King Kwame's Text Messages

Area leaders: 'It's time to just end'
Patterson: 'His whole career went sideways'
BY JOHN GALLAGHER, TOM WALSH and SUZETTE HACKNEY • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS • September 4, 2008

Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, who sparred with Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick over policy but shared laughs with him in numerous joint appearances, sounded almost wistful Wednesday evening about the mayor's apparently imminent departure from office.


"When he and I used to debate and we'd clown around up at Mackinac, he was a very, very gifted speaker, quick on his feet, and he had a great sense of humor," Patterson said. "We used to go toe to toe to the delight of the audience. To that extent, the mayor will, I think, be missed.

"He could have continued along that way with a lot of productive things getting done," Patterson added. "Unfortunately, his whole career went sideways."

With reports swirling of a pending plea deal that would cost Kilpatrick his job, Patterson said City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr., who would take over as mayor, needed time to get into regional issues, including the long-running debate over expanding Cobo Center convention space.

"I doubt that Cobo is going to be the first thing on his radar screen," Patterson said. "So I would assume Cobo will languish a little bit in the background while Ken gets his feet wet and deals with other issues that are more pressing, not least among them the budget."

Several top business leaders or their spokespeople declined Wednesday evening to comment.

Detroit City Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel wiped tears from her eyes after learning Kilpatrick likely would plead guilty to criminal charges.

"It's time to just end," she said.

Commenting on the removal hearing held Wednesday by Gov. Jennifer Granholm, she added, "What we're seeing here in the testimony today is that this is an administration that lost its moral compass, if it ever had one."

The Rev. Horace L. Sheffield III, an ardent supporter of Kilpatrick, released a statement asking Detroiters to pray for the mayor and his family.

"This truly is not a day for anyone to rejoice, nor to be gleeful about this apparent plea of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his subsequent departure from the office of the mayor of the City of Detroit," Sheffield said in his statement.

"As a father of an aspiring and promising young black man ... he and I both now have to unfortunately witness another young and gifted black man entangled within the criminal justice system."

Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins said she is relieved, but does not want to see Kilpatrick sent to jail.

"If it does take place, I'm glad that it'll all be over finally," she said.

Councilwoman JoAnn Watson said she would not comment until after today's court hearing, and other council members could not be reached.

Macomb County auto dealer Carl Galeana, a cochairman of the 2008 North American International Auto Show at Cobo Center, said a plea deal in which Kilpatrick leaves office would "hopefully help get things moving again as far as expanding Cobo."

"I think it was inevitable, frankly," Galeana said of Kilpatrick's expected resignation. "Still, it's a sad day. We've always worked well with the city, but it is what it is."


Staff writers Zachary Gorchow and Ben Schmitt contributed to this report.

Kwame will be back

You know it!

laprimamirala wrote:

You know it!

The Great Fatsby will return

I predict Kwame will be Mayor of Detroit in 2013

hopefully the world will have ended by then

laprimamirala wrote:

hopefully the world will have ended by then

So when does Kwame go to jail?

Sounds like it's before the end of the month?

laprimamirala wrote:

Sounds like it's before the end of the month?

He should be in jail already

If it were me or you; we behind bars already


Will Kwame's Chauffeur drive him in his limo to jail

He has to "step down" on his "official resignation date."

THERE HAS BEEN NO MAYOR FOR MONTHS
why does he have to prolong this crap

Kilpatrick's name off Detroit Zoo tower
By PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI • FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER • September 16, 2008

Former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s name is no longer on the Detroit Zoo’s water tower, thanks to an anonymous donor who put up the $20,000 to $30,000 it cost to change the tower’s décor.


Instead a new sign saying “A zoo worth keeping…thanks!” — a thank you to metro voters for supporting the zoo’s 0.1 mill tax — went up shortly after 6 p.m. Tuesday. The 10 year millage will raise $15 million annually for the zoo.

There’s no word who the donor was, whether it was an individual or a corporation, or from Detroit or the suburbs, said zoo communications director Patricia Janeway. But she said the donor volunteered and the zoo wasn’t looking for the donation.

The sign is actually a vinyl sign layered over the water tower.

“I think a lot of people think the logo is painted but it’s actually a vinyl adhesive,” Janeway said. The mayor sign was a separate piece and that was the part that was removed.

The new sign will stay in place until spring, when a tower makeover was already planned. No new mayoral names will go up, but zoo officials have toyed with the idea of selling the space for advertising and even possibly putting up an electrical sign, but nothing has been decided, Janeway said.

$20,000 - $30,000 to change it's decor!!! I would've painted it for $2,000!!!!

iluvpudge7 wrote:

$20,000 - $30,000 to change it's decor!!! I would've painted it for $2,000!!!!

I am glad his name is gone

Kwame still not in jail

Do I have to start a countdown till Kwame's ass in the slammer?

He should be in jail

Go get 'im, gs!

laprimamirala wrote:

Go get 'im, gs!

they'll probably send him to the Bahamas for rehab!

laprimamirala wrote:

they'll probably send him to the Bahamas for rehab!

Paid for by residents of Detroit

Monday, October 27, 2008
Ex-mayor heads to jail Tuesday: Room 14J-4 is Kilpatrick's new home
George Hunter and Charlie LeDuff / The Detroit News

• Video: Explore Kwame Kilpatrick's jail cell
  
• Photos: A look inside Kwame Kilpatrick's jail cell
  

DETROIT -- Two months ago, he was living in a spacious, riverfront mansion. His next taxpayer-funded accommodation will be decidedly more cramped.   Kwame Kilpatrick is set to go to jail Tuesday, and former inmates say it can be difficult to adjust to life in a malodorous 15-by-10-foot cell.

He will trade his custom-tailored threads and monogrammed cuffs for a hand-me-down green jumpsuit -- most likely a size 5-X -- and the fancy fare he's become accustomed to will be replaced by boxed lunches and a foodstuff known as "mystery meat."

And though he'll be insulated from the media, he'll have other bugs to fend off.

"Jail is not a place you want to be," said Donald Gist, a 27-year-old Detroit resident who served three months in the jail last year on a drug charge.

Because of his notoriety, Kilpatrick will be assigned a solitary cell in a second-floor unit that houses high-profile offenders -- the same cell where he spent the night Aug. 7 for a bond violation, jail officials said.

Known as the "Capias Unit" --an apparent reference to an archaic word for "arrest" --it's reserved for celebrated, usually short-term guests such as Dr. Jack Kevorkian and drug slinger "White Boy" Rick Wershe.

The unit consists of two cells. Both are larger than standard cells and include a pay telephone, an 8-by-7-foot bathroom with a shower and a writing table.

Kilpatrick's cell, Room 14J-4, is no palace. The walls are stained. The shower pressure is weak. Three small, barred windows provide little light, but a drab view of the courthouse where Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to two felonies.

The mattress is lumpy. Meals are fed through a slot in the steel door.

But it's not without its perks: Jail officials say Kilpatrick will be allowed cable television -- if he brings his own TV and leaves it behind after his 120-day sentence.

"Kwame is going to get a lot of privileges," former inmate Donald Gist said. "But it won't matter; he'll still be in jail."

As mayor, Kilpatrick spent thousands of public dollars staying in fancy hotels in Paris and the Bahamas. His stint in the Wayne County Jail will cost taxpayers a mere $115 a night.

"It smells like you'd expect: a bunch of sweaty guys who haven't taken a shower," said 44-year-old John Roberts of Detroit, who spent a week in the jail two years ago for failing to pay child support. "When you first go in, it makes you gag."

Kilpatrick will receive a green jumpsuit, sandals, and toothbrush and toothpaste. Jail-issued toothbrushes have truncated handles, so inmates cannot fashion them into weapons. But if the mayor wants socks and underwear, he will have to bring his own.

Inmates are allowed to wash their clothes twice a week. More hygienic-minded prisoners use soap shavings to launder their clothes in their metal sinks on off days.

Despite some inmates' attempts at cleanliness, the jail is infested with roaches.

"They're everywhere," said former inmate Donald Gist. "You put your food down for one second and there's a roach crawling in it."

Privacy? Unlike other inmates, Kilpatrick could have more than he'll ever want. The capias cells are at the end of a bleak corridor with missing ceiling tiles. The unit is behind two steel doors and he'll be segregated from the general population. If he gets in trouble, he can contact the guards by intercom.

Inmates get one visit per week from friends and family. Attorneys can visit any time. Prisoners' visitation day depends on their last names, meaning Kilpatrick's visits will likely be on Wednesdays or Thursdays.

A bulletproof glass window will separate Kilpatrick from his visitors. A metal grate set in the glass allows for conversation.

Breakfast is a favorite meal in the jail. Not only is the food identifiable -- it's usually boxes of cereal served in paper bowls -- but the menu often includes a doughnut or some other pastry.

Those confections, generically referred to as "dough rolls," have replaced cigarettes as the preferred jailhouse currency since smoking is banned, guards said.

"The food is disgusting," said one-time inmate John Roberts. "The first night I was there, they served some kind of mystery meat; I don't know what it was. It could've been chicken, beef, rabbit -- I don't know."

"I decided to wait for breakfast. At least I know what Sugar Pops are supposed to look like." Lunch and dinner usually consist of things like soy burgers, chicken or Salisbury steaks. Meals are washed down by cartons of milk or juice -- no pop is allowed.

In addition to the three daily meals, Kilpatrick will be able to buy chips, candy and other snacks from a commissary cart that comes through the cell block a few days a week. Commissary goodies are also used as currency. MoonPies are the most popular commissary item, guards and former inmates said.

Each day, Kilpatrick will get one hour of recreation, during which he may visit the gym, which has a few weight machines and a basketball hoop.

"Mr. Kilpatrick will not recreate with the general population," Wayne County Sheriff's Office spokesman John Roach said. "Time spent in the outdoor recreation area is counted as two indoor rec days."

Some prisoners work out between gym visits by lifting plastic garbage bags filled with water, but guards say they frown on the practice because it's often a ruse -- inmates will also use the water-filled bags to make "spud juice," an alcoholic drink created by dropping an orange or other piece of fruit into the bag of water and allowing it to ferment.

Inmates also exhibit that make-do creativity when it comes to other forms of recreation, guards said. They often draw chess pieces on scraps of paper and carve dominoes from soap.

And when things get boring, guards say prisoners sometimes liven things up by deliberately flooding their toilets.

But Kilpatrick can reach out and touch someone at any time. He gets his own phone and as many collect calls as he wishes.

Monday, October 27, 2008
Politics & personality: Psychologists weigh in on behaviors of the former Detroit mayor
Kimberly Hayes Taylor / The Detroit News

Kwame Kilpatrick seemed to have the world in his hands when he became Detroit's mayor in 2002.

Young, handsome and charming, he possessed an infectious smile and a magnetic personality that brought new energy to the city. He successfully led a Detroit renaissance, so people often excused his jet-setting lifestyle of popping champagne bottles, lavish spa visits and vacationing in grand Las Vegas hotel suites on the city's dime.

Like dominoes, Kilpatrick's world started tumbling down in January when text messages revealed an affair with Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, indicating he lied on the witness stand in 2007 during two fired police officers' civil trial. By the time he pleaded guilty Sept. 4 to two obstruction of justice counts, many of his staunch supporters had turned against him.

On Tuesday, Kilpatrick will head to jail for four months, and we asked three mental health experts to ponder Kilpatrick's future. While they've never professionally evaluated the former mayor, the psychologists comment on his self-destructive behavior while in office.

Pauline Furman, a psychologist and marital therapist in Southfield, says she believes Kilpatrick has a narcissistic personality disorder and says he fits each description of that personality, according to the Diagnostic Statistical Manual, the therapists' bible.

"He exaggerates his own importance and needs constant attention and positive reinforcement from others," Furman says. "He overreacts to criticism, becoming angry or humiliated. He's extremely self-absorbed, intolerant of others' perspectives. He uses others to reach his personal goals and take advantage of others. He's arrogant and behaves in a haughty manner."

Kilpatrick has shown signs of depression for months, says veteran forensic psychologist Patricia Wallace, who also practices in Southfield. He also displays what she says are narcissistic and histrionic personality traits.

"We saw it early on," Wallace says, "especially when he gave his State of the City address (where an outraged Kilpatrick used the n-word and angrily called for the media to stop its 'lynch-mob mentality'). The depressive tendencies were blatant. He was able to go through with his prepared speech very carefully, almost flawlessly until his anger and rage evolved at the end of the speech."

Furman says when Kilpatrick pleaded guilty, he also displayed signs of narcissism.

"If you remember when he was reading his piece in the courtroom where he had to admit his guilt, it was as if he was just reading any piece of paper," Furman says. "He looked at his attorney and said, 'Read this?' He wasn't confused. It was just that he wasn't connected to the experience of being in that courtroom and admitting that he was wrong, and he only read the words."

People with narcissistic/histrionic personalities also tend to blame others for their actions.

Kilpatrick displayed this tendency later that day by orchestrating a private news conference to deliver his departure speech. Family and friends loudly cheered him. His wife, Carlita Kilpatrick, seemed almost robotic as she stood up, slowly walked to his side and, as if on cue, kissed him on the cheek and waited to kiss him a second time. At the end of his speech, highlighting a list of his achievements while mayor, he blamed Gov. Jennifer Granholm for his troubles, intimating if Granholm had not held removal hearings, he would have remained mayor.

"That is a prime narcissist," says Michelle Leno, who practices in Birmingham. "Jennifer Granholm wasn't preoccupied with him. She was only doing her job. I don't think he planned to say those things at the end; he couldn't resist the urge.

"That's what got him into a lot of trouble, his inability to resist urges. He waits until the end of the speech, and something tells him, 'Go ahead and say it. This is your time.'"

He also told the audience, "Ya'll done set me up for a comeback," and scolded people who "tried to break up his marriage," announcing his marriage was stronger than ever.

Histrionics and narcissists have trouble listening to others' advice. That's why the three psychologists say it's difficult, if not impossible, to treat the personality disorder.

"Working with a narcissistic personality is a challenge," she says, "because they think, 'You are not good enough to treat me.' They view treatment as unnecessary, and personality traits are difficult to change."

Leno says, "I wouldn't try to treat the personality disorder; I would try to have them modify the symptoms. For example, if this person has trouble keeping a job, I would help them work on the characteristics that are making it difficult for them to maintain employment."

What's next for Kilpatrick after he is freed from jail and moves past his legal issues?

"People like that either survive and make it -- they push through or they end up down and out," Leno says. "He's not an in-between person. He's all or nothing."

Wallace says she expects Kilpatrick to bounce back as a highly paid motivational speaker or a mega-church minister.

"They all require an audience -- money and an audience."

You can reach Kimberly Hayes Taylor at (313) 222-2058 or ktaylor @detnews.com

This would be a great case study for some psychology student's master's or PhD!!

Any group that would hire Kwame as a speaker is farce


Any religion that Kwame would preach is a sham


But I can see people lining up to fill Kwame's pockets after he gets out of jail

I guess crime does pay

Time to go to jail Fatsby

Don't drop the soap in the shower

And bang on the bars with the little tin cup you get

So you can get your cigarette and cup of coffee at 6am

Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Kilpatrick in jail
Paul Egan, Doug Guthrie and George Hunter / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- Former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is now in jail, the first of 120 days for lying to "protect your political career," a judge said as he upbraided Kilpatrick for acting with "hubris and privilege."

Wayne Circuit Court Judge David Groner chastised Kilpatrick -- who often shook his head in apparent disagreement -- during a terse monologue. Groner declared that Kilpatrick knowingly lied about his romantic relationship with his former chief of staff and cost the city millions of dollars in the process.

"At a time when this city needed transparency, accountability and responsibility, you exhibited hubris and privilege at the expense of the city," Groner said.

Minutes of Groner's pronouncement, Kilpatrick left the courtroom, handed his wedding ring to his wife, Carlita, and headed for the Wayne County Jail, where he was given a jumpsuit and had his picture taken.

During a long and often contentious hearing, Groner was declarative in his finding: Kilpatrick knowingly lied during his testimony during the whistle-blower lawsuit brought -- and won -- by two former police officers.

"These lies were to cover up your wrongful dismissal of (two) police officers," Groner said. The result cost the city the $8.5 million it paid to the officers.

The sentencing ends nine months of revelations and admissions about and from the former mayor.

All told, Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to two counts of felony obstruction of justice in a deal that calls for 120 days in jail, payment to the city of $1 million in restitution and five years on probation during which he can't run for office. The sentence includes Kilpatrick's punishment for his no-contest plea to the assault of two investigators who tried to serve a subpoena on a friend at his sister's home. That charge was brought by Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox.

During the at-times testy hearing, attorneys and prosecutors exchanged charges, with Kilpatrick's team claiming that calls for additional penalties amounted to "piling on" and that Kilpatrick was being treated unlike other defendants.

That charge drew an emotional response from assistant prosecutor Robert Moran, who seethed his response, claiming that Kilpatrick had "held the city hostage for six months," denying the charges until he finally pleaded guilty in September, and only after Gov. Jennifer Granholm began a historic hearing on his removal.

"We don't need public servants who lie," Moran said, and who treat the community "as their own playground."

Afterward, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said she was satisfied with the decision.

In the end, Groner agreed to the four-month term initially set during plea negotiations. He also rejected calls for an additional $22,186 bill prosecutors sought, as well as a call for an anger management class for his confrontation with two court officers trying to serve a subpoena.

Groner said Kilpatrick "snapped" that day, but that there was no evidence of a pattern of angry behavior.

During the hearing, letters from prosecution investigators were read, portraying the former mayor as an out-of-control, intimidating bully who put their lives in danger.

Doug Baker, an attorney for Cox, read letters from Brian White and JoAnn Kinney, claiming they feared for their lives during a confrontation with Kilpatrick while they tried to serve a subpoena. Kilpatrick pleaded no contest to assaulting a court officer as part of a Sept. 4 plea deal.

Kinney wrote that the event "remains etched" in her mind forever. The former Detroit Police officer said the July 24 incident with Kilpatrick was the most dangerous of her career. Kilpatrick was accused of shouting obscenities at the officers and pushing White into Kinney as they attempted to serve a subpoena.

"I have never felt so helpless or unable to protect myself," Kinney wrote. She added that the then-mayor's bodyguards were with him during the incident at his sister's house and she worried she would get shot.

"Kilpatrick is more dangerous and frightening than any criminal I have ever encountered."

The statements were met with incredulity from Kilpatrick's supporters and his lawyers. Kilpatrick's attorney, Gerald Evelyn, equated them to "piling on." Leaving the courtroom, Kilpatrick's uncle, Marvel Cheeks, accused both investigators of lying.

"There is no way in the world Kwame Kilpatrick could be the most dangerous criminal they've ever encountered in their lives," Cheeks said. "I think they are saying it out of anger, revenge. They're trying to make it as bad as possible.

"They're trying to hang him. This to me is no different than the lynchings of the 1950s and 1960s. There is no justice. There should be no peace."

The hearing occasionally grew testy, as Kilpatrick's lawyers said they spent a long time agreeing to a deal, then had new penalties imposed today. At one point, Groner admonished a Kilpatrick attorney for talking too long, telling him he wanted to wrap-up the hearing.

Former city general counsel Sharon McPhail, who represented the mayor during Gov. Jennifer Granholm's ouster hearing, left the meeting and said she would have liked to have had an opportunity to address the court.

As she left the private meeting, she called the four-month jail term "overkill."

"Here's a guy with no criminal background going to jail. There are people who have killed people out on the streets," McPhail said after she left a meeting between Kilpatrick's attorneys and prosecutors. "Whatever that was done, hasn't he already paid a big price? Do we need to stomp and grind him into the ground?"

She left the hearing hours later in disgust, saying "I just don't know what's going on in there."

But she added: "I think we're all glad this chapter is over. I think dragging it out like this doesn't do anything for anybody."

After the sentencing, attorney Evelyn said that "under the circumstances, I'm convinced this is the best deal that could be achieved."

"Would I have liked a better deal for him? Absolutely. Do I feel like he deserved a better deal? Absolutely," Evelyn said. "But I wasn't the only one making the decision."

Another defense attorney, Todd Flood, was more blunt: "I don't think there were any winners today."

By about 5:30 p.m., Kilpatrick had left the courtroom and prepared to be processed at the jail. He's expected to be processed and given a used green jumpsuit with "Wayne County Jail" stenciled in the back.

Because the hearing dragged on so long, Kilpatrick will likely miss dinner. The jail was serving beef pot pie and Jell-O.

You can reach Mike Wilkinson at (313) 222-2563 or mwilkinson@detnews.com

If I read that right after his 5 years of probation he can run again? Kwame for mayor in 2013!