Kwame Kilpatrick, ex-Detroit mayor, convicted of racketeering, other corruption charges
In this Jan. 25, 2013 file photo, former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick leaves federal court in Detroit. / File,AP Photo/Paul Sancya
DETROIT Jurors in a city buffeted by financial crisis convicted former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on corruption charges Monday, capping a five-month trial that exposed a brazen pay-to-play culture during his years in office while the cash-strapped city lost jobs and people and veered toward insolvency.
Kilpatrick could face more than 10 years in prison for two dozen convictions, from racketeering conspiracy to bribery to tax crimes. Once hailed as a hip, young big-city leader, he was portrayed at trial as an unscrupulous politician who during his nearly seven-year tenure took kickbacks, rigged contracts and lived far beyond his means while in office until fall 2008.
"Kwame Kilpatrick didn't lead the city. He looted the city," U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said.
At the government's urging, Kilpatrick, 42, was ordered to jail to await his sentence, along with Bobby Ferguson, a city contractor who benefited from having a pal as mayor and also was convicted.
Businesses said they were forced to hire Ferguson as a subcontractor or risk losing work through the city's water department. Separately, fundraiser Emma Bell said she gave Kilpatrick more than $200,000 as his personal cut of political donations, pulling cash from her bra during private meetings at city hall. A high-ranking aide, Derrick Miller, told jurors that he often was the middle man, passing bribes from others.
Internal Revenue Service agents said Kilpatrick spent $840,000 beyond his mayoral salary.
"I saw a lot that really, really turned my stomach," said a female juror, a Detroit resident who had voted twice for Kilpatrick when he ran for mayor. "I couldn't believe this type of thing was going on."
The names of jurors were not released by the court, part of the secrecy promised by the judge last summer. Eleven agreed to speak to reporters, although they declined to give their names and refused to be interviewed by TV crews.
The trial occurred at a time of extraordinary crisis in Detroit. Population has fallen 25 percent to 700,000 since 2000. Public finances are in the red for billions of dollars, mostly future pension obligations. Half of property owners are overdue with their property taxes. Meanwhile, Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder could appoint an emergency financial manager in a matter of days, making Detroit the largest city in the country to be taken over by state government.
Detroit's woes were decades in the making. But Kilpatrick's crimes certainly fueled perceptions that he and his staff were far adrift, selfishly lining their pockets, while the city slipped even further.
Detroit's budget deficit topped $300 million by 2008 when Kilpatrick was forced out by another scandal, a series of lies to cover up an extramarital affair with a top aide.
The current mayor, Dave Bing, said the verdict would allow the city to move from "this negative chapter in Detroit's history."
Andre Falconer, a 43-year-old plumber, said Kilpatrick is yet another politician who betrayed the public.
"Everybody should be held responsible for what they do," Falconer said. "Kilpatrick's case doesn't reflect on Detroit, but reflects on his inability to perform the tasks he was elected to do. He didn't have the maturity."
McQuade hopes the case means a new day for the city.
"I hope it sends an important message ... so that businesses will want to come do business here. So that honest politicians will want to serve as the mayor here. So that people will want to work for city government without fear of being compromised," the prosecutor told reporters.
U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds said the jury finished its work Friday, the 14th day of deliberations, but wanted to go home for the weekend before announcing the results Monday.
"They said they wanted to sleep on it. ... I had a sense of what the verdict was," Edmunds told reporters.
Kilpatrick declined to comment to reporters. While awaiting the verdict, he regularly posted upbeat messages to his Twitter followers.
Kilpatrick's father, Bernard, also was charged as part of the racketeering conspiracy. The jury, however, couldn't reach a consensus and convicted him only of submitting a false tax return. The Kilpatricks hugged twice after the verdict, with the son appearing to console his sobbing 71-year-old dad.
Kwame Kilpatrick, who now lives near Dallas, declined to testify. He has long denied any wrongdoing and even declared before trial that he wasn't going to prison. Defense attorney James Thomas told jurors that his client had access to loads of money because city workers and political supporters showered him with cash during holidays and birthdays.
The government also said Kilpatrick abused the Civic Fund, a nonprofit fund he created to help distressed Detroit residents. There was evidence that it was used for yoga lessons, camps for his kids, golf clubs and travel.
Kilpatrick was elected in 2001 at age 31. He resigned in 2008 and pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in a different scandal involving sexually explicit text messages and an affair with his chief of staff.
The Democrat spent 14 months in prison for violating probation in that case after a judge said he failed to report assets that could be put toward his $1 million restitution to Detroit.
Voters booted his mother, Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, from Congress in 2010, partly because of a negative perception of her due to her son's troubles.
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I doubt we are done with the investigations and trials.
We still have the new Wayne County executive and the Detroit City Council!
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Corrupt "DEMOCRAT" Mayor............OBAMA...........Mayor "DEMOCRAT" Corrupt
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Corrupt "DEMOCRAT" Mayor............OBAMA...........Mayor "DEMOCRAT" Corrupt
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Nihilism, Amoralism, Liberalism, Marxism, Collectivism, Socialism
Terence Flynn an appointee of Barack Obama to the National Labor Relations Board resigned in May 2012 after being accused of serious ethical violations by leaking information to the National Association of Manufacturers.
Martha N. Johnson head of the General Services Administration fired two top GSA officials and then resigned herself after it was revealed that $822,000 had been spent in Las Vegas on a four-day training conference for 300 GSA employees.(2010)
Legislative BranchJesse L. Jackson Jr. (D-IL) pleaded guilty to one felony fraud count for using $750,000 of campaign money to buy items like stuffed animals, elk heads and fur capes. His wife, Sandi Jackson, who is a Chicago Alderman, pleaded guilty to filing false income tax statements at the same time.
Laura Richardson (D-CA) was found guilty on seven counts of violating House rules by improperly pressuring her staff to campaign for her, destroying evidence and tampering with witness testimony. The Committee ordered Richardson to pay a fine of $10,000. (2012)
John Ensign (R-NV) resigned his Senate seat on May 3, 2011, before the Senate Ethics Committee could examine possible fiscal violations in connection with his extramarital affair with Cynthia Hampton. (2011) (see Federal sex scandals) In May 2012, aide Doug Hampton (R) in what became the John Ensign scandal reached a plea deal with prosecutors, the details of which have not yet been released.
Tom DeLay (R-TX) On November 24, 2010, a Texas jury convicted DeLay of money laundering connected to the Jack Abramoff scandal. (2010) On January 10, 2011, he was sentenced to three years in prison in Texas.
Judicial BranchG. Thomas Porteous The Federal Judge for Eastern Louisiana was unanimously impeached by the US House of Representatives on charges of corruption and perjury in March 2010. He was convicted by the US Senate and removed from office. He had been appointed by Bill Clinton. (2010)
Samuel B. Kent The Federal District Judge of Galveston, Texas, was sentenced to 33 months in prison for lying about sexually harassing two female employees. He had been appointed to office by George H. W. Bush in 1990. (2009)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_political_scandals_in_the_United_States
Obama's administration is like having Mother Teresa at the helm compared with GW was like having a serial rapist.
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