Motor City Mayor Runs Up $210K Tab

Detroit Mayor Charges Pricey Meals, Travel To Cash-Strapped City

(AP)  Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, whose city is struggling with a projected $230 million deficit, has charged at least $210,000 for travel, meals, a bottle of pricey champagne and other items on his city-issued credit card over nearly three years, public records show.

The charges cover the first 33 months of Kilpatrick's four-year term that began in January 2002. The Detroit Free Press said Tuesday that it obtained the records last month through a Michigan Freedom of Information Act request.

The purchases include 78 charges for meals over the 33 months, including a $283 bill at Danny's Grand Sea Palace in New York in January 2002 and a $456 bill at the Capital Grille in Washington in September 2003.

The 34-year-old former state House Democratic leader also spent more than $600 at two upscale restaurants in January 2002 while attending a U.S. Conference of Mayors' meeting in Washington. In March 2002, he charged a $194 dinner, including an $85 bottle of Moet & Chandon champagne, at an Atlanta restaurant owned by Sean "P. Diddy" Combs.

Kilpatrick spokesman Howard Hughey told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the mayor's travels and entertainment have been part of his effort to attract business to the city, which has struggled with a steep population decline since the 1950s and the resulting erosion of the tax base.

"As indicative of any first-term mayor, he has done so to meet with several potential public and private investors," Hughey said.