annual salary and is quite capable of buying a car and not charging two of them to the already overburdened city taxpayers - which is unethical). By the way, the leases were from a dealership owned by one of the mayor's biggest campaign contributors... and also a major contributor to the mayor's mother's campaign - she is Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick.

You also have two other officers who are suing the city after stopping Christine Beatty for speeding, to which she exclaimed, "Do you know who the fuck I am?!?". She then quickly put in a call to the chief, Bully-Cummings, who dispatched the officer's supervisor who said he had orders to let the chief of staff go free and to tear up the ticket. The mayor then claimed in a radio interview the next day that he believed that that two officers had 'set up' Christine Beatty (this slander is the basis of the suit). Never mind that Mrs. Beatty (now Ms. Beatty after her recent divorce) was going almost 30 mph over the speed limit on a rainy night... and that the mayor never produced a single shred of evidence as to why he believed his 'mistress' was being setup.

The mayor's cousin, Patricia Peoples (deputy director of human resources), and the city's top lawyer, John Johnson Jr., recently have both been charged with contempt of court for destroying documents and severely delaying other papers that were part of an investigative subpoena sought by Wayne County prosecutor, Kym Worthy, in the whistleblower scandal.

Kwame had charged well over $210,000 in personal expenses to his city issued credit card to buy his wife and kids presents, take family vacations, meals & alcohol, and other entertainment (a lot of it at various clubs across the US). He vowed to pay it back and wrote a check for $9,000 - the rest of the balance is still outstanding. This was during his first three years in office (2002 - 2005) when the city had a budget deficit of nearly 300 million dollars. The former mayor, Dennis Archer (who was the first African-American president of the American Bar Association and the legal guardian of Rosa Parks), stated that he never charged alcohol or meals over $40 to the credit cards - instead, he payed for that out of his own pocket stating that "the city really had no funds to entertain anybody".

The mayor has - three times - created made up jobs for his friends and family... all of which paid close to $100,000 per year with no responsibilities (local news reporters followed all three for two months and found that they never actually reported to 'work'). All three later resigned when the press reported the stories to the public.

A year ago, a local TV station reported that the mayor used $8,600 from a civic fund (that is controlled by his sister) to take himself, his wife, kids, and their babysitter to a five-star resort in California for a week. The money in this fund is supposed to go to crime prevention, voter education, and economic empowerment - this is a violation of IRS rules and regulations.

Kwame's best friend, Bobby Ferguson, has been repeatedly given no-bid contracts for work that was later deemed to be unnecessary by auditors. More information revealed in the text messages show that Mr. Ferguson, Christine Beatty, and the mayor all conspired to cover up any potential controversy by "strategically losing" a major bid so they could use that as proof that favoritism wasn't a factor in previous (and future) contracts.

Washington D.C. police also have had to state that they won't anymore give the mayor after-hours protection escorts unless the mayor is on official business. This is in response to past incidents at local D.C. clubs and formal complaints by the officers themselves.

The mayor has the largest Executive Protection Unit (policemen working as personal 'bodyguards')... only the President (George) and Vice-President (Dick) have more people guarding them. By contrast, past Detroit mayor Dennis Archer had no bodyguards for either him or his family (he said it wasn't needed and the city couldn't afford it even if there was a need). He increased the size of the EPU from 50 officers to 85 at the same time he approved the job losses of 1,000 beat officers from the Detroit Police Department. He gets more protection at a time when the city's residents get less. It should also be noted that many of the EPU officers are former high school classmates.

...and of course, Tamara Greene's 14 year old son is suing the city and the mayor for $150 million dollars for sabotaging the investigation into his mother's death (all the officers who looked into the case were either fired or transfered out of the Homicide division). All indications are that the city's taxpayers will, yet again, have to pay another in the long list of court ordered settlements for improprieties by the mayor, his staff, and his friends.


Honestly, the list could go on and on... but I have to make my son and I dinner. This is just a tiny bit of what the taxpayers have had to deal with from the 'hip hop mayor' in his seven years at the helm.

I guess for someone from Oklahoma, this isn't too big of an issue... but if you were paying for this man and his many cronies to further drag this city (and by extension, this region) down even lower than anyone thought possible, you might be inclined to disagree.

Dude, where the hell <i>you</i> been? Keeping well I hope...

P.S. Mr. Powell's about to stop by and update yo ass

[dj-chefron]

Again... this NOT just about sex/text. That is only the part that officially opened the Pandora's box.

We have a dead mother, exotic dancer Tamara Greene, gunned down in cold blood and who was about to testify about 'entertaining' the mayor and his guests at the city owned Manoogian Mansion (she had also filed a police report about being attacked by the mayor's wife and having to be treated at the hospital - a report that the now chief, Ella Bully-Cummings, claims doesn't exist, but the then head clerk, Joyce Carolyn Rogers, distinctly remembersand swore to in an affidavit). Three police officers were then fired (a fourth resigned) for trying to investigate the murder, including the then Deputy Police Chief (and head of the internal affairs unit), Gary Brown. The city's taxpayers had to shell out nearly 9 million dollars when these four men sued the city over wrongful termination in the now infamous 'whistleblower' suit. A 'secret settlement' (which was previously unavailable to the public or the City Council, who had to approve the settlement) was to keep the text messages sealed... and it almost worked. That is until the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News won their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request just this year and got a hold said text messages and started to report on what transpired over the years. The mayor and city lawyer's fought the release of these documents all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court (which refused to even hear the case and let stand the two lower court rulings against the mayor and city). The 'secret deal' was uncovered in these documents...

Add to that the two Lincoln Navigators that the mayor's chief of staff, Christine Beatty, conspired to obtain ($24,995 one year leases for each SUV, five dollars under the amount that would have required City Council approval) with the then assistant chief Ella Bully-Cummings to go behind Gary Brown's back and have the police lease these vehicles for the mayor's wife (never mind the the mayor gets a free mansion and $176,000 annual salary and is quite capable of buying a car and not charging two of them to the already overburdened city taxpayers - which is unethical). By the way, the leases were from a dealership owned by one of the mayor's biggest campaign contributors... and also a major contributor to the mayor's mother's campaign - she is Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick.

You also have two other officers who are suing the city after stopping Christine Beatty for speeding, to which she exclaimed, "Do you know who the fuck I am?!?". She then quickly put in a call to the chief, Bully-Cummings, who dispatched the officer's supervisor who said he had orders to let the chief of staff go free and to tear up the ticket. The mayor then claimed in a radio interview the next day that he believed that that two officers had 'set up' Christine Beatty (this slander is the basis of the suit). Never mind that Mrs. Beatty (now Ms. Beatty after her recent divorce) was going almost 30 mph over the speed limit on a rainy night... and that the mayor never produced a single shred of evidence as to why he believed his 'mistress' was being setup.

The mayor's cousin, Patricia Peoples (deputy director of human resources), and the city's top lawyer, John Johnson Jr., recently have both been charged with contempt of court for destroying documents and severely delaying other papers that were part of an investigative subpoena sought by Wayne County prosecutor, Kym Worthy, in the whistleblower scandal.

Kwame had charged well over $210,000 in personal expenses to his city issued credit card to buy his wife and kids presents, take family vacations, meals & alcohol, and other entertainment (a lot of it at various clubs across the US). He vowed to pay it back and wrote a check for $9,000 - the rest of the balance is still outstanding. This was during his first three years in office (2002 - 2005) when the city had a budget deficit of nearly 300 million dollars. The former mayor, Dennis Archer (who was the first African-American president of the American Bar Association and the legal guardian of Rosa Parks), stated that he never charged alcohol or meals over $40 to the credit cards - instead, he payed for that out of his own pocket stating that "the city really had no funds to entertain anybody".

The mayor has - three times - created made up jobs for his friends and family... all of which paid close to $100,000 per year with no responsibilities (local news reporters followed all three for two months and found that they never actually reported to 'work'). All three later resigned when the press reported the stories to the public.

A year ago, a local TV station reported that the mayor used $8,600 from a civic fund (that is controlled by his sister) to take himself, his wife, kids, and their babysitter to a five-star resort in California for a week. The money in this fund is supposed to go to crime prevention, voter education, and economic empowerment - this is a violation of IRS rules and regulations.

Kwame's best friend, Bobby Ferguson, has been repeatedly given no-bid contracts for work that was later deemed to be unnecessary by auditors. More information revealed in the text messages show that Mr. Ferguson, Christine Beatty, and the mayor all conspired to cover up any potential controversy by "strategically losing" a major bid so they could use that as proof that favoritism wasn't a factor in previous (and future) contracts.

Washington D.C. police also have had to state that they won't anymore give the mayor after-hours protection escorts unless the mayor is on official business. This is in response to past incidents at local D.C. clubs and formal complaints by the officers themselves.

The mayor has the largest Executive Protection Unit (policemen working as personal 'bodyguards')... only the President (George) and Vice-President (Dick) have more people guarding them. By contrast, past Detroit mayor Dennis Archer had no bodyguards for either him or his family (he said it wasn't needed and the city couldn't afford it even if there was a need). He increased the size of the EPU from 50 officers to 85 at the same time he approved the job losses of 1,000 beat officers from the Detroit Police Department. He gets more protection at a time when the city's residents get less. It should also be noted that many of the EPU officers are former high school classmates.

...and of course, Tamara Greene's 14 year old son is suing the city and the mayor for $150 million dollars for sabotaging the investigation into his mother's death (all the officers who looked into the case were either fired or transfered out of the Homicide division). All indications are that the city's taxpayers will, yet again, have to pay another in the long list of court ordered settlements for improprieties by the mayor, his staff, and his friends.


Honestly, the list could go on and on... but I have to make my son and I dinner. This is just a tiny bit of what the taxpayers have had to deal with from the 'hip hop mayor' in his seven years at the helm.

I guess for someone from Oklahoma, this isn't too big of an issue... but if you were paying for this man and his many cronies to further drag this city (and by extension, this region) down even lower than anyone thought possible, you might be inclined to disagree. All this may be true but if he has been in office for over 7 years I would guess he didnt do all this dirt in the last three months so yeah I dont have my violin out feeling sorry for the citizens of Detroit for electing this man.

[jah]

remember chris rock's rap on politicians that are getting some booty on the side?
"it aint, pastor clinton, it aint maharaja clinton, its just bill clinton. a man's gonna be a man.... A man is only as faithfull as his options etc"

I think that rings true and more importnatly why should we give a fuck, how does it intefere with his ability to do his job?

[Chip_E]

remember chris rock's rap on politicians that are getting some booty on the side?
"it aint, pastor clinton, it aint maharaja clinton, its just bill clinton. a man's gonna be a man.... A man is only as faithfull as his options etc"

I think that rings true and more importnatly why should we give a fuck, how does it intefere with his ability to do his job?

When his private affairs become public. When he engages in conspiracies to hide his deeds. When he gives out patronage jobs and benefits that do not benefit his constituency. When he starts taking liberties that devalue and jeopardize his office...those are pretty good signs we should give a fuck.
But maybe that's just me.

-e.

[jah]

naw that is true... especially in this case
this guy was way outta line.

I guess im thinking more in terms of clinton and him getting a little something on the side. I don't know if that neccesarily made him a bad president

[Kemmot]

I wouldn't be surprised if at least 60% (and I'm being generous) of politicians are either having affairs or seeing prostitutes. It's part of the social culture in many political chambers. Something tells me if we exposed all the politicians that either have affairs or see prostitutes many places wouldn't have enough people to represent them.

Between republicans and democrats, who cheats the spouse more?Id say Dems cause no reps have been caught with their pants down.

[Myron]

Again... this NOT just about sex/text. That is only the part that officially opened the Pandora's box.

We have a dead mother, exotic dancer Tamara Greene, gunned down in cold blood and who was about to testify about 'entertaining' the mayor and his guests at the city owned Manoogian Mansion (she had also filed a police report about being attacked by the mayor's wife and having to be treated at the hospital - a report that the now chief, Ella Bully-Cummings, claims doesn't exist, but the then head clerk, Joyce Carolyn Rogers, distinctly remembersand swore to in an affidavit). Three police officers were then fired (a fourth resigned) for trying to investigate the murder, including the then Deputy Police Chief (and head of the internal affairs unit), Gary Brown. The city's taxpayers had to shell out nearly 9 million dollars when these four men sued the city over wrongful termination in the now infamous 'whistleblower' suit. A 'secret settlement' (which was previously unavailable to the public or the City Council, who had to approve the settlement) was to keep the text messages sealed... and it almost worked. That is until the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News won their Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request just this year and got a hold said text messages and started to report on what transpired over the years. The mayor and city lawyer's fought the release of these documents all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court (which refused to even hear the case and let stand the two lower court rulings against the mayor and city). The 'secret deal' was uncovered in these documents...

Add to that the two Lincoln Navigators that the mayor's chief of staff, Christine Beatty, conspired to obtain ($24,995 one year leases for each SUV, five dollars under the amount that would have required City Council approval) with the then assistant chief Ella Bully-Cummings to go behind Gary Brown's back and have the police lease these vehicles for the mayor's wife (never mind the the mayor gets a free mansion and $176,000 annual salary and is quite capable of buying a car and not charging two of them to the already overburdened city taxpayers - which is unethical). By the way, the leases were from a dealership owned by one of the mayor's biggest campaign contributors... and also a major contributor to the mayor's mother's campaign - she is Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick.

You also have two other officers who are suing the city after stopping Christine Beatty for speeding, to which she exclaimed, "Do you know who the fuck I am?!?". She then quickly put in a call to the chief, Bully-Cummings, who dispatched the officer's supervisor who said he had orders to let the chief of staff go free and to tear up the ticket. The mayor then claimed in a radio interview the next day that he believed that that two officers had 'set up' Christine Beatty (this slander is the basis of the suit). Never mind that Mrs. Beatty (now Ms. Beatty after her recent divorce) was going almost 30 mph over the speed limit on a rainy night... and that the mayor never produced a single shred of evidence as to why he believed his 'mistress' was being setup.

The mayor's cousin, Patricia Peoples (deputy director of human resources), and the city's top lawyer, John Johnson Jr., recently have both been charged with contempt of court for destroying documents and severely delaying other papers that were part of an investigative subpoena sought by Wayne County prosecutor, Kym Worthy, in the whistleblower scandal.

Kwame had charged well over $210,000 in personal expenses to his city issued credit card to buy his wife and kids presents, take family vacations, meals & alcohol, and other entertainment (a lot of it at various clubs across the US). He vowed to pay it back and wrote a check for $9,000 - the rest of the balance is still outstanding. This was during his first three years in office (2002 - 2005) when the city had a budget deficit of nearly 300 million dollars. The former mayor, Dennis Archer (who was the first African-American president of the American Bar Association and the legal guardian of Rosa Parks), stated that he never charged alcohol or meals over $40 to the credit cards - instead, he payed for that out of his own pocket stating that "the city really had no funds to entertain anybody".

The mayor has - three times - created made up jobs for his friends and family... all of which paid close to $100,000 per year with no responsibilities (local news reporters followed all three for two months and found that they never actually reported to 'work'). All three later resigned when the press reported the stories to the public.

A year ago, a local TV station reported that the mayor used $8,600 from a civic fund (that is controlled by his sister) to take himself, his wife, kids, and their babysitter to a five-star resort in California for a week. The money in this fund is supposed to go to crime prevention, voter education, and economic empowerment - this is a violation of IRS rules and regulations.

Kwame's best friend, Bobby Ferguson, has been repeatedly given no-bid contracts for work that was later deemed to be unnecessary by auditors. More information revealed in the text messages show that Mr. Ferguson, Christine Beatty, and the mayor all conspired to cover up any potential controversy by "strategically losing" a major bid so they could use that as proof that favoritism wasn't a factor in previous (and future) contracts.

Washington D.C. police also have had to state that they won't anymore give the mayor after-hours protection escorts unless the mayor is on official business. This is in response to past incidents at local D.C. clubs and formal complaints by the officers themselves.

The mayor has the largest Executive Protection Unit (policemen working as personal 'bodyguards')... only the President (George) and Vice-President (Dick) have more people guarding them. By contrast, past Detroit mayor Dennis Archer had no bodyguards for either him or his family (he said it wasn't needed and the city couldn't afford it even if there was a need). He increased the size of the EPU from 50 officers to 85 at the same time he approved the job losses of 1,000 beat officers from the Detroit Police Department. He gets more protection at a time when the city's residents get less. It should also be noted that many of the EPU officers are former high school classmates.

...and of course, Tamara Greene's 14 year old son is suing the city and the mayor for $150 million dollars for sabotaging the investigation into his mother's death (all the officers who looked into the case were either fired or transfered out of the Homicide division). All indications are that the city's taxpayers will, yet again, have to pay another in the long list of court ordered settlements for improprieties by the mayor, his staff, and his friends.


Honestly, the list could go on and on... but I have to make my son and I dinner. This is just a tiny bit of what the taxpayers have had to deal with from the 'hip hop mayor' in his seven years at the helm.

I guess for someone from Oklahoma, this isn't too big of an issue... but if you were paying for this man and his many cronies to further drag this city (and by extension, this region) down even lower than anyone thought possible, you might be inclined to disagree.

Context changes everything. In fact, this sounds very Giuliani-esque, only Giuliani hasn't been called out on his alleged corruption (which I hoped would have come out during his Presidential run and the only why I was glad he ran).

[Detroitbootybass]

MAYOR'S SCANDAL HAS A SPORTS PAGE FEEL


BY MITCH ALBOM • FREE PRESS COLUMNIST • March 24, 2008



They call him the Hip-Hop Mayor, but that always has been misleading, for he is less a musician than a jock, with a jock's sense of entitlement, a jock's bully muscle, a jock's entourage, a jock's approach to women, and, most of all, a jock's eternal belief that he can fight his way out of anything.

Having seen enough sports scandals, the Kwame Kilpatrick mess feels all too familiar. First, like an athlete in hot water, he blames rumors. When it's proven more than rumors, he blames "haters." When it's proven more than haters, he blames the media. When it's proven more than media, he blames racism. When it's proven more than racism -- when it's proven to be tangible, chargeable, real legal trouble -- he gets the best lawyer money can buy.

So now Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is in the biggest fight of his career, one that parallels many high-profile athletes who insist "they're out to get me." First, others take the fall, as happened with Michael Vick and Tonya Harding and Barry Bonds. Eventually the net tightens. And finally, we have a moment as we did today, where the star is fingerprinted and has his photo taken.

And his lawyers start talking.


THE GAME MUST GO ON...

Remember, Kilpatrick, the second-term mayor, was once a lineman for Florida A&M, captain of the football team. And having known and observed him for years, I have often thought he views himself like a superstar athlete, a member of the "in" crowd, entitled to star treatment, security, sleek vehicles, family members on the payroll. He does this while emboldened by a fervent "home" crowd that will love him simply because he wears the right uniform.

And, like some of the sports stars he often hugs and chats up, he feels the show cannot go on without him. The most maddening of all Kilpatrick's deceptions is that he is the only man who can run this city. He forgets there were mayors before him and there will be mayors after him. Certainly many people can run it better than him now, without the shadow of criminal charges and the daily drain of lawyers, worry and anger.

But Kilpatrick wants to play on, like Kobe Bryant with a sexual-assault charge, flying into court in the morning and back for a game at night, like Pete Rose, insisting he can still manage his team despite a Dowd Report that he gambled on baseball. "I look forward to complete exoneration," the mayor said Monday. "... In the meantime, I will remain focused on moving this city forward."

As the famous quote goes, "A painter paints, a fighter fights ..."

Play ball.


AND THERE IS NO ENDGAME...

The difference is, of course, that you are elected mayor by the people, you didn't sign a contract with a guaranteed salary. In sports, if you can perform, they'll pry open the vault, pull the fence out of the ground, because sports serves one master, winning, that is all that matters.

In public office, winning is only how you get there, not how you stay. There are different rules. Rules of behavior. Rules of ethics. As mayor, the word "honorable" comes before your name.

Which means you can't just wiggle out of a tackle, foul when the ref isn't looking, find a way to win and all is forgiven. Kilpatrick's predictable attempts to kill these charges by technicalities (How do you know I used the pager? Who says the text messages are admissible?) shows this is just about winning now.

But that should surprise no one. His arrogance is his armor. And any thought of this guy quitting for the good of the city can be trashed right now.

He is the quarterback with an entire football field to cover and 11 men in front of him, a jump shooter with six hands in his face and a parking lot between him and the basket. And still he believes he is entitled to survive, not just survive but to prevail, so he will run, leap, shoot with everything in him, and only history will judge him, perhaps as sad, perhaps as pathetic. Won't matter. In his mind, he's the king, he's entitled, he's doing what a fighter does. He's fighting. You'll have to drag him out by his ears.