Why Kilpatrick Must Resign

Yet, in desperately trying to preserve his own lie in Detroit, the mayor apparently paid dearly; he used $8.4 million of city money to settle the wrongful dismissal lawsuit.

[Black Star News Editorial]

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick can’t remain as an effective CEO of the city.

Moreover, there is danger that accusations that there are two standards –one for white politicians and another for Black ones – will gain currency unless the mayor acts quickly. Give Hillary Clinton’s team a few more days.

The unraveling of Kilpatrick’s mayoralty is his own doing. We’re not passing moral judgment regarding his extra-marital affair with his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, who has since resigned. It was revealed that they both lied about the affair under oath when deposed in a wrongful dismissal claim by ex-policemen.

It’s one thing to lie to protect the reputation of ones family and to preserve a marriage. Bill Clinton did, after his molestation of the intern Monica Lewinsky, including with a cigar; he got away with it.

Yet, in desperately trying to preserve his own lie in Detroit, the mayor apparently paid dearly; he used $8.4 million of city money to settle the wrongful dismissal lawsuit. One condition of the settlement was that text messages confirming the mayor’s affair would be sealed and made permanently unavailable to the public. Lawyers for the ex-cops had copies.

Did the mayor’s attorneys graduate from a legitimate law school? Number one; it was wrong to pay such a sum in hush money. The mayor should have admitted to the affair and dealt with the lawsuit on its merit or lack thereof. Second point—having been bribed to the tune of $8.4 million, what was to stop the other side from coming back for more? Not only did the lawyers for the ex-cops come back, ultimately the incriminating text messages were leaked to media. Mayor Kilpatrick betrayed the public trust, not because of his affair, but because he used public money to hush the affair.

The death threats and racial epithets directed against him and his family, which he revealed in a recent City Council address, are patently wrong. Yet they cannot be used to justify his remaining in office, since the attacks, while deplorable, will not diminish.

At the end, his own actions brought him to where he now stands.

He is a young man and can even restore his career eventually or excel in another arena.
He must start his new journey by resigning.


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