I am not surprised by the use or abuse of the Kilpatrick Civic Fund by former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. After all, absolute power corrupts absolutely; that’s how the saying goes.
The fund was designed to benefit and improve the life of children in Detroit, but instead wound up paying for unrelated events like Bernard Kilpatrick’s, Kwame’s father, extravagant birthday to “promote donations to the fund.” If such events promote donations, I’m sure that I’m not the only one that has a bill for the fund to foot, as long as it’s “for the good of the community,” of course.
Reading and witnessing stories such as this always begs the question of how things got so out of hand. Naturally, upon hearing of the birthday bill that was racked up with the fund (college expenses of family, golf outings, etc.), one begins to question the legitimacy of the fund to begin with, who had to be pulling the strings or who was looking the other way.
Many people say it’s the former mayor’s fault, but frankly the public should be sharing some of the blame – the majority of the blame actually – because they allowed this corrpution to get so out of hand. They enabled a man armed with a smile to take advantage of them. As for the donors to the fund, it’s dubious if they really looked at what they were getting into.
This man is a perfect example of how we allow people to take advantage of us; let us remember it wasn’t just this fund that Kilpatrick abused. Kilpatrick has charged obscene amounts of money on his city-issued credit card for travel, meals and recreation; the audits weren’t done on time costing the city millions, and has caused a lot of tension between the city of Detroit and the State Treasury.
Yet, despite having left the city’s bills unpaid, he asks the people to speak no more of controversy. If I was a serial killer, and said, “Don’t look at the men I’ve killed. Yes I killed them, but I pay my taxes, and look at my volunteer hours. See? I’m a good person, honest!” that wouldn’t stand up in court. Yet that kind of argument seems to get Kilpatrick through time and time again.
He gets away with much thanks to his flare. Much of the public likes him and overlooks what he has done. Here’s a great example: his affair. While some people argue that he apologized for lying about it, and he feels so guilty and issued a public statement, we must understand a few things.
People, this man does not feel guilt; he just knows he’s been caught. He even used a church as a backdrop for his apology speech, and do you know why? Because it will impress us.
Frankly, people like him get elected all the time, and we overlook it. We’ve already decided that they’re all crooks, so we may as well pick one that looks good. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had it.
I say, for once lets get this guy and nail him to a wall. He should pay out of pocket for every nickel and dime he’s stolen from the charity as well as the city. We need to make an example that we’re done with this corruption. It’s high time we take the city of Detroit back.
