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Bond Denied for Anti-Gay Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick

And it couldn't happen to a better person ...

A federal judge has denied a request by ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to be released on bond while he awaits sentencing. U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds [cited] Kilpatrick’s criminal record and history of problems adhering to parole conditions. A federal jury on March 11 found Kilpatrick and his friend Bobby Ferguson guilty on multiple counts, including racketeering conspiracy.

The former mayor could face up to 20 years in prison for the racketeering, conspiracy, bribery and tax fraud convictions. Kilpatrick's corruption trial "exposed a brazen pay-to-play culture during his years in office, while the distressed city lost jobs and people and veered toward insolvency," noted the Associated Press. 

The State of Michigan took over Detroit's government in early March. It is now headed by an emergency city manager appointed by the Republican governor to address the city's financial troubles "including $14.9 billion in long-term debt and pension obligations," reports The Atlantic.

During his scandal-plagued administration, Kilpatrick infamously campaigned for a same-sex marriage ban in Michigan. The former mayor said that he didn't "support equal rights for gays because marriage should be a sacred institution between 'a man and a woman.' " The anti-gay mayor was later outed as a serial adulterer. Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff faced multiple felonies after "tens of thousands of text messages" surfaced, including many sexually explicit ones, that revealed they were having an affair and attempting to payoff witnesses with city funds. This was Kilpatrick's second publicized extramarital affair.

The former mayor's legal woes undoubtedly helped end the career of his mother, one of the biggest names in Detroit politics and one of the LGBT community's strongest supporters on Capitol Hill. Democratic Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick lost her bid for an eighth term in August 2010. Kilpatrick’s mother "offered her Detroit home as collateral to ensure her son shows up to court for sentencing," added the Associated Press.  Judge Edmunds still denied bond.

In November 2009, Charles Pugh made history when he was elected Detroit's first-ever openly gay city councilman and the city council president. Pugh became one of the highest profile Black gay men to be elected to office in the nation.

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Anti-Gay Former Detroit Mayor Guilty of Corruption, Ordered to Jail

And it couldn't happen to a better person ...

Jurors in a city buffeted by financial crisis convicted former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on corruption charges Monday, capping a five-month trial that exposed a brazen pay-to-play culture during his years in office while the distressed city lost jobs and people and veered toward insolvency.

Kilpatrick [was convicted of] two dozen convictions, from racketeering conspiracy to bribery to tax crimes. Once hailed as a hip, young big-city leader, he was portrayed at trial as an unscrupulous politician who took kickbacks, rigged contracts and lived far beyond his means.

Kilpatrick was "denied bond and ordered to go to prison [to] await sentencing," adds Detroit's NBC 4. "The former mayor could face up to 20 years in prison for the two racketeering convictions alone."

During his scandal-plagued administration, Kilpatrick infamously campaigned for a same-sex marriage ban in Michigan. The former mayor said that he didn't "support equal rights for gays because marriage should be a sacred institution between 'a man and a woman.' "

The anti-gay mayor was later outed as a serial adulterer. Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff faced multiple felonies after "tens of thousands of text messages" surfaced, including many sexually explicit ones, that revealed they were having an affair and attempting to payoff witnesses with city funds. This was Kilpatrick's second publicized extramarital affair.

The former mayor's legal woes undoubtedly helped end the career of his mother, one of the biggest names in Detroit politics and one of the LGBT community's strongest supporters on Capitol Hill. Democratic Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick lost her bid for an eighth term in August 2010.

Another criminal awaits the disgraced former mayor: The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Kilpatrick with accepting $125,000 worth of gifts in an influence-peddling scheme involving pension funds.

#GlassHousesStonesEtc

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SEC Charges Anti-Gay Former Detroit Mayor in Pension Scheme

More problems for Detroit's anti-gay former Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick, who recently was released from prison after serving 14 months for obstruction of justice after his efforts to conceal a sex scandal. The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Kilpatrick and a longtime friend with accepting lavish gifts, and private plane travel in an influence-peddling scheme involving pension funds, reports The Detroit Free Press.

The agency accused Kilpatrick and Jeffrey Beasley, both [trustees of the Detroit Police and Fire Fund], of accepting $125,000 worth of gifts—including private jet travel, golf outings, massages and concert tickets—from an investment adviser to the city's pension funds in exchange for preferential treatment. The adviser, MayfieldGentry Realty Advisers, had recommended the pension funds invest $117 million in a real estate investment, records state. The deal went through, but the travel and other perks to Kilpatrick and Beasley were kept secret.

The SEC now wants Kilpatrick and Beasley—both already facing separate criminal charges in federal court—to give back the dollar value of their alleged ill-gotten gains and pay an unspecified amount in civil fines. Charges by the SEC are not criminal and do not carry the possibility of prison time.

The investment advisers also gave "$50,000 in donations to the former mayor's charity, the Kilpatrick Civic Fund. The firm chartered private flights to Bermuda, Las Vegas and Florida for Kilpatrick, according to federal court records," adds The Detroit News.

During his scandal-plagued administration, Kilpatrick infamously campaigned for a same-sex marriage ban in Michigan, saying that he didn't "support equal rights for gays because marriage should be a sacred institution between 'a man and a woman.' "

The anti-gay mayor was later outed as a serial adulterer. Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff faced multiple felonies after tens of thousands of text messages surfaced, including many sexually explicit ones, that revealed they were having an affair and attempting to payoff witnesses with city funds. This was Kilpatrick's second publicized extramarital affair.

The former mayor's legal woes undoubtedly helped end the career of his mother, one of the biggest names in Detroit politics and one of the LGBT community's strongest supporters on Capitol Hill. Democratic Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick lost her bid for an eighth term in August 2010.

Kilpatrick's legal problems are only just beginning. Kilpatrick is facing a 38-count federal indictment "that accuses the former mayor and his circle of rigging contracts, collecting millions of dollars in bribes and defrauding taxpayers." The trial is expected to begin in September.

#GlassHousesStonesEtc

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Former Anti-Gay Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick Released from Prison

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick was released from a Michigan prison this morning after serving 14 months for obstruction of justice after his efforts to conceal a sex scandal, reports NYT.

Mr. Kilpatrick smiled broadly as he left the G. Robert Cotton Correctional Facility in Jackson, Mich., where throngs of local journalists had waited since the early morning. The Detroit Free Press live blogged the release and posted a video.

A 6-foot-4 former college football player once known as Detroit’s “hip-hop mayor,” Mr. Kilpatrick was elected to run the city when he was 31 years old. He left office seven years later in 2008 under a dark cloud of corruption after text messages revealed the affair, with his chief of staff, and an $8.5 million settlement with police officers, whom he fired to prevent the affair from being revealed.

[Kilpatrick was in] jail since May 2010, when a judge found he had mislead authorities and did not turn over certain assets toward his $1 million restitution to Detroit.

During his scandal-plagued administration, Kilpatrick infamously campaigned for a same-sex marriage ban in Michigan, saying that he didn't "support equal rights for gays because marriage should be a sacred institution between 'a man and a woman.' "

The anti-gay mayor was later outed as a serial adulterer. Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff faced multiple felonies after tens of thousands of text messages surfaced, including many sexually explicit ones, that revealed they were having an affair and attempting to payoff witnesses with city funds. This was Kilpatrick's second publicized extramarital affair.

The former mayor's legal woes undoubtedly helped end the career of his mother, one of the biggest names in Detroit politics and one of the LGBT community's strongest supporters on Capitol Hill. Democratic Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick lost her bid for an eighth term in August 2010.

Kiwame Kilpatrick's legal problems are only just beginning. Kilpatrick is facing a 38-count federal indictment "that accuses the former mayor and his circle of rigging contracts, collecting millions of dollars in bribes and defrauding taxpayers."

#GlassHousesStonesEtc

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LGBT Ally Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick Loses Primary
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LGBT Ally Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick Loses Michigan Primary

One of the biggest names in Detroit politics and one of the LGBT community's strongest supporters on Capitol Hill has been ousted. Democratic Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick lost her bid for an eighth term on Tuesday, undoubtedly in part because of the legal woes of her son, the disgraced and anti-gay former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

Kilpatrick lost in a landslide to State Sen. Hansen Clarke, 41 percent to 47 percent, reports the Detroit Free Press, which describes the challengers' victory as "stunning." 

State Sen. Hansen Clarke, the Democratic nominee and likely winner in November, also boasts a strong record on LGBT issues. Clarke co-sponsored legislation to expand Michigan’s hate crime law to include sexual orientation. Clarke has been an outspoken advocate on HIV funding and policy. The state senator was among the first elected officials in Michigan to condemn the recent bio-terrorism charge slapped against an HIV positive black gay man accused of biting a neighbor.

Kilpatrick co-sponsored the Matthew Shepard Act and has been a leading voice to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." In June 2009, the Detroit legislator was one of 77 members of Congress who sent a letter to President Obama urging him stop investigations of DADT violations. Kilpatrick's vulnerability has increased in the wake of her son's problems. Kwame M. Kilpatrick resigned and plead guilty to obstruction of justice in 2008. But only three months ago, Kilpatrick was sentenced to five years for violating probation.

Former Anti-Gay Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick Gets Stiff Sentence

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick, who resigned and plead guilty to obstruction of justice in 2008, was sentenced Tuesday to up to five years for violating his probation. "The sentence was harsher than expected, elicited loud gasps in courtroom," reports The New York Times.

Wayne County Circuit Judge David Groner rejected a lengthy, emotional plea for lenience by Mr. Kilpatrick, and criticized the former mayor for lying, attempting to portray himself as a victim and ultimately failing the residents of Detroit. In April, the judge determined that Mr. Kilpatrick had violated his probation by hiding hundreds of thousands of dollars in assets, in hopes of keeping the assets from being used to pay the $1 million in restitution he was ordered to pay to the city of Detroit. At one point, Mr. Kilpatrick had argued that he could only afford $6 a month to the beleaguered city, even though he had moved his family into a luxurious home in a wealthy community near Dallas. As a result of his 'contemptible behavior,' Mr. Kilpatrick must spend between 18 months and five years behind bars, the judge said Tuesday.

During his scandal-plagued administration, Kilpatrick infamously campaigned for a same-sex marriage ban in Michigan, saying that he didn't "support equal rights for gays because marriage should be a sacred institution between 'a man and a woman.' "

The anti-gay and ethically-challenged mayor was later outed as a serial adulterer. Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff faced multiple felonies after tens of thousands of text messages surfaced, including many sexually explicit ones, that revealed they were having an affair and attempting to payoff witnesses with city funds. This was Kilpatrick's second publicized extramarital affair.

#GlassHousesStonesEtc

Poll: Re-Election Difficulties for LGBT Allies Conyers and Kilpatrick?

Two of the biggest names in Detroit politics and two of the LGBT community's biggest supporters on Capitol Hill face serious re-election difficulties in 2010, according to a new poll published by the Detroit Free Press. Reps. John Conyers Jr. and Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, both of whom have been tainted by federal corruption convictions involving family members, each lose to hypothetical opponents if the election were held today.

A poll of 300 voters each in Kilpatrick's and Conyers' congressional districts shows that only 27% of the people polled would vote for Kilpatrick. Conyers' numbers are stronger with 40% of the people polled saying they would vote for him. But only 34% of voters in Kilpatrick's district and just 22% in Conyers' district say the problems of their son and wife, respectively, affect their opinions of the two Congress members.

Kilpatrick is the mother of the disgraced and anti-gay former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Conyers, the veteran congressman who chairs the powerful House Judiciary Committee, is the husband of former Detroit City Council President Monica Conyers who recently pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges. Cheeks Kilpatrick is considered "the weakest of the two," reports the Free Press.

At 80-years-old, Conyers is the second-longest serving member in the House. Conyers is the lead sponsor of the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, also known as the Matthew Shepard Act. Conyers and Kilpatrick both signed the recent letters to the Obama Administration demanding an end to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" investigations and declaring they would not vote for health care reform without a public option. Conyers has a 100% HRC Rating. Cheeks Kilpatrick is rated at 85%. 

Conyers and Kilpatrick Could Have it Tough [Det FreeP]

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Indicted in Sex Scandal

Another week, another high profile politician implicated in a sex scandal. Kwame Kilpatrick, the anti-gay, ethically-challenged and serial adulterer mayor of Detroit, and, his former chief of staff face now multiple felonies, including perjury, obstruction of justice and official misconduct charges, arising from a sex scandal and his dismissal of a whistle-blower lawsuit against the city. Kwame Kilpatrick is a DNC superdelegate leaning toward Barack Obama.

Despite sworn testimony to the contrary, tens of thousands of text messages, including many sexually explicit ones, surfaced that showed Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty were involved in an affair. Kilpatrick agreed to settle the police lawsuit "at a cost of more than $9 million to the city after learning that the lawyer for the police officers suing had copies of the text messages he had exchanged with Beatty ... Lawyers for Kilpatrick and the plaintiffs then arranged to keep the messages confidential, a detail not disclosed to the City Council when the settlement was approved."

The Detroit City Council has asked for Kilpatrick's resignation and he has refused, channeling Clarence Thomas to criticize his prosecution as a "lynching." Just as an fyi, Kilpatrick "doesn't support equal rights for gays because marriage should be a sacred institution between 'a man and a woman.' " Kilpatrick's definition of the sanctity of marriage must be very elastic because this is his second publicized extramarital affair

Detroit's Democratic Mayor Indicted in Sex Scandal [Reuters]
Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick and the Sanctity of Marriage [PHB]