Like pus oozing from an open sore that simply will not go away, disgraced former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick returned to court in Detroit yesterday to plead his case of why the $1 million court-ordered restitution he must repay the city should be reduced.
Pleading poverty -- or at least that his $10,000 per month salary is insufficient with the bills he must pay each month -- he is seeking to have the court reduce his restitution payments. Testifying in open court, the former mayor claimed that he had no idea whether his wife, Carlita -- with whom he is living in a Dallas mansion -- has a job or any other form of income. Yet, he claims, she is the one making payments on their home.
One eye-opening revelation that came out of testimony was the fact that four top Detroit businessmen -- including Roger Penske and Peter Karmanos -- loaned Kilpatrick $240,000 back at the time of his indictment, in order to convince him to take a plea deal and step down as mayor.
While the businessmen might sincerely have wished only the best for the city by convincing the mayor to step down, the appearance of impropriety adds additional stench to an incident that has caused the city nothing but harm.
There was no clear indication as to whether the former mayor was making any attempts to pay back that loan. The mayor, now living in Dallas, works for Compuware, the corporation that Karmanos founded and of which he remains the CEO.
Mike DeVine’s Examiner.com columns “One man with courage makes a majority.” - Andrew Jackson