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Detroit news - Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Term paper [4]
Ok my paper still have a week before my paper is due. Well, this paper is 30% of my grade so I'm trying to seek as much help as I can. She is a stickler for grammar so I'm going through this paper with a fine tooth comb, and if you could help as well I'd appreciate it.
sorry it is a little long (9pages)
Recently, one of the major topics in Detroit news revolves around Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Being elected mayor for six years, he has made quite a mark in recent Detroit history; as it turns out though, that mark is going to make him infamous. Being the nicknamed the "Hip-Hop Mayor" he was elected as mayor of Detroit at age 31, becoming the youngest mayor to be elected for any major city in the United States. In the beginning, many voters of Detroit may have thought that a young black mayor may have been just what Detroit needed. Except, it turned sour, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been an unjust mayor. He has abused his power by using city funds to benefit his own personal gain. He has also used his position to aid his personal friends with contract work issued by the city. To make matters worse, Kwame Kilpatrick, being the Mayor of Detroit has set a bad image for himself, and in turn given Detroit a similar bad image. His abuse of his position, I believe outweighs any good he has done for Detroit. Even introducing other industries rather than relying solely upon the automotive industry.
Born in 1970, Kilpatrick attended Detroit's Pelham Middle School and Cass Technical High School. After graduation at the selective school, he attended Florida A&M University. Where he obtained a BS in Political Science, he also holds a Juris Doctorate from the Detroit College of Law. Before attaining elected office, Kilpatrick worked as a teacher in the Detroit Public School system. Kilpatrick's biography on the Detroit city Website claims he holds a teaching certificate from Florida A&M, but recent media reports claim the university denies this (City Mayors). Afterwards, Kwame succeeded his mother's position in the Michigan State House of Representatives. He also became the first Afro-American to lead the Democrats in the State Legislature. In the year 2000, he addressed the Democratic National Convention at Los Angeles. He then spoke again at the Boston convention in 2004. While in position at the legislature, he brokered the Clean Michigan Initiative which promoted urban renewal through new funding, and also secured a deal to preserve health care funding for those on low income. Currently, he is the Vice President of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors, and also a trustee in the US Conference of Mayors (City Mayors).
Kilpatrick began his mayoral career with the election in 2002. Thereafter, he was re-elected in 2005. Which it was inferred that the re-election against Freman Hendrix may have been rigged, although there is not enough evidence to support this claim. All that is known, is that eight "memory packs" turned up missing during the election on November 8th (Tuesday). The memory packs were then recovered on Wednesday and Thursday that same week. The newfound data consequently added 2,900 ballots, and 2,326 votes to the mayoral race, adding over 8,500 votes to the Election Day totals. The press then reported that sealed ballot boxes were found a week after the election occurred (Freman Hendrix). This raises questions on the security and due process on which the election was run.
Detroit has become an ailing city, having seen its population more than halved, from a 1950's peak of nearly 2 million. Unemployment stands at 14% which is nearly triple the national average (5.1% as of March 2008.) About 47% of the city's residents over the age of 16 are functionally illiterate. Yet, for much of Kilpatrick's term, parts of Detroit have experienced an economic turnaround similar to those that have taken in Chicago and Washington. Million dollar lofts are being built along the Detroit River. The Overall crime rate dropped 12.4% with violent crime down 15%. Homicides are down 17% and non-fatal shootings have dropped by 9% in the last year (Time Magazine). In 2004 Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick broke historic ground, ordering a large scale renovation plan to the city parks that have been neglected over the years. The Detroit Recreation Department last summer (2004), worked diligently to renovate ten of the parks; one park for each of the ten sectors of Detroit. Improvements include: brightly-colored play equipment on soft rubber safety surfaces, new walking paths, picnic areas, tennis, basketball, football, and soccer courts. The parks also received new benches, fences, and new landscaping (Kwame Kilpatrick Official Website). Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's administration has not only worked on dropping crime rate in Detroit, but also put forth efforts to improve overall safety on the streets. After a reorganization of the police department, crime-fighting efforts improved with getting more officers on the streets and more officers in uniform. In addition, over $85 million in drugs have been confiscated, and over 15,000 illegal firearms have been taken off the streets as well. Operation Gun Stop was implemented in 2004, where $500 was rewarded to anyone who provides information that led to the conviction of an illegal firearm. Lastly, a Most Violent Persons List was conceived, which promoted the identification and profiling of Detroit's 25 most wanted criminals, and served to expedite their incarceration (Kwame Kilpatrick Official Website).
On November 13, 2007, Dan Gilbert chairman of Quicken Loans, and Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick announced that Quicken Loans will relocate its headquarters to Detroit. This move has been stated to bring in over 4,000 new jobs to Detroit. This is part of the plan Kwame is calling "The Next Detroit"(City of Detroit Website). In an Interview with Clare Pfeiffer Ramsey from Model D, an Internet based weekly news source, Kwame Kilpatrick explains his plans for the Next Detroit, "The key to transforming is growth. The key to growth is changing our heavy reliance on the manufacturing industry. We set up this transformation growth committee, and the ideas that come to it are excellent," which he then further explains, "that the committee plans to use Governor Jennifer Granholm's 21st Century Fund for $400 million. We want to go after that pot of money to immediately grow emerging industries- to grow that corridor as a corridor for innovation, technology, global resources, and service-oriented businesses like marketing. To diversify our economy- that's the key to our survival. We call it transformation instead of transition, because Detroit really does need to be made over. But to get there we have to transform what we are today" (Model D). Kwame knows his plan and how to get there. With most things, it takes awhile to bear the fruits of such plans.
Our Mayor of Detroit is not entirely full of just merit. As the media would like you to believe, it appears as if he has only been cavorting about musing towards his own interests and personal gain. Even in the Nation's Capitol, police ceased providing after-hours protection for Kwame, "We arrived at this decision because we felt that the late evening partying on the part of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick would leave our officers stretched too thin, and might result in an incident at one of the clubs" Sgt. Tyrone Dodson wrote, in his sworn testimony on September 9th. Dodson gave his disposition as part of the lawsuit- one of two that have made salacious accusations against Kilpatrick about his personal life- described one night in 2002, when he accompanied Kilpatrick and two Detroit police body guards to the Washington night club Dream, "The Mayor filled the limousine with 10 or more people, mostly young women dressed in evening wear" (Law Enforcement News).
His excessive partying isn't even the beginning of his abuse of power. Bobby Ferguson, a long time friend of Kilpatrick has been getting a few "personal" business favors. Ferguson, owner of Ferguson Enterprises, has worked with the city before Kilpatrick's inauguration as Mayor in 2002. In the period of late 1999 through 2001, Ferguson Enterprises tallied $8 million in work with the city. Counting the time of Kilpatrick's position as Mayor, Ferguson Enterprises has gained over $45 million in contract work through the city. According to text messages obtained from the Free Press, Ferguson and Christine Beatty, Detroit's Chief of Staff at the time, exchanged messages discussing inside information on potential projects. These discussions included the prompt payment to Ferguson when he urgently needed a check from the city. On October 30th 2002, text messages were exchanged between Beatty and Ferguson. The messages involved Beatty asking Ferguson how much it would cost to have her driveway repaved. Ferguson replied that no payment was needed, "Ya know ya my sister," he replied "family don't worry about shit like money." Whether or not he was paid for the favor has not been determined. Later that week, Ferguson made the statement, "Ferguson Enterprises has never provided any service to any public official as a precondition to winning any...public bids." A public official who benefits personally from favors in exchange for a city issued contract can be persecuted under federal law, which treats such acts as a form of bribery (Detroit Free Press).
Kilpatrick not only got his friends deals into money from the city, Kilpatrick is claiming his own share of city funds. In August of 2006, Kilpatrick and his family went to a very well known hotel in California, La Costa Resort and Spa. There, the family had a luxurious stay for 7 nights, while charging up a bill for over eleven thousand dollars. As shown below is an excerpt of the hotel bill:
The figure shows the excessive spending that ensued during the vacation. It was later found that the Kilpatrick Civic fund paid eighty six hundred of the aforementioned bill, through a check signed by Christine Beatty. The civic fund, which is run by Anaya Kilpatrick, Kwame's sister, was supposedly established and given tax exempt status to "educate residents about voting; support crime prevention or economic empowerment and improve social welfare." Then states in Article VII of the Civic Fund that "No part of the net earnings of the corporation shall be distributed to, or insure the benefit, of, any director or officer of the corporation, contributor or individual as prohibited by Section 501(c)(4) of the code, the Michigan General Sales Tax or the Michigan Use Tax Act." The Kilpatrick Administration has not mentioned if the Civic fund will be reimbursed or not. Nor, has the administration discussed if action will be taken for Kwame violating Article VII (Steve Wilson).
As Kwame's bad reputation grew, things began to become uneasy for Kilpatrick. During the mayor's seventh State of the City address, he stopped his prepared speech to a "Transformed Detroit" about the upcoming economic stimulus package and how he promised to use it for the betterment of Detroit. To talk about the threats and "Unethical, illegal, lynch mob mentality" that has been plaguing him, his family, and his administration for the past month. These threats are concerning the racy text messages sent between him and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, whom he denied having an affair with while under oath during the whistle blowers trial that cost the city $8.4 million last summer (ABC News). In January 2008, it was disclosed that the married mayor had sent salacious text messages to his chief of staff. The messages contradicted a sworn statement made by the mayor that he had not had a physical relationship with Ms. Beatty. The messages were said to have been exchanged over two month periods in 2002 through 2003, and showed the two planning to meet in hotel rooms and recounting their sexual relations. Dismissing calls to resign Kilpatrick then claimed in a radio interview that he was, "On assignment from God in his position as Mayor" (City Mayors). Following that on March 24th 2008, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worth announced the warrant for Kwame and Christine Beatty's arrest. She announced the 12 count complaint charging: perjury, conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, and misconduct in office. Monday afternoon, Kilpatrick and Beatty, arrived in separate vehicles, turned themselves in at the Wayne County Sheriff's Office in Westland to be booked on the charges. Kwame and Christine were indicted and released shortly after. Kwame Does not intend to resign from office, as suggested by his lawyer Dan Webb, "This man, my client is entitled to his day in court. If this mayor is required to resign his public office before that jury trial, that means he is going to be prematurely punished before he gets his day in court." Webb said he would seek to block what so far has been the linchpin in the scandal- the text messages exchanged between Kilpatrick and Beatty (Detroit Free Press).
Detroit's Hip-Hop Mayor now stands accused of 8 felonious charges, and is awaiting trial. Where he and his former chief of staff Christine Beatty may or may not be convicted. His excessive partying and defensive attempts to cast himself as a racial martyr has not helped to improve his image. It sent out a message that, "This is our city now and thug life is OK" says Mildred Gaddis, one of Detroit's most popular black talk-radio personalities, "This hip-hop thing," she observes" it turned off a lot of people who initially supported him." Gaddis also mentions that this included herself (Time Magazine).
"I think that Kilpatrick just can't see himself as anything other than a political creature. After all, he said he was born to be Mayor of Detroit," Larry Gabriel of Metro Times says "Once he's out of Manoogian, his political career is most likely over and won't make a comeback!" Kilpatrick has lost a lot of his support from the beginning of his stint as Mayor of Detroit. The benefits Detroit as gained through Kilpatrick's leadership, doesn't compare to his amoral behavior in office. As long as he stays in office, his reputation will continue to deteriorate, and the harder it will become for him to move on with continuing his career in any political office.
By the way, when citing which source I got my information from should i do the author, or is it fine as it is by posting the news source
