The Detroit Free Press writes:
Kilpatrick strapped with strict rules to repay Detroit
Ex-mayor is scolded for high living, lavish gifts
BY M.L. ELRICK and JIM SCHAEFER • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS • March 11, 2009
In a scathing rebuke of ex-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's high living -- which includes a new Cadillac Escalade -- a judge has ordered him to pay the City of Detroit $6,000 a month and disclose any gifts he or his wife receive over the next five years as part of his court-ordered restitution.
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Wayne County Circuit Judge David Groner took particular note of $35,000 in cash gifts Kilpatrick received to buy a 2009 Escalade.
"What concerns this court," Groner wrote, is Kilpatrick's "ability to secure benefits or funds as gifts to purchase cars, travel in private planes and rent a home in an affluent Texas neighborhood."
The judge nevertheless granted Kilpatrick's request to move and work near Dallas.
A bigger concern is who is providing the money and gifts... and why. Who has skeletons in their closet that Kwame can expose? Whose career is in danger? Whose business is in danger?
People don't just give money and gifts away without a good reason. Kwame Kilpatrick has no future as mayor of Detroit or politics in Michigan. At least no foreseeable future. So why the largess?
Meanwhile, Michigan Attorney General Michael Cox dances around text messages.
Diogenes is still looking.
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