Showing posts with label sex scandals. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sex scandals. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Detroit to Scandal-Ridden Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick: Get out!




Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is the guy who unleashed the "n-word" bomb on prime-time TV when caught lying to investigators about an alleged sex scandal and mis-use of government resources. Ever-belligerent, Kilpatrick continues to insist that his actions and the resulting felony perjury charges aren't his problems. Kilpatrick, who travels with his own tax-financed "posse", says that he's only in trouble because of racism. In so doing, he somehow overlooks the fact that the Detroit City Council is 99% black and a majority of citizens protesting against him are black.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Sex, Scandal & Perjury: Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Plays The Race Card & The N-Word

Another entrant in the politicians-behaving-badly non-beauty pageant: Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Boycotted by members of his own city council and surrounded by calls for his resignation, Kilpatrick sidesteps potential perjury charges in his own sex scandal to play the race card.

Using the n-word, Kilpatrick lashed out at media and citizens alike, accusing everyone, it seems of a "lynch mob mentality." According to the Detroit Free Press, "The mayor didn't get specific, but he almost certainly was referring to the circus-like atmosphere surrounding the long-rumored-but-never-proven Manoogian Mansion party, and the ongoing civil case in federal court that is generating speculation that a Detroit stripper was killed in a drive-by shooting because of her connections to that soiree and Kilpatrick himself."

This mess goes deeper than Kilpatrick's affair with a former aide. Two former Detroit police officers claimed that they were fired for investigating claims that Kilpatrick used taxpayer-funded security to cover up his affair.

The cops finally took things to court in a whistle-blower lawsuit that cost Detroit's citizens $8.4 million. That money would have purchased a lot of milk for school lunch programs.

Stephen Henderson of the Detroit Free Press sums this sordid tale up best: "Was Kilpatrick's tirade at the end of his speech, in which he claimed the media and nearly everyone else are to blame for the brutal effects of this scandal on his family, his idea of taking responsibility? The shameful, divisive words he used to draw false lines between those who want him to own up and those he expects to give him a pass will serve only to prolong the agony in this community.

His words represented the height of irresponsibility, and seeped into gross negligence. His attempted humiliation of City Council president Ken Cockrel, who has handled himself with the utmost restraint and accountability during this mess, was unforgivable."

"The mayor still can't even bring himself to admit how he tried to deceive the City Council and the public, or explain why he sought to use the legal system to bury evidence of his affair with his chief of staff and his lies during the police whistle-blower trial. He has nothing to say about the widening scope of accusations and investigations."

As an embattled Kilpatrick hurled the n-word into TV cameras, blaming the whole mess on racism, he overlooked something important: the protestors carrying signs outside represented all of Detroit. Black hands carried signs, too.

For a mayor to interject the n-word and hide behind claims of racism in a city that's worked hard to overcome racial divides is despicable. Like New York's Eliot Spitzer (a white guy), Kilpatrick simply is another politician who talked ethics while living in hypocrisy--all at the taxpayer's expense.



Monday, March 10, 2008

Caught on Tape: Lawyer Demands Sex From Client; Case Landed on Spitzer's Desk

Running a news-oriented blog is pretty interesting. All kinds of things come your way--but a note today, given the context of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's sex scandal, was not only shocking, but frightening.





A New York woman taped a prominent attorney demanding oral sex from her for his services, and haranguing her about his contacts and his power. She says that her complaint, reported on by several media sources, was forwarded to then-NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer back in 2006.



It was fairly common for women breaking gender barriers in the 1960's and 1970's to be sexually harassed. This is now the 21st century, and still men with power are abusing that power for sex. What's wrong here?

Spitzer, in his brief statement, said that his link to a inter-state prostitution investigation, is a "private matter." If a self-declared Eliot Ness, pro-family man who proudly calls himself "the steamroller" in his ballyhooed battles against corruption acts as Spitzer did, should we be surprised that sexual demands and harassment run rampant in our society?