Kwame Kilpatrick (born June 8, 1970) is the former mayor of Detroit, Michigan. When elected at the age of 31, he was the youngest mayor in the history of Detroit.
Political career and controversies
See also: Timeline of Kwame Kilpatrick's political careerMichigan State Representative
Kilpatrick was elected in 1996 to the Michigan House of Representatives after his mother, Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick vacated the seat to campaign for a position in the United States Congress.
His campaign staff consisted of high school classmates Derrick Miller and Christine Beatty, who became his legislative aide; later, Kilpatrick would have an affair with Beatty. The campaign was run on a budget of $10,000 and did not receive endorsements from trade unions, congressional districts, or the Democratic establishment.
Kilpatrick was elected Democratic floor leader and later, House Democratic Leader, making him the first African-American to lead a Michigan Legislature.
Mayor of Detroit
Kilpatrick became the youngest mayor of Detroit when elected in 2001.
First term
In his 2002 inaugural address, Kilpatrick said:
He was criticized for using city funds to lease a car for use by his family and using his city issued credit card to charge thousands of dollars worth of spa massages, extravagant dining, and expensive wines. Kilpatrick would later pay back $9000 of the $210,000 credit card charges, less than 5% of the amount charged.
During his first term he also closed the century-old Belle Isle Zoo and Belle Isle Aquarium. The City Council overrode his funding veto for the zoo and gave it a budget of $700,000. During the 2005 election 88 percent of Detroit voters approved the reopening of the zoo. Instead Kilpatrick gave the $700,000 to his close friend Bobby Ferguson, who used it to build a chain link fence on the other side of the island.
By April 2005, Kilpatrick's approval rating in Detroit was sharply declining due to the scandals and a lack of improvement in the city. As a result, the April 17, 2005 issue of Time Magazine listed him as one of the three worst big-city mayors in the United States, along with Dick Murphy of San Diego and John F. Street of Philadelphia.
Special administratorship
When serious questions about water department contracts came to light in late 2005 Judge Feikens ended Mayor Kilpatrick’s special administratorship. In January 2006, the Detroit News reported,
"Kilpatrick used his special administrator authority to bypass the water board and City Council on three controversial contracts:
- A $131 million radio system that was used by Detroit police and fire departments.
- A $21.3 million security upgrade performed by a company tied to the mayor's friend, Bobby Ferguson.
- A $38,000 no-bid public relations contract awarded to Bob Berg, the spokesman for Kilpatrick's re-election campaign."
Nevertheless, Feikens praised the mayor's work as steward of the department.
2005 re-election campaign
In May 2005, the Detroit Free Press reported that over the first 33 months of his term, Kilpatrick had charged over $210,000 on his city-issued credit card for travel, meals, and entertainment.
At a May 2005 campaign rally, Kilpatrick's father, Bernard "Killer" Kilpatrick, made controversial statements equating recent media reports about his son to Nazi propaganda that led to the the Holocaust in Europe. He later apologized.
In October 2005, a third-party group supporting Kilpatrick named The Citizens for Honest Government caused controversy with an advertisement which compared media criticism of him to lynch mobs.
Kilpatrick and his opponent Freman Hendrix, both Democrats, initially claimed victory but as the votes were tallied, it became clear that Kilpatrick had come back from his stretch of unpopularity to win a second term in office. Only three months prior to that, most commentators declared his political career over after he was the first incumbent mayor of Detroit to come in second in a primary. Pre-election opinion polls predicted a large win for Hendrix; however, Kilpatrick won with 53 percent of the vote. It should be noted that Kilpatrick's re-election had a great deal of controversy, with nursing home workers claiming that Kilpatrick campaign workers came into the homes and "helped" elderly voters with Alzheimer's "fill-out" their ballots.
Second term
Kilpatrick was hospitalized and diagnosed with diverticulitis in Houston, Texas, in July 2006. His personal physician indicated that Kilpatrick's condition may have been caused by a high-protein weight-loss diet. Detroit's city council voted unanimously to approve Kilpatrick’s tax plan, which he said he hoped would provide homeowners some relief from the city’s high property tax rates. The cuts ranged from 18% to 35%, depending on the property’s value.
Audit reports
The city was 14 months late in filing its 2005–2006 audit and in March 2008 estimated that it would cost an additional $2.4 million due to new auditing requirements that were not addressed by the city. The 2006–2007 fiscal year audit due on December 31, 2007 was expected to be 11 months late.
The State Treasury chose to withhold $35 million of its monthly revenue sharing to the city and required Detroit to receive approval before selling bonds to raise money. Kilpatrick told the city council that he would take partial blame for the late audits because he laid off too many accountants, but the firm hired to replace them is not doing its job.
2008 State of the City address and reaction
On March 11, 2008, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick delivered his seventh State of the City Address to Detroit. The majority of the 70-minute speech focused on positive changes occurring throughout Detroit and future plans. Kilpatrick specifically noted increased police surveillance, new policing technologies, and initiatives to rebuild neglected neighborhoods in the city. He received repeated standing ovations from the invitation-only audience.
Towards the end of the speech, Kilpatrick deviated from the transcript given to the media and posted on his official website to address the scandal and controversy surrounding his years in office. Kilpatrick stated that the media was only focusing on the controversies as a spectacle to increase their viewership. In closing, he addressed the city council members who chose not to sit behind him on the stage in protest, particularly Kenneth Cockrel Jr., and asked that people "say no more" about any of the controversy.
"...And finally, and this may be the most talked-about part of this speech after laying out all of that, but I feel that I cannot leave this auditorium with my wife and my sons sitting there without addressing this issue. In the past 30 days I've been called a nigger more than anytime in my entire life. In the past three days I've received more death threats than I have in my entire administration. I've heard these words before but I've never heard people say them about my wife and children. I have to say this because it's very personal to me. I don't believe that a Nielsen rating is worth the life of my children or your children. This unethical, illegal lynch mob mentality has to stop. And it's seriously time. We've never been here before. And I don't care if they cut the TV off. We've never been in a situation like this before. Where you can say anything, do anything, have no facts, no research, no nothing and you can launch a hate-driven bigoted assault on a family. I humbly ask members of the council, I humbly ask the business community, I humbly ask the religious community, I humbly ask the brothers and sisters of the city of Detroit - I humbly ask that we say 'no more' together. I humbly ask that we say no more together. I love this city with every part of my being. I will continue to stay focused on building the next Detroit. God Bless you, Detroit. I love you." —Kwame M. Kilpatrick, 2008 Detroit State of the City Address
Michigan Governor and fellow Democrat Jennifer Granholm issued a statement in which she condemned the use of the word "nigger" in any context. The statement noted that Granholm and Kilpatrick attended the ceremonial burial of the racial slur the previous summer.
Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox stated on WJR radio that he thought that using the word 'nigger' was "reprehensible". Cox went on to say, "I thought his statements were race-baiting on par with David Duke and George Wallace, all to save his political career. I'm not a Detroiter, but last night crossed the line...those statements not only hurt Detroit, as long as the mayor is there, he will be a drag on the whole region." Cox then said that whether he is brought up on criminal charges or not, Kilpatrick should resign.
Former Kilpatrick political adviser Sam Riddle labeled the address a race-baiting speech. "It's an act of desperation to use the N-word," said Riddle. "He's attempting to regain his base of support by playing the race card. He's gone to that well one too many times."
In response to Kilpatrick characterizing the media coverage of his scandals as a baseless "hate-driven bigoted assault on a family", Carmen Harlan, an African-American news anchor at Detroit's NBC affiliate, WDIV, stated the following:
"Mr. Mayor, I'd like to address you directly. You were absolutely right tonight when you said that death-threats and ra
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