It's official.
Since I have more naive faith in the nobility of black men than my average reader, I tried to hold off on creating the "Keep It In Your Pants" tag as long as I possibly could, but I can't any longer. After week after week of Michael Strahan, Senator Craig, Travis Henry, and now this moron, how can I not!?!?
Just a motivation to clean up his police department. That was the testimony Wednesday from a soft-spoken but firm Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who denied infidelities and asserted he has no regrets about terminating then-Deputy Chief Gary Brown from police internal affairs. Kilpatrick testified for more than three hours in a whistle-blower lawsuit Brown and another former officer filed.Kilpatrick, son of a Congresswoman, gained national acclaim as he rose to power a few years back, and was dubbed the Hip Hop Mayor for his youthful slang, flashy diamond earrings, and $3,000 suits. Once the youngest mayor of a major US city, Kilpatrick has been constantly dogged by allegations of corruption, infidelity, and misspending of city funds (notably for a family vacation, jet skis, and a cherry red Lincoln Navigator) throughout his two terms.
Allegations of adultery are a central theme of the civil suit brought by Brown and a former police bodyguard, who claim Kilpatrick ruined their careers to halt an investigation that would have revealed embarrassing personal information as well as misconduct by the mayor's security team. Brown and former Officer Harold Nelthrope are seeking monetary damages from the city and Kilpatrick.
Nelthrope and another former police bodyguard, Walt Harris, testified earlier that Kilpatrick cheated on his wife, Carlita Kilpatrick, with other women as the bodyguards stayed outside. Nelthrope testified that he and another officer in 2002 drove the mayor to a rendezvous with a "Jamaican friend" at a barbershop on the west side of Detroit about two blocks from the Kilpatrick family home.
Perhaps the most damning is an alleged 2003 party at the mayoral mansion involving hordes of strippers, one of whom was gunned down shortly thereafter. Efforts by Detroit police to investigate the death of the dancer, Tamara Green (aka: Strawberry) have resulted in alleged cover ups to protect the mayor, as well as the unjustified firings of several whistle blowing officers, like the two currently suing him.
Dag. Whatever happened to mayors who just governed their cities? Mayors who paved the streets, balanced the budget, got the trash picked up on time, and kept their noses clean and pants zipped?
I've never been to "The D", but I've got in-laws out there, and every summer they come to DC, they've got loads of juicy stories about what Kwame's been up to. The alleged (it was never proven) wild party at the Manoogian Mansion is supposedly the stuff of urban lore in Detroit. The Motor City clearly leads the country (although LA, Newark, and SF are all honorable mentions) in City Hall Drama. On the other hand: employment, literacy, overall economy, poverty rates? Not so much.
I hear Kilpatrick has indeed done some good things, most notably improving the city's long blighted downtown. But when your city is still known more for it's philandering mayor than anything else, perhaps it's time to consider your other options. I hear Windsor, Ontario isn't such a bad place to live.
Keep it in your pants, Hip Hop Mayor.
David Dinkins is crying inside. So is Chris Thomas.
Kilpatrick: I did nothing wrong [Detroit Free Press]
