BREAKING NEWS: Another Powerful Black Man is Publicly Disgraced...Hip-Hop Mayor Enters Not Guilty Plea In Sex Scandal
Posted on March 25, 2008 4:34 PM
In 2004 Kwame Kilpatrick was on the top of the world. Not only did the son of the Congressional Black Caucus Leader Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick become Detroit's youngest Mayor ever, but his street swagger quickly won him respect from national media pundits who dubbed him the "Hip-Hop Mayor." He was so popular that many beltway insiders proclaimed that he was the prototype for the next generation of black leaders. He even made a brief address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
Boy, have things changed. Today Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff entered in non guilty pleas in a scandal in which they are accused of lying under oath about an affair. They face felony charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office.
Kilpatrick has been at the center of a scandal since January when the Detroit Free Press reported he exchanged romantic text messages with his female chief of staff, contradicting testimony the pair had given in a whistle-blower trial. Apparently, prosecutors went through over 10,000 texts messages to come up with the evidence for the pending trial.
I personally think this is a modern day witch hunt. (EDIT PLEASE SEE NOTE BELOW) But you best believe if you lie on the witness stand the justice system is coming for your ass. Especially if you are young black elected official. Kilpatrick should have known better. It's sad to see another black man publicly disgraced.
EDIT: Note to readers... I never said that I think that Kilpatrick was a saint. In fact, I know for a fact that many of his constituents hate him. I also know that he has been on fire throughout his tenure as mayor. BUT I do think that there is a different standard for Black politicians. Check out the book The Assassination of the Black Male Image , and you'll understand my point. African American leaders are under a microscope and have to be doubly careful. That's all I was trying to say. Not to mention that that I think that this is a complete waste of tax payers' resources. The D is broke as hell. The tens of millions of dollars that are going to be spent on this trial could have gone to fixing all the damn pot holes that are in Detroit's streets.
also check out his promo video from one of the D's finest MCs. Shouts out to Finale, Fawl, Ace, Starlet, Jenny Lee, and the whole Detroit Summer Crew.
Boy, have things change. Today Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff entered in non guilty pleas in a scandal in which they are accused of lying under oath about an affair. They face felony charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office.
Kilpatrick has been at the center of a scandal since January when the Detroit Free Press reported he exchanged romantic text messages with Beatty, contradicting testimony the pair had given in a whistle-blower trial. Apparently, prosecutors went through over 10,000 texts messages to come up with the evidence for the pending. trial.
I personally think this is a modern day witch hunt. But if you best believe if you lie on the witness stand the justice system is coming for your ass. Especially if you are young black elected official. Kilpatrick should have known better. Another black man has been publicly disgraced.
Comments
Having too much power can lead to self distruction. It can happen to anyone. A false sense of security and superiority comes hand in hand with these powerful positions. Its sad to see him get caught up like this, but at the end of day people in those positions have to learn how to play the role, be humble, and use better judgement. That's why they were elected and thats why they're called leaders.
That's ridiculous. If you screw up in office using public funds, then you rightfully should face some punishment. It's not just Kilpatrick. Did we all forget Eliot Spitzer in a week?
This is hardly a witch hunt. If this is a witch hunt, then so was Cain and O-Dog in Menace II Society after the cops got the videotape. ... Now see, he know he done fucked up.
I live in Detroit & I'm disapointed that the city of Detroit has been given bad publicity, once again. I feel that he should step down because with him still being the Mayor of Detroit, he will be dragging Detroit with him in the courtroom. If he steps down, then we can have someone that has no controversy around them to step up and handle the duties. But on the other hand, Christine Beatty is a dime, I hope it was worth it Kwame. Plus Kwame broke a core democratic value, which is Truth: The government does not lie.
I live in Detroit & I'm disapointed that the city of Detroit has been given bad publicity, once again. I feel that he should step down because with him still being the Mayor of Detroit, he will be dragging Detroit with him in the courtroom. If he steps down, then we can have someone that has no controversy around them to step up and handle the duties. But on the other hand, Christine Beatty is a dime, I hope it was worth it Kwame. Plus Kwame broke a core democratic value, which is Truth: The government does not lie.
I believe your final sentence should read "Another black man has publicly disgraced himself" As concerns "witch hunt" the mayor (without any authority) brokered a deal to settle a law suit for 6.5 million so long as the details remained out of public scrutinity. I think if someone spent 6 mil of your money without authority you would want justice.
Too bad Kwame was too big for his britches. The man screwed up his family and mayoral reputation. The best thing for him to do is to step down and hope the courts will go easy on you. Selfishness leads to problems, espically a black man that is on watch 24/7
What man wouldn't lie about cheating on his wife. It's time to pull a Clay Davis.
That's the new legal tactic get you on the stand and get you to lie and even if what your lieing about is not illegal lieing about it is. People need to learn to take the fifth.
never text nobody if your in your late twenties early thirties its just another trap as you can see what happened to dumbass
this is what this fucker gets. we shouldn't feel sorry for this piece of shit. detroit ain't never gonna change. people should know better next time they vote.
who gives a **** what colour he is he lied. justice doesnt discriminate. No one told him to lie how can this be twisted into a race issue. Spitzer's case must of been a witch hunt to
This was hardly a witch hunt... more like a cum hunt...for him. He is ultimately paying the price for his numerous sexual affairs, not just with Christine Beatty. The lying he did about her was to cover up the real cover up of a stripper laced party at his mansion. The wife walked in on him being close with a stripper and assaulted the stripper...she had to be taken to the hospital. He lied about the party... covered up the hospital records, had them destroyed. Wrongfully fired the police officer that was investigating the party. And to make matters worst the stripper was killed in a drive-by shooting. The other stripper was killed in ATL...she fled from the D. So he did more than lie about Miss Christine Beatty. This is a bunch of mess, that Kwame created the recipe for. Not hardly a witch hunt... Kwame is reaping what he sowed.
IF YOU THINK THIS DOESN'T HAVE AN AFFECT ON OUR YOUNG PEOPLE YOU ARE SADLY MISTAKEN FROM TI TO THIS GUY. EVERYTIME WE AS A PEOPLE MESS UP WE MESS UP ANOTHER CHANCE FOR ONE ANOTHER. WE MUST UNDERSTAND THAT AS A PEOPLE WE ARE JUDGED COLLECTIVELY NOT INDIVIDUALLY. WE NEED TO BE EXAMPLES AND STOP DOING STUPID SHIT THAT'S KILLING OUR PEOPLE. WHENEVER WE ARE IN A POSITION OF POWER THEY WANT TO SEE US FALL. SO DON'T FALL PREY. ALWAYS KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE PRIZE AND REMEMBER ITS NOT FOR YOU. ITS MORE FOR THE STRUGGLE.
PEACE
I personally think this is a modern day witch hunt. But if you best believe if you lie on the witness stand the justice system is coming for your ass. Especially if you are young black elected official. Kilpatrick should have known better. Another black man has been publicly disgraced.
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Why the racism? This is no witch hint - if would not have lied under oath this situation would have disappeared already.
Why is it that just someone is black he just can't be guilty?
If you remember, even Martha Stewart went to jail for perjury - I don't remember any niggas being hurt over it, but now because the dude is black, it is of course a witch hunt.
He is in the same league like TI, Vick and all the other celebrity morons - they had it all but didn't do the right thing.
Who wrote this story? It is highly inaccurate and misleading. Kwame was not on top of the world in 2004. He was already knee deep in corruption by then. The term Hip Hop Mayor was more of a jab than an expression of respect. Kwame has been openly dirty since he took office. It sounds like the blogger needs to do a little research because it seems like he got his "facts" from a homey or something. Kwame needs to go.
Damn...did we forget that we had a PRESIDENT who did the SAME THING and LIED TO THE ENTIRE COUNTRY ON NATIONAL TELEVISION???? He got to stay in the White House til his term was over, no jail time, nothing!!! Thats f****d up! Yeah, he was mad foul for what he did but its only blown up because he's a brotha!
Can we all stop bringing up Spitzer, the two cases have NOTHING in common outside of the obvious sexual aspect.
Aside from that, there's no similarity.
THIS IS A WITCH HUNT.
Similar to the witch hunt that Republicans led against Clinton for his affair. See, the fact of the matter is, Spitzer got caught doing something ILLEGAL. Prostitution is ILLEGAL. When you take a prostitute across state lines, it's a FEDERAL crime.
All Kwame did was have an affair, similar to what Clinton did. THAT'S NOT ILLEGAL. Catching someone lying on the stand about an issue unrelated to the initial inquiry is petty and most prosecuters or judges (I would hope) would not waste taxpayer's money to prosecute someone on a moral crime.
Basically, they couldn't get him on what they reeeeally wanted so they settled for the "lying under oath" thing and the "obstruction of justice" thing, two charges which are so obviously tacked on they have bulletin boards on their asses.
This is politics folks, not justice. Don't get it twisted.
Dude, I know you don't want to have bs in your blog, but seriously, I'm a need you to get rid of this "Wait-for-your-post-to-be-approved-before-it's-posted" feature. There are so many posts here that I want to respond to like....immediately, but can't...
For the first time I can actually say Im proud of my fellow SOHH.com readers. The author of this blog clearly wanted to play the race card and this audience wasnt havin it. Big ups to us!!
Secondly this mayor is such a piece of trash that he had a press confrence which he said "I have never been called a Nigger so much in my life." And thats just another BS race card move to get the Black vote behind him. Its about time we demand more of our polititions. Just because your black doesnt mean we are going to automaticly ride with you. Detroit deserves better!
Mayor Kilpatrick is just another HOODRAT nigga with some power. He's the HIP HOP version of E Spitzer. He's the new "non-crack-smokin", (as far as we know), Marion Barry. He's the new Larry Craig. He's the BLACK Mark Folley. He's the buffed Jessie Jackson. He's the tight faded Al Sharpton. He's the "non-vision-impared" version of New York's new govenor. (Props to the great city of New York. It wasn't nothing like I expected it to be). Damn fool just get in and NIGGAFY public office. Dignify....don't Niggnify.
And I love it when BUSTED politicians say, "I look forward to my day in court when my honor and reputation WILL BE EXONORATED."
wtf is the point of this shit now...... now it's wrong to have a sex drive? Politics and Infidelity is almost a synonym in 2008....... white peeps get extramarital head, and it's no big deal, actually it's celebratory-status to the people, it's a "he's just like us" moment...........
but when a blackman goes through simillar scenario's, all of a sudden he's monstrous and a disgrace to the black male population?
if indeed this does set black men back in regards to public image amongst outsiders..... it ain't his fault, i blame the blacks pointing the finger at him, most likely the same blacks who called Bill Clinton black because he smoked weed, plays jazz music, and gets head from interns on the come-up!
we do have to realize we are living in a Republican governed country for the time being, and anything they can use against a Democratic Party with this strong of momentum (both Obama and Clinton), will surely be ammo to attempt to usher in their Grandpa Munster
You are not telling the whole story here. This isn't just about lying about an affair. Kwame Kilpatrick fired two black Detroit cops who were looking into allegations of misconduct by himself and his security detail related to an alleged party that happened at the Manoogian Mansion (the Detroit Mayor's official residence).
The two black cops then sued the city in a civil trial. Kwame and his Chief of Staff both testified that they did not fire the police officers and that they were not romantically involved with one another because the two black cops alleged that they were fired, in part, to try and hide the affair.
The two black cops won the law suit they brought against the city. Kwame blamed the verdict on racist jurors and vowed to appeal the case.
The lawyer for the cops subpoenaed the text messages but didn't receive them until the trial was over. He took copies of the messages to the city lawyers and once they saw that those messages proved Kwame lied about firing the cops and about the affair, the city lawyers and Mayor agreed to immediately settle the case. They drafted two agreements. One that was made public and shared with the city council that made no mention of the text messages. A second, secret deal, was made to cover the process by which those text messages would be turned over to the Mayor. Details of that agreement and the fact that it even existed were kept from the city council and from the public. So the Mayor and the city law department (filled with the Mayor's cronies) did not fully inform the city council about the situation surrounding the settlement when the city council approved it.
The text messages were then separately obtained and portions were released by the Free Press as was information about the secret deal that took place.
The Free Press and the Detroit News then sued the city under the Freedom of Information Act to have details of the secret deal made public, because the settlement was paid for by the city, all documents relating to the deal should have been released.
The case went all the way to the Michigan Supreme Court and it was decided at every step of the way, including by the Supreme Court, that the deal could not remain secret and the details must be released to the public.
That is the complete story. This isn't about lying about an affair. It's about obstructing a police investigation by firing the cops involved, lying about both the affair and firing the cops at trial, and then entering into a secret deal to hide the existence of the text messages and keeping that deal from the city council.
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