Kilpatrick's Bail Revoked

By TChris, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 12:43:22 PM EST
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Anyone want to buy half a tunnel? Detroit's Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick went to Windsor to lobby for the sale of Detroit's half of the Detroit-Windsor tunnel to raise money for the cash-strapped city. That turned out to be a bad decision.

Kilpatrick is facing perjury, obstruction of justice, and other criminal charges. A bail condition prohibits his travel outside of Michigan without the court's permission, which Kilpatrick failed to obtain before venturing into Windsor. A judge revoked Kilpatrick's bail today, sending him to jail for at least one night.

The mayor’s lawyers sought an immediate appeal, but the circuit court judge who will take up the matter put off a hearing until Friday morning.

While Kilpatrick is incarcerated, his chief of staff will be acting mayor. A statement that "residents can be assured government will continue to operate as usual" is hardly reassuring, given that business as usual in Detroit's city government is awfully dysfunctional.

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Kilpatrick's Bail Revoked | 31 comments (31 topical)

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He's been horrible. (5.00 / 0) (#1)
by pie on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 12:48:05 PM EST

Bad enough that one of my republican friends brings him up whenever we're together. Now we live about an hour west of Detroit, so I don't know why she's so concerned. But she is more than willing to repeat, "Can you believe that Kwame Kilpatrick? I don't know why he isn't in jail yet."

Blech. Nothing to defend there either, unfortunately.

Isn't that the worse part (5.00 / 0) (#4)
by samtaylor2 on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 12:56:58 PM EST

There isn't anything you can say in the cities defense. He is just making us look bad. The silver lining is there is a chance if Kwame steps down/ impeached/ thrown in jail we can get Bing to be our new mayor.


Yep. (5.00 / 0) (#6)
by pie on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 01:06:03 PM EST

And this has dragged on waaaaaaay too long.

The city of Detroit can't seem to catch a break.


Fixing the D (5.00 / 1) (#8)
by samtaylor2 on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 01:22:18 PM EST

I believe the key to fixing detroit is 3 fold:

fix Highliand park. I live in Midtown Detroit, which is very nice, and has some of the lowest crime rates in the state, however when my wifes family came out for thanksgiving at my mom's house in Bloomfield, I directed them to get to my house by just going down Woodward. Mistake. They almost took her back with them when they left. If highland park could be fixed the City of Detroit could get more credit for what it HAS done to rebuilt itself.
Tear down much of the abandoned parts of Detroit and consolidate the city. The city of Detroit is sitting on wide areas of land that could be worth a fortune if they would tear the old stuff down (move a few people if need be) to make the city physically smaller
Get the people who don't live in Detroit (many of whom don't even live in MI any more), to sell the destroyed homes their grandparents bought years ago for fair market value vs. what is happening now, allowing thme to hold the city's development hostage by asking sums of money that no one will give.

Well (none / 0) (#12)
by Steve M on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 01:26:42 PM EST

one of the obstacles to large-scale urban renewal is the very tough barriers on eminent domain that were erected as a result of the Poletown debacle all those years ago.

It's a very, very difficult challenge. I agree with your points. None of this would even be possible without the commitment of community leaders like Dave Bing, Max Fisher, and Mike Ilitch, who were willing to make a long-term investment in the city and put their own capital behind the effort. I hope their investments won't be wasted.


Does not the Supreme Courts' ruling on (none / 0) (#17)
by Rhouse on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 02:17:10 PM EST

eminent domain give Detroit more flexibility in the use of those statures to seize land for redevelopment? Link
Not living in Detroit, I don't know the "landscape", political or otherwise, still I would think the courts' ruling on the Connecticut city of New London case would apply here too.
(Hopefully I used the apostrophe correctly.)


Nope (none / 0) (#18)
by Steve M on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 02:21:33 PM EST

Eminent domain is an issue of state law, and states are free to have as much or as little eminent domain as they want, provided they meet the basic constitutional requirements of a public purpose and fair compensation.

Even after Kelo, a state can still decide "you know what, we don't want eminent domain at all." Or they can decide to have eminent domain, subject to severe restrictions that may not exist in other states, which is kind of how things are in Michigan right now.

Eminent domain is a powerful tool and it can be used for both good and evil. It's not surprising that states and municipalities that have had bad experiences with it are more gunshy about using it again and again.


: Thank you for the clarification on (none / 0) (#20)
by Rhouse on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 02:45:17 PM EST

this issue. The fight going on in Philly about the Casinos and waterfront property battles had me wondering if about eminent domain law there.

sad to say so called developers of all (none / 0) (#29)
by hellothere on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 11:19:25 PM EST

races and gender will lining up to take advantage of the situation. i was chairman of a non profit that at one time worked with the state in funding for first time moderate income buyers. i saw quite a bit.


Agree...... (none / 0) (#9)
by michitucky on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 01:22:57 PM EST

I don't agree with you on much, but on this I do......Dave Bing is probably the only person who can step in and clean up this mess!!!


: I am guessing in the real world (none / 0) (#11)
by samtaylor2 on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 01:25:40 PM EST

We would agree a lot

The judge was really pissed (5.00 / 1) (#2)
by samtaylor2 on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 12:49:32 PM EST

Because he had opportunities to tell the judge that he had gone to Windsor on multiple occasions before this came out, and he didn't. For a smart guy, the mayor is acting sorta dumb.

I am afraid that Detroit residents here will not throw this guy out if he isn't thrown in jail or impeached, as there is such a City vs. Suburbs and its paper mentality here (and visa versa).

Background (5.00 / 1) (#3)
by Steve M on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 12:51:52 PM EST

A few weeks ago, Kilpatrick allegedly assaulted a sheriff's deputy and process server in a bizarre incident that supposedly involved racial remarks by the Mayor. Kilpatrick's lawyer says he expects charges to be filed soon from that incident.

After that incident occurred, the prosecutor's office moved to revoke Kilpatrick's bond in the ongoing perjury and obstruction of justice prosecution. The judge basically implied, without saying so, that he was merely raising the amount of the bond rather than sending Kilpatrick off to jail because he wasn't an ordinary defendant.

So the decision (by the same judge) to revoke his bail has some context. Kilpatrick was basically on his last warning and then some.

Also, Kilpatrick's mother barely survived her Congressional primary on Tuesday. If this latest news had occurred before the election, it might have even made the difference. This entire saga is just so embarrassing for Detroit.

: What I read is that his mother (5.00 / 1) (#5)
by andgarden on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 01:05:33 PM EST

is a reasonably competent Rep. If so, it would have been too bad if he had brought her down with him.

: And (none / 0) (#23)
by cmugirl on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 03:00:14 PM EST

Mike Cox, the Michigan AG, is announcing on Friday whether he is going to charge Kilpatrick with assault charges on that sheriff's deputy,so there could be more news on this topic tomorrow.
I didn't realize how many Michiganders are on this board!!

Well, (none / 0) (#7)
by bocajeff on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 01:21:07 PM EST

Considering that Detroit is one of the worst cities in America to live in for the past 40 years and will be for some time in the future, one has to wonder where the leadership is from the city and county governments...Maybe they need better community organizers

Can't Catch a Break? (none / 0) (#10)
by Elporton on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 01:24:13 PM EST

Wasn't Mr. Kilpatrick elected by the people of Detroit? It's not as though the citizens had no choice or he was appointed to the position by the governor.

Add this spectacle to the 24.9% high school graduation rate (lowest amonth the nation's 50 largest schoold districts)and one has to wonder "What's Wrong with Detroit?".

A lot is wrong with Detroit (5.00 / 0) (#13)
by samtaylor2 on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 01:35:04 PM EST

But let us back up a bit and look at what we started with.

1st- Developers actively scared the white tax base out of the city. This wasn't just simple fear, this was door to door tactics to sell the urban sprawl that makes South Eastern MI much less attractive then it should be

As the white tax base was leaving, the government took the area that was owned by Blacks, with Black business and homes, and took their property by emininent domain for pennies on the dollar, destroying the rest of the tax base and scattering some of the best black leaders
Colmnann Young was a divisive (and angry) mayor from what I have readthat used the white flight to build up racial hatred of white people in the city. This completed the city vs. suburbs hatred.
There is a 10.4 unemployment rate in the South Eastern region (I am guessing it is MUCH higher in Detroit).
the car companies, that created detroit sowed division among its workers, so at the core of this area there is huge racial and class mistrust.

It is hard to make a come back with these chips stacked against you. Though I still believe it it is happening. As the older generation dies off, much of the anamosity is dying and people are looking to work together.


Right (5.00 / 1) (#14)
by Abdul Abulbul Amir on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 01:48:35 PM EST

1st- Developers actively scared the white tax base out of the city.

Are we to believr that arson, opean air drug dealing, crooked cops, and murder had nothing to do with it. Selling any bridges?


Well, that's quite a news flash (none / 0) (#15)
by Jim J on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 02:04:41 PM EST

Developers who don't want a white tax base. You don't say. Guess the whole crime thing was overblown. I'm intrigued by your theories, please go on.


Heh (5.00 / 1) (#16)
by Steve M on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 02:07:21 PM EST

Suburban developers do, in fact, want a white tax base... in the suburbs.

In my view, the white exodus from Detroit really had more to do with the race riots in the 60s... and the redlining and housing discrimination that prevented law-abiding black families from following.


developers (none / 0) (#19)
by bocajeff on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 02:33:55 PM EST

Developers don't care where the buyers come from, they just want buyers. If you clean up the city (literally getting rid of vacant buildings and lots and fixing the infrastructure), do something about the schools (1/4 of kids graduating! shameful), then things will be fixed.

My father used to own a store on Grand River until 1968. Went to Oak Park after the riots. Not because of race, but because of race riots.


: Yeah (5.00 / 1) (#21)
by Steve M on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 02:45:24 PM EST

I'm not suggesting that people left because they wanted to be away from black people. Everyone, white and black, wants to be away from crime and urban decay. It was just that the black families couldn't leave even if they wanted to, because of redlining and other types of unwritten Jim Crow laws.
I actually grew up in Oak Park. It was pretty much a Jewish neighborhood back then. A decade later, I suddenly realized the high school had become majority black in the interim. What happened? An end to housing discrimination, basically.

: yup developers want buyers period. (none / 0) (#30)
by hellothere on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 11:22:47 PM EST

in houston there is a return to the inside the beltway part of houston. the suburbs gets old with the terrible traffic and gas prices. there is much to say for the southwest nearin section with the medical center and galleria. there is also no zoning. that is a mixed bag.

I went to a very interesting discussion at Wayne (none / 0) (#26)
by samtaylor2 on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 08:20:35 PM EST

About this. This professor dated the exodus to before the riots by a couple of years.


I'm sure he's right (none / 0) (#28)
by Steve M on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 09:30:04 PM EST

but I mean, I think everyone agrees the riots were the defining moment of the era.

I really think Detroit is making progress towards mending all those old wounds and that's why it breaks my heart when this Kilpatrick scandal just reignites everything all over again. None of this ever would have happened if the "forces of division," as Barack Obama might say, hadn't gotten away with running Dennis Archer out of town.

Detroit is a great city with a great history, and it deserves so much better.


: I was told it was an affair (none / 0) (#31)
by samtaylor2 on Fri Aug 08, 2008 at 09:28:01 AM EST

That didn't want to get out. And it was one guy who threatened to put the affair out there (a black developer- foget his name) if he didn't get a piece of the casino profits. Archer didn't give him a piece, anddidn't run again to avoid the controversy. Someone told me this?????
Kwame has got to go. Granholm and Jefferson (Jefferson needs to lead given the racial politics) needs to step up and get this guy out of office.

sam, (none / 0) (#24)
by Xanthe on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 05:26:02 PM EST

I remember a program on NPR a few years back about how bartering and black marketing is really the economy that runs this city. Actually, it seems its citizens are resiliant, despite the government.


Actually (none / 0) (#22)
by cmugirl on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 02:57:52 PM EST

Since his arraignment on the first charges, his polls numbers have gone up and/or held with the citizens of the city.

And, just to bring it back momentarily to the presidential race, he is a superdelegate. And, he almost cost his mother her Congressional seat this week - she had two primary challengers and only won by 1700 votes.


Not a DC repeat (5.00 / 0) (#25)
by liberalone on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 06:44:12 PM EST

Please tell me that Detroit residents wont do something as ridiculous as DC folks with Marion Barry. I know DC folks who still defend Barry.

I've seen Kwame Kilpatrick and his mother on C-Span, prior to all of this. I was very impressed. It seemed like Detroit was on an upswing. I was very disappointed by all of this.

If he truly cares about his city, he needs to step down. Detroit has far too many problems to deal with his ego. I'm sure he'll find a lucrative position in the private sector.


: DC was rediculous (none / 0) (#27)
by samtaylor2 on Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 08:22:19 PM EST

But the reason he got re-elected is that that if you came to Barry he would get you a job, Kwame I don't think has been able to do this.