Detroit's Kilpatrick Woes Continue

Where will it ever end? How long must the City of Detroit suffer over the long bleak period in her history known as the Kwame Kilpatrick reign? We're on our second mayor since he was forced to resign and yet he still manges to commands headlines.

He's been accused of taking a $10,000 bribe in the bathroom of a restaurant, and of using his, shall we say, influence, in talking a ticketing police officer into dropping a ticket against his pal Bobby Ferguson. This is the same Ferguson who tried to avoid fines for dumping on city property over incidents dating back to 2002. There are also accusations that over a four year period the former Mayor and another pocketed $115,000 from a real estate consultant. All of this and more, it seems, and all added to the fact the Kilpatrick is fighting the City over having to turn over the royalties from his book sales as part of court ordered restitution to Detroit.

We wonder, do the voters of the City of Detroit see this clearly? Is there a lesson in it which they may actually understand? Because when all gets said and done, they're the ones who put him there. They're the ones who gave Kilpatrick the Mayor's chair. They're the primary reason why the new City Charter provisions which passed last week will mean nothing if they don't take better care of their votes.

It appears that it will be years yet before Detroit fully escapes the shadow of the former Mayor. That's shame, because with the election of current Mayor Dave Bing it would seem the voters played their cards better. But so long as the town has to deal with its past, the future will to some degree be held hostage. And it's ultimately Detroit's own fault.