Once a rising star alongside Barack Obama, former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is headed to the clink after being convicted of corruption. Jay Scott Smith on the Motown betrayal.Former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick leaves federal court in Detroit, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. (Paul Sancya/AP)
On one fateful night in Boston, two dynamic speakers made waves at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Both men, young, black, and products of hardscrabble Midwestern cities, were considered rising stars and were getting major exposure on one of the country's biggest stages. One of those men was a first-term state senator from Illinois named Barack Obama. The other was the charismatic first-term mayor of Detroit: Kwame Kilpatrick.
To say that the fortunes of those two men have gone in opposite directions is an understatement. Obama's DNC speech, which followed Kilpatrick's that night, helped propel him to national stardom, a seat in the U.S. Senate, and eventually the presidency. On the other hand, Kilpatrick, who narrowly won re-election in 2005 before a sex scandal and perjury conviction cost him the job in September 2008, was convicted on 24 counts including federal racketeering, extortion, mail fraud, and tax evasion on Monday. He was later sent to prison to await sentencing. He is one of 35 former city employees, including other elected officials, to be convicted by the federal government in the past eight years.
"[The jury] said that they recognized that they were the voice of this community," said U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade. "They recognized that this was not a victimless crime. They saw it as their responsibility to hold these men accountable for their conduct." Kilpatrick's lawyers say they are considering an appeal.
Kilpatrick often said that he was anointed by God to run the city, and dubbed himself "America's hip hop mayor." But the prosecution held that he used taxpayer money, bribes, and donations to his nonprofit Kilpatrick Civic Fund to pay for everything from trips to cars to his children's tuition and summer camp to yoga lessons. His bid-rigging scheme with city contractor Bobby Ferguson allegedly netted him hundreds of thousands in kickbacks, and Ferguson over $127 million.
"Kwame Kilpatrick stole money from the city of Detroit," McQuade said. "While Kwame Kilpatrick enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, he watched the quality of life erode for the people of Detroit. The mayor cheated the system. Kwame Kilpatrick didn't lead the city; he looted the city. One juror said that she is a Detroiter and voted for [Kilpatrick] twice, but the evidence she saw in this case made her stomach turn."
Source: The Daily Beast | Jay Scott Smith
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