Kwame Kilpatrick
Kwame Malik Kilpatrick is an American former politician who served as the 72nd mayor of Detroit from 2002 to 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously represented the 9th district in the Michigan House of Representatives from 1997 to 2002. Kilpatrick resigned as mayor in September 2008 after being convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice. He was sentenced to four months in jail and was released on probation after serving 99 days.
In May 2010, Kilpatrick was sentenced to eighteen months to five years in state prison for violating his probation, and served time at the Oaks Correctional Facility in northwest Michigan. In March 2013, he was convicted on 24 federal felony counts, including mail fraud, wire fraud, and racketeering. In October 2013, Kilpatrick was sentenced to 28 years in federal prison, and was incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in El Reno, Oklahoma. On January 20, 2021, after Kilpatrick served 76 months of his 336-month sentence, president Donald Trump commuted his sentence and Kilpatrick was released from prison.
Early life, education, and family
Kwame Malik Kilpatrick was born June 8, 1970, to Bernard Kilpatrick and Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick. His parents divorced in 1981. Kilpatrick attended Detroit's Cass Technical High School and graduated from Florida A&M University with a Bachelor of Science degree in political science in 1992. While at FAMU, he played football under NFL Hall of Famer Ken Riley as an offensive tackle and was team captain. On September 9, 1995, he married Carlita Poles in Detroit. They have three children together, Jalil, Jonas, and Jelani. In 1999 he received a Juris Doctor from Detroit College of Law-Michigan State University He has a sister Ayanna and a half-sister, Diarra.Kilpatrick's mother Carolyn was a career politician, representing Detroit in Michigan House of Representatives from 1979 to 1996 and serving in the United States House of Representatives for Michigan's 13th congressional district from 1996 to 2010. She was not re-elected to office because she lost her primary election in August 2010 to State Senator Hansen Clarke. NPR and CBS News both noted that throughout her re-election campaign, Carolyn was dogged by questions about Kilpatrick following his tenure as mayor of Detroit.
Kilpatrick's father Bernard was a semi-professional basketball player and politician. He was elected to the Wayne County Commission, served as head of Wayne County Health and Human Services Department from 1989 to 2002, and as chief of staff to former Wayne County Executive Edward H. McNamara. Later he operated a Detroit consulting firm called Maestro Associates.
Kilpatrick filed for divorce from Carlita in 2018. In July 2021 he married Laticia Maria McGee at Historic Little Rock Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit.
Michigan state representative
Kilpatrick was elected to the Michigan House of Representatives in 1996 after his mother vacated her Detroit-based seat to mount a successful bid for Congress. Kilpatrick's campaign staff consisted of high school classmates Derrick Miller and Christine Beatty, who became his legislative aide; later, Kilpatrick had an affair with Beatty. According to Kilpatrick, the campaign was run on a budget of $10,000 and did not receive endorsements from trade unions, congressional districts, or the Democratic establishment.Kilpatrick was elected minority floor leader for the Michigan Democratic Party, serving in that position 1998 to 2000. He was subsequently elected as house minority leader in 2001, the first African-American to hold that position. Later in 2001, Kilpatrick ran for mayor of Detroit, hiring Berg/Muirhead Associates for his campaign. They were retained as his public relations firm upon his election. During the 2000 presidential election, Kilpatrick was a Michigan state co-chair of GoreNet. GoreNet was a group that supported Al Gore's presidential campaign with a focus on grassroots and online organizing as well as hosting small dollar donor events.
In 2001, Kilpatrick used his influence while in the Michigan legislature to direct state grant money to two organizations that were vague on their project description. The groups were run by friends of Kilpatrick and both agreed to subcontract work to U.N.I.T.E., a company owned by Kilpatrick's wife Carlita. Carlita was the firm's only employee, and the firm received $175,000 from the organizations. Detroit 3D was one of the groups and the State canceled its second and final installment of $250,000 because 3D refused to divulge details on how the funds were being spent.
First mayoral term (2002–2006)
On New Year’s Day 2002, Kilpatrick was sworn-in as the youngest mayor of Detroit when he took office at age 31.During his first term, Kilpatrick was criticized for using city funds to lease a Lincoln Navigator for use by his family and using his city-issued credit card to charge thousands of dollars' worth of spa massages, extravagant dining, and expensive wines. Kilpatrick paid back $9,000 of the $210,000 credit card charges. Meanwhile, Kilpatrick closed the century-old Belle Isle Zoo and Belle Isle Aquarium because of the city's budget problems. The City Council overrode his funding veto for the zoo and gave it a budget of $700,000.
In 2005, Time magazine named Kilpatrick as one of the worst mayors in America.
Special administratorship
Since the 1970s, a federal judge had made the mayor of Detroit the special administrator of the Detroit Water Department because of severe pollution issues. When serious questions about water department contracts came to light in late 2005, Judge Feikens ended Kilpatrick's special administratorship in his capacity as mayor. In January 2006, The Detroit News reported that, "Kilpatrick used his special administrator authority to bypass the water board and City Council on three controversial contracts." These included a $131 million radio system for the city's police and fire departments, as well as a no-bid PR contract to a close personal aide. But Judge Feikens praised Kilpatrick's work as steward of the department, referring questions on the contracts to the special master in charge of that investigation.Rumored Manoogian Mansion party and Greene killing
In the fall of 2002, it was alleged that Kilpatrick had held a wild party involving strippers at the Manoogian Mansion, the city-owned residence of the mayor of Detroit. Former members of the Executive Protection Unit, the mayor's police security detail, alleged that Carlita Kilpatrick, Kilpatrick's wife, came home unexpectedly and physically attacked an exotic dancer, Tamara Greene. Officer Harold C. Nelthrope contacted the Internal Affairs unit of the Detroit Police Department in April 2003 to recommend that they investigate abuses by the EPU. Kilpatrick denied any wrongdoing. An investigation by Michigan Attorney General Cox and the Michigan State Police found no evidence that the party took place.Greene was murdered on April 30, 2003, at around 3:40 a.m., near the intersection of Roselawn and West Outer Drive while sitting in her car with her 32-year-old boyfriend. She was shot multiple times with a.40 caliber Glock pistol. At the time, this was the same model and caliber firearm as those officially issued by the Detroit Police Department. The family believed the killing to have been a "deliberate hit".
Greene's family filed a $150 million lawsuit against the city of Detroit in federal court, claiming she was murdered to prevent her testimony about the Manoogian Mansion party. In late 2011, Judge Gerald Ellis Rosen granted summary judgment in favor of the city. Greene's children appealed the decision, but the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district-court decision. Several affidavits were filed in the lawsuit prior to its dismissal; in his summary-judgment order, Judge Rosen wrote, "t is fair to say that the parties—and, in particular, Plaintiffs—were given wide latitude to pursue any and all matters that were arguably relevant to their claims or defenses". Many affidavits related to whether the party took place and whether Carlita and Greene had been in an altercation. Detroit Police lieutenant Alvin Bowman stated that he had suspected the shooter was a Detroit law-enforcement officer and claimed that high-ranking Detroit Police personnel, including Cummings, deliberately sabotaged his investigation, stating that he was eventually transferred out of the Homicide Division because he had asked too many questions about the Greene murder and the Manoogian Mansion party. Mayer Morganroth, the lawyer representing the city, said, "The Bowman affidavit is a little less than idiotic and more than absurd."
Denial of courtesy protection in Washington, D.C.
In 2002, the Washington D.C. police announced that they would only offer professional courtesy protection to Kilpatrick while he was conducting official business in the nation's capital. D.C. police no longer provided after-hours police protection to Kilpatrick because of his inappropriate partying during past visits. Sergeant Tyrone Dodson of Washington D.C. explained by saying "we arrived at this decision because we felt that the late evening partying on the part of Mayor Kilpatrick would leave our officers stretched too thin and might result in an incident at one of the clubs." The Kilpatrick administration alleged that the statements and actions of the Washington D.C. police were part of a political conspiracy to "ruin" the mayor.2005 re-election campaign
At a campaign rally in May 2005, Kilpatrick's father Bernard adamantly argued that allegations that the Mayor had held a party at the Manoogian Mansion were a lie, likening such statements to the false scapegoating of Jewish people by the Nazis. Bernard later apologized. In October 2005, a third-party group supporting Kilpatrick, named Citizens for Honest Government, generated controversy by its print advertisement that compared media criticism of the mayor to lynch mobs and accused his mayoral challenger, Freman Hendrix, as a collaborator in suburban exploitation of Detroit. The PAC treasurer for Citizens for Honest Government, Bill Miller, said his group wasn’t responsible for the ad and that he had no idea who placed it. The Michigan Secretary of State declined to investigate who placed the ad.Kilpatrick and Hendrix, both Democrats, each initially claimed victory. However, as the votes were tallied, it became clear that Kilpatrick had come back from his stretch of unpopularity to win a second term in office. Three months previously, most commentators declared his political career over after he was the first incumbent mayor of Detroit to come in second in a primary. Pre-election opinion polls predicted a large win for Hendrix; however, Kilpatrick won with 53% of the vote.