Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
We thought we'd gotten rid of the astonishingly corrupt and ridiculous former mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, last year when he was forced to resign and left the state for a new job in Dallas, Texas. Alas, we're still dealing with him - and it's getting entertaining. He's required to pay $6,000 a month in restitution to the city of Detroit, but he's been pleading poverty for months and wants his restitution reduced way down to almost nothing.
Mind you, he lives in a mansion in a gated community in Dallas, working for a company owned by Detroit businessman Peter Karmanos, who also gave him $50,000 to convince him to resign as mayor. And he just spent more than $15,000 on plastic surgery for his wife, which he tried to explain in court on Tuesday as the tears flowed:
Testimony wrapped up Tuesday in Kwame Kilpatrick's restitution hearing after the former mayor broke into tears over how his transgressions hurt his wife.Kilpatrick choked up as he explained why he paid more than $15,000 for plastic surgery for his wife at the same time he owed Detroit taxpayers almost $1 million in restitution.
"I embarrassed her. I cheated on her. I lied to her," he said in Wayne County Circuit Court. "It's the least I could do. I caused her an incredible amount of pain."
The elective surgery helped repair damage caused by an emergency Caesarean when Carlita Kilpatrick gave birth to the couple's twin sons.
"I told her if I ever got some money, I'd pay for it," he said. "I wanted her to make her feel beautiful."
Later, when discussing $71,000 paid to rent a house in Texas, Kilpatrick said he described his wife's devotion as a "miracle."
"I didn't care how much a miracle cost ... it was a miracle for me to be in that house," Kilpatrick said.
That excuse might fly on the Maury Povich show; I doubt it's gonna do much good in a court of law, especially after Kilpatrick was already caught lying about the payments on the house in Dallas. He claimed that his wife had done all the arrangements for it and he had no idea even what the payments were - until prosecutors played the tape of a phone call between Kilpatrick and his wife where he was doing all the math on the payments himself. I wish this buffoon would just go away.
Politics
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Looks like Michigan attorney General Mike Cox , might also have some legal troubles ahead in hampering teh investigation is the murder of that Stripper at the detroit mayors mansion...
Posted by: Vic Vanity | December 13, 2009 9:23 AM
I had mentioned on another blog thread last evening how easy it is to peg conservative populists but there's little information out there to do the same with liberal populists. This is a prime example.
I understand exactly how Sarah Palin irrationally appeals to her minions, but how did Kirkpatrick garner such loyalty? He was re-elected a couple of years ago prior to being booted out in spite of many of the scandals he created already being exposed and was a defining national embarrassment to Detroit. What leads to an aspect of the Left supporting such a narcissistic, shallow, corrupt incompetent?
Posted by: Michael Heath | December 13, 2009 9:43 AM
Michael - what were the other candidates like?
Sometimes it's not that a politician wins re-election; it's that his opponents fail to convince the people that they should be elected. - DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | December 13, 2009 9:52 AM
Kilpatrick appealed to Detroits thug mentality. this is teh same city that kept voting in Coleman Young and that dude had his own list of Scandals and corruption.
Posted by: Vic Vanity | December 13, 2009 9:53 AM
Dingo Jack:
Kilpatrick first was elected after beating Dennis Archer who had recently came under scrunity because of Detroit had an incident when Michigan got hit witha big snowstorm and teh city was unprepared to clear the snow it took several days to get the roads cleared. Archer was a Good mayor,
in Kilpatricks second win he defeated Dave Bing (who is now mayor) Bing is a well respected Buisness man. who ran againts Kilpatricks Corruption .
Posted by: Vic Vanity | December 13, 2009 10:03 AM
There really aren't any non-corrupt politicians in Detroit as far as anyone can tell. It's just a matter of how corrupt. Kwame was pretty bad even by those standards.
Posted by: Ed Brayton | December 13, 2009 10:18 AM
DJ @ 3 - piling on Vic Vanity's comments . . .
Kirkpatrick didn't merely win because the field was weak, he was genuinely loved even after scandals were breaking out all around him. Archer and Bing are proven professionals far more competent than Kirkpatric, who is a deeply unserious man. Lastly, Kirkpatrick's hold on the public is purely personal, which again I do not understand and wonder if those traits are common across the country with other liberal populist leaders.
My using Kirkpatrick as an example might not support a broader perspective, which is I'm merely seeking insight having hardly any to offer myself.
Posted by: Michael Heath | December 13, 2009 10:22 AM
Ed - just a bit overgeneralized on that last comment...maybe? I think the failure to recognize that there are good leaders who live in, work for, and care about the city only reinforces a mentality that all of us in southeast Michigan need to move past. Just as African-Americans should reject the Coleman/Kwame race-baiting and blaming problems on the suburbs, suburbanites and non-blacks must avoid lumping the crooks with those trying to change the system...as few as there may be.
Now more than ever, we all need to work for the region. Hopefully, with a lot of new, diverse individuals on the City Council, there will be significant changes. I'm encouraged by what I've seen so far.
Posted by: Terry | December 13, 2009 10:33 AM
What an ass. Whenever I think that I am past the point of being fazed by political assholery, someone like Kilpatrick comes along and fazes me bigtime.
Posted by: barry21 | December 13, 2009 10:35 AM
Interesting! I wasn't putting forth any theory, merely seeking some background on politics with which I was unfamiliar.
Maybe the question to ask Detroit voters is: "What would make you vote against Kilpatrick?" - DJ
Posted by: DingoJack | December 13, 2009 10:37 AM
Kilpatrick must be a friend of Denny Heckers. 'Nuf said.
Posted by: Ann Klein | December 13, 2009 10:44 AM
@Michael: Couple of points - first, Kwame was a Michigan State Senator before running for mayor, albeit in mom's seat, with her support and, most likely, dad's illegally-gained money. From a political perspective, his pedigree, education, and employment history makes him more of a "professional" in his field than Bing and maybe even Archer. Hindsight is certainly 20/20, but before his fist election to the mayor's position, he was viewed as a potential savior for the city. First as a role model for young black men, second as a leader with connections to federal funding, and finally as a vibrant, progressive, individual who would bring Detroit into the 21st century.
Second, I am a resident of the city, and have been for the past 20 years. I'm curious as to what you mean by "Kirkpatrick's hold on the public is purely personal." Not necessarily disagreeing, just wondering what you mean...
Posted by: Terry | December 13, 2009 10:45 AM
Terry - As a long-term resident, what would make you vote out the Mayor*? - curiously DJ
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* or if you wouldn't vote for him under any circumstances, what would it take for you to vote for him?
Posted by: DingoJack | December 13, 2009 10:53 AM
Re Dingojack
As Mr. Dingojack is an Australian, he is, perhaps, unacquainted with Mr. Bings' former profession as a highly talented professional basketball player with the NBAs' Detroit Pistons.
Posted by: SLC | December 13, 2009 11:07 AM
Terry asks me:
Perhaps once a month I'll read the Detroit Free Press. My local paper doesn't cover much Detroit news. Once the scandals started to be revealed and it was clear his term as Mayor was not one of continuous improvement or competence, Mr. Kirkpatrick continued to enjoy loyalty from supporters. In fact so much so he was reelected. In 2005 Kirkpatrick was named by Time Magazine one of the worst mayors of the city, with a substantial amount of empirical evidence to substantiate their position, yet he won reelection.
The people expressing support of the Mayor in the Freep focused on personal qualities, rather than his professional record. I found this type of support similar to how social conservatives will blindly support their leaders, where my first observational data point was Nixon.
Posted by: Michael Heath | December 13, 2009 11:24 AM
Michael heath ; when i first seen Kilpatrik he came acorss to me like Sean "puff daddy" combs and of course this was his appeal to young voters.
Posted by: Vic Vanity | December 13, 2009 12:06 PM
Michael Heath - me, I dunno much about Michigan politics, but am not sure whether you should be focusing your curiosity on the persistent loyalties of the left, or of the black community.
As observed in the recent careers of Ralph Nader, John Edwards, Bill Clinton, and (increasingly) Barack Obama, the US left tends to turn against those who fail it - in most cases, rapidly and ferociously.
The black political community seems to be less fickle.
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | December 13, 2009 12:08 PM
@DJ - I happily voted against Kwame this past election. Personally, I think he has proven to be a cancer for this city.
For Detroit now, I would support a candidate for mayor who was serious about cleaning up the schools and providing educational opportunities for the children. Too many residents have no opportunity to advance themselves or their families. This city has enough lost generations, and we're killing our future, both literally and figuratively.
Posted by: Terry | December 13, 2009 12:13 PM
@Michael - good points. However, don't forget about Detroiter's abysmally low voter turnout. I view Kwame's reelection in part because of a dissatisfied, demoralized populace that had not yet reached a critical mass of dissatisfaction.
The voters got there in November. Hopefully more to come.
Posted by: Michael | December 13, 2009 12:17 PM
Ah, Detroit. N'Awlins with snow.
Posted by: Shay | December 13, 2009 5:44 PM
And people say Chicago politics is rotten... we have nothing on Detroit.
Posted by: PTS | December 14, 2009 12:54 PM
Two words: Marion Barry. (Mayor of DC, even after he went to jail for coke.)
Posted by: JustaTech | December 14, 2009 1:00 PM
Michael Heath: Identity politics. He was black, so were most of his constituents, and he was able to successfully convince enough of them that every scandal was really an attempt by The Man to bring him down, to get re-elected.
Posted by: Mike Crichton | December 15, 2009 3:37 PM
NOT TRUE. He is not crying poverty. In fact, he is doing just fine for someone who has 2 felonies hanging over his head. Restitution is 30% of his gross income = monthly payment, period. Read the restitution order. It is written in in plain english. His gross income is $120,000.00 base salary plus commissions (he has not earned any commisions yet). What he does with the remainder of the 70% of his gross income is his business. Loans are not income! If so the next time you borrow money from a family member or friend, make sure you report it to the government as income.as of March 2009, Kwame has paid approximately $100,000 towards his $1M restitution. Read the Order of March 10, 2009 at www.supermichiganlawyer.com/blog to get a better understanding of this restitution matter.
Posted by: justicepursuit | December 23, 2009 12:50 AM