

Letters: Denial of bond for Kwame Kilpatrick is well justified

Mar. 17, 2013
Kwame Kilpatrick faces members of the news media as he exits the federal courthouse last Monday.
Kwame Kilpatrick faces members of the news media as he exits the federal courthouse last Monday. / RYAN GARZA/DETROIT FREE PRESS
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The "outrage" of a recent letter writer over the revocation of Kwame Kilpatrick's bond pending sentencing is misplaced. The jury found him guilty on 24 counts, so the presumption of innocence is gone. He has done no favors for the court system, so the system owes him none in return. The former mayor's attendance at prior court hearings is hardly noteworthy, given his hope for an acquittal.

Remember, this is the same man whose abysmal record while on probation to the Wayne Circuit Court prompted Judge David Groner to send him to prison. Even after more than a year behind bars, Kilpatrick still hadn't learned his lesson, living large in a 5,000-square-foot home in Texas while making minimal restitution payments.

Inasmuch as a lengthy prison sentence is certain, why delay the inevitable? The letter writer also puts too much faith in the tether, which can be cut off by a man as desperate as Kilpatrick has reason to be. Indeed, with a long prison term looming, he could have concluded that the risks of absconding were worth taking.

John Streby,

Time to pay

As a child, I often heard my mother say: "If you want to dance, you'll have to pay the fiddler!"

It's time to pay the fiddler, Kwame Kilpatrick!

Sharon Elliott


Reckless lawyer

"I think I broke every speed (limit) getting here." Maybe this quote from Kwame Kilpatrick's lawyer, James Thomas, was a joke, but it also wouldn't surprise me that it was the truth. It's also an admission of guilt. He wasn't justified to drive like a maniac. I suggest authorities sit Thomas down and ask about his reckless driving claims.

Jon Barber

Madison Heights

Ineptness re-elected

Let the truth be known that, just like the inept Detroit City Council, the Board of Education, the public works unions, etc., which have contributed almost equally in plundering the city coffers through their greed, ignorance, deceit and obvious lack of integrity, should this putrid excuse for a human being who squandered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a leader of dramatic proportions but chose instead to defraud and humiliate his constituents, there is no doubt that those now disappointed, desecrated and violated constituents, if given the opportunity, would undoubtedly re-elect this pariah to his former position as mayor of Detroit.

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This city-wide blight of social ignorance and an exaggerated sense of entitlement is the major ailment permeating the city of Detroit and, likewise, this nation.

Kevin McGinty

Boyne City

Team effort with city leaders

To truly move Detroit on from the Kwame Kilpatrick era, the City Council should petition our business professionals for the expertise they sorely need. A volunteer mentoring group -- such as with Peter Karmanos, Mike and Denise Ilitch, Geoffrey Fieger, Roger Penske, and even the man I hope will be Detroit's next mayor, Mike Duggan -- could rapidly put in place the frameworks needed to advance the city as a whole.

Unlike Lansing's suspect GOP leadership and their choice of an EFM, people such as these have a proven track record of success in Detroit as well as a love for the city. They would likely have an advantage of collaboration of city, business and labor groups that an emergency financial manager may not necessarily be able to forge.

Arvie A. Green


Recover the money

Now that the corruption trial for the Kilpatricks and Bobby Ferguson is over and a guilty verdict rendered, let's move forward and stop the bleeding of money from city government. They will never acknowledge or take responsibility for what was done, but I think that this is a time to get and use whatever money found or confiscated as restitution.

One would have thought that Kwame Kilpatrick should have known a life in politics means living in a fish bowl. I guess he thought he was the big fish in the pond doing whatever when he was in the sea.

Thanks to a jury of people who did not bow to pressure of those in the city screaming racism and made a decision based on facts. Now the only thing left is the possible recovery of the money pilfered from the pockets of residents and workers in Detroit.

Emmett Barnes


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