It was busy for the media in Detroit today. Not only is half of Oakland County in an unmanageable gridlock (even without Tiger Woods) because of the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills, this morning the self-proclaimed "Hip Hop" Mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, managed to score a jail cell for an overnight visit.
This "news" had the media going hog-wild all day long, with TV and radio outlets cutting into their regular line up to dish about Kwame. As for me, I remained nonplussed about the entire thing. As luck would have it, I was at home waiting for some workmen to fix some wiring, and I was really looking forward to the guilty pleasure of an hour of Judge Judy with a chaser of Judge Alex in case they ran late. Imagine my dismay when I learned all the local channels were devoting their entire afternoon coverage to examining this fiasco in minute detail.
The uninitiated around the globe with normal public servants have to wonder what Kilpatrick did to warrant jail time. Did he kill anyone? No, but he has been alleged to use physical force to get his way when simple intimidation doesn't work; and on a regular basis. Was he caught red-handed accepting a bribe? Of dealing in dope? No, but I think the dude is cagey enough (and with sufficient street cred and plenty of men in blue at his side) to sidestep that danger.
No, Kwame's crime is that he took a short trip to Windsor, Canada for a confab with Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis in an attempt to breathe life into the now-defunct deal that would have sold the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel to our southern neighbors for a much needed 75 million dollars. This was a deal that has been long dead in the eyes of City Council. As part of his previous bond, Kwame is not supposed to leave the state without letting the court know well in advance.
Windsor is a pretty city; full of great shopping, casinos, golf courses and parks, and it's so close to Detroit (a stone's throw away, really, just across the river) that many people forget that it IS in another country and not part of the State of Michigan. I thought that perhaps Mayor Kilpatrick had somehow forgotten this, or maybe he flunked geography in elementary school. No, the Mayor's contention was that he was doing "emergency" city business (What? Are we at war with the Chinooks now? Don't they have phones over there?) and was only absent from the state for a couple of hours.
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Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
Oh, this has to be a joke:
"When he was processed at the jail, the mayor was wearing a shiny gray suit with matching vest and a French-cuffed shirt with "Mayor" embroidered on the sleeves."
2 - Jordan Richardson
Sounds like he's stuck in the Puff Daddy and Ma$e era.
3 - Ruvy
Joanne,
When this fool of a mayor finally sleeps with the wrong woman, "justice" will grind his pecker exceedingly small....
Till then, you are stuck with this embarrassment.