Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick folds

I am amazed that the Democrat mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick, actually gave up, pled guilty to two of ten felony charges against him, and resigned. It's been a long and torturous series of criminal cases against him, and he was defiant to the end. Only when the Democrat Governor of Michigan opened a hearing against him yesterday to remove him from office, did he give up. He resigned, forfeited his city pension, lost his law license, and is forbidden to run for office again for five years. He will also serve at least 4 months in jail and must pay $1 million to the city of Detroit in restitution for all the money he wasted in inappropriate spending, lost in federal funds through bungling paperwork, and cost the citizens of Detroit in fighting his legal cases.

Thugs like Kilpatrick disgust me. He reminds me of District of Columbia Mayor Marion Barry in the 1990s. Barry was busted multiple times for dealing drugs, and yet he was re-elected to the mayor's office after he served time in prison. I think that in some ways, that says worse things about the voters in DC than it does about Barry.

I'm glad Kilpatrick can't run again for five years. No doubt the judge was thinking about Marion Barry when he imposed that restriction. But would Detroit voters be stupid enough to vote for Kilpatrick again? Probably. They voted for him in the first place.

Sigh.