Detroit's Mayor to Be Charged in Text Messaging Scandal: GOOD

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff will face felony charges for their roles in a whistleblower cover-up, which cost the city of Detroit over $9 million. Both will face "multiple counts of perjury, obstruction of justice, misconduct in office and conspiracy" according to the Detroit Free Press, which broke the story two months ago.

It is believed that Kilpatrick settled the matter after one of the attorneys representing one of the whistleblowers let it be known to the mayor's attorney that he had the romantic text messages, after both the mayor and chief of staff said that they were not having an affair while on the stand and while under oath.

Before someone says "Oh, it's all about sex again," it most definitely is NOT all about sex. This is about a mayor who lied under oath, got caught, and used city financial resources to pay for the cover-up.

And he's also used the race card, dropping the n-word during his State of the City address within the last couple of weeks, to throw critics off the trail. I do believe him when he says that some communications directed at him and his family from his constituents and others contained racist comments and labels, but a good politician knows how to turn that to his advantage. Mayor Kilpatrick's attempt to do so backfired.

While I am sympathetic to his defense of his family, I quote a statement that he made to the Associated Press on July 9th of 2007. On the occasion of the NAACP staging of a mock burial of the n-word, he said:

"Today we're not just burying the N-word, we're taking it out of our spirit," said Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. "We gather burying all the things that go with the N-word. We have to bury the 'pimps' and the 'hos' that go with it."

He continued: "Die N-word, and we don't want to see you 'round here no more."

Really? I hate to say "I told you so!", but I TOLD YOU SO! I refer you to my post of 7/10/07 on this very topic. The n-word will NEVER die if people like Kwame Kilpatrick keep it alive and in circulation.

I think it's time to swear in the deputy mayor as the new Mayor of the City of Detroit. The mayor's office has been paralyzed for two months over this situation, which no one but Kwame Kilpatrick and his chief of staff are solely and completely responsible for.

Politicians and celebrities need to be held to the same standard that EVERYONE else is. This announcement is a step in the right direction.