The Kwame Factor

by John Lindstrom
Gongwer News Service
June 25, 2010

He’s big, physically. He used to be big politically. In fact, the man who answers to Prisoner 702408 at the Oaks Correctional Facility in Manistee is still big politically, though not in a way he aspired to.

Nor is he big in a way that we as a political people can be necessarily proud. But he is big; in some respects a big problem, in some a big opportunity. In both cases he represents big failings, of himself as a cautionary tale to others, and to the body politic of its reliance on raw emotion and fear.

We speak of Kwame Malik Kilpatrick, son of U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, then himself the former House Democratic leader, the once and former mayor of Detroit. As a young man he gained some prominence stepping into the middle of public rage in 1999 when protesting Detroit representatives took over a meeting of the Senate Education Committee as it was about to act on a bill calling for the takeover of Detroit schools. Mr. Kilpatrick tried unsuccessfully that day to mediate the situation and end the protest. Watching him then, he seemed conflicted about his own feelings, sensing he had to do something but not sure what or how to accomplish whatever was needed.

His uncertainties vanished quickly. In little more than a year, he was the House Democratic leader. He seemed to play a politician’s role easily, talking and working with different legislators. His confidence and youthful energy played itself into election as Detroit mayor at age 31.

Quickly the confidence gave way to arrogance and then to hubris. The story now of his affair with his chief of staff, played out in text messages, and how that drove him to get rid of several police officers and then lie on the stand in a lawsuit and then agree to pay out millions, that his cash-starved city desperately needed, in a court settlement to hide his failings is by now well known.

He was exposed in print, forced to resign and plead guilty to lying on the stand. He was returned last month to prison for failing to meet the conditions of his parole. And just this week came the revelation that he was being indicted on federal charges for fraud and tax evasion for misuse of a fund he had created.

It would be difficult to find any test of character that Mr. Kilpatrick could pass. He has destroyed his career, put his family through huge embarrassment, nearly cost his mother her political post. He is a tragic figure, but not a pitiable one, largely because he does not convey that he has learned anything from his experience. In fact, on the night he resigned as mayor he was still bold and confident, promising a comeback.

For all that, it has to be noted he is not running for anything in 2010.

But Mr. Kilpatrick is definitely on the ballot. And he is a factor in the gubernatorial election, one whose image is likely to come back again and again as the clock clicks down to November.

Mr. Kilpatrick is on the ballot in the form of a constitutional amendment the legislature rushed through, SJR V. It would bar anyone in office convicted of a felony of a breach of a public trust from ever serving in government again.

During the debate on the issue, Mr. Kilpatrick was an unseen factor. He was not mentioned. In fact, the drama seemed to focus on Rep. Bert Johnson (D-Detroit), who pleaded no contest to felony charges of armed robbery and breaking and entering while a teenager and who served nearly nine months in prison and a halfway house (he voted for the proposal).

But it was understood the 6-foot-4-inch, 310-pound unacknowledged figure in the room during all this was Mr. Kilpatrick. He is the living embodiment of political corruption in Michigan, and his promise to come back makes some people afraid that, like Marion Berry in Washington, D.C., he one day might come back. The fear is probably less for what he might be as returned politician than for what his presence would mean for politicians around him, for what it would mean about the voters who returned him.

Those opposed to the proposal, and there were more of them outside the legislature than there were in, argued the public should be entrusted to make its own decisions about who serves them. The same argument was made opposing term limits, and it got no better a response.

The public still has to vote on the proposal, but there isn’t a soul who doesn’t think it won’t pass, especially with the image of Mr. Kilpatrick to remind them.

Have no fear that Mr. Kilpatrick’s presence will be visible during the election. For the record, the mayor of Detroit is Dave Bing, former basketball superstar, former business executive. One could be forgiven for thinking Mr. Kilpatrick is still at the helm.

He first played a role all the way back during the Super Bowl, when Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Snyder unveiled his first ad. It featured pictures of politicians like Lt. Governor John Cherry, House Speaker Andy Dillon, Attorney General Mike Cox, Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero, presumably all there because they are running for governor.

And it included a photo of Mr. Kilpatrick. Wait a minute, was he running for governor, living as he was then in Texas? Of course not.

But Mr. Kilpatrick is again the embodiment of political corruption. More than that, he is the embodiment of Detroit to voters who hate the city. For Republicans he is a safe foil to use to emphasize big government, cronyism, Democrats, bad.

For Democrats, he is a high voltage wire downed in his own political storm, and they dare not touch him if they want to survive a statewide office.

Even outside his current legal troubles and the newly passed proposed constitutional amendment, Mr. Kilpatrick has appeared in the election. Anonymous venomous radio ads have been played against Mr. Cox suggesting a cozy relationship over the issue of “the party,” the suspected mammoth bacchanal that allegedly took place at Manoogian Mansion, and whether Mr. Cox impeded an investigation into the soiree. (Mr. Cox has said repeatedly all the evidence indicates no such party happened.)

More recently, it was revealed that Mr. Cox had prepared a series of television ads that some clever lad got hold of and posted to YouTube (you won’t find them now, they’ve been taken down). All of the four ads carried essentially the same script: retired cops and prosecutors calling Mr. Cox tough and saying he was the one who put Mr. Kilpatrick in jail (after the mayor assaulted a process server). Mr. Cox did not run the ads, but he had them at the ready. One has to presume also at the ready will be the response that he put Mr. Kilpatrick in jail, should he need that politically.

That is how Mr. Kilpatrick will be used throughout the campaign, especially when it is felt strategically to be needed. So let us not be surprised if at some point whatever photos existing of either Mr. Dillon or Mr. Bernero and the former mayor find their way onto the television screens. The message will be clear: the people do not want this again and will vote for whomever promises them they will never have to suffer through it again.

It is inevitable that this will happen. Both parties are happy to use the other’s disgraced children as public examples of how the public needs to be careful.

Still in all, what does this tactic that all politicians are willing to employ say about the public in general? What does it say about politics, about how we make decisions, about what is important in decision making, about whether we really are concerned about who we think best can handle the issues before us or who we think can better allay our fears, even if, in the case of Mr. Kilpatrick at least, we have nothing to fear.

Given that he will have the chance to contemplate this all from his cell, it might be interesting at some point to hear what Mr. Kilpatrick thinks about the subject. Big thoughts, one can be sure.

John Lindstrom is publisher of Gongwer News Service. For nearly 50 years in Michigan, Gongwer News Service has provided independent, comprehensive, accurate and timely coverage of issues in and around Michigan’s government and political systems. For subscription information, including a free trial, visit Gongwer online.