Name That Party: Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Indicted

A rising star in the Democratic Party was indicted today.

The embattled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was a star attraction at the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004.

Detroit Democratic Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was charged today with perjury.
The Associated Press did not find it necessary to mention that he was a rising Democratic star.
The AP reported:

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, a one-time rising star and Detroit's youngest elected leader, was charged Monday with perjury and other counts after sexually explicit text messages contradicted his sworn denials of an affair with a top aide.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy also charged the popular yet polarizing 37-year-old mayor with obstruction of justice and misconduct in office.

Former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, 37, who also denied under oath that she and Kilpatrick had a romantic relationship in 2002 and 2003, was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice.

"Some have suggested that the issues in this case are personal or private," Worthy said.

"The justice system has been severely mocked and the public trust trampled on. ... This case is about as far from being a private matter as one can get," she said.

The charges could signal the end of Kilpatrick's six-year career as mayor of one of America's largest cities.

Perjury is a felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. But for Kilpatrick, a conviction also would mean his immediate expulsion from office. The Detroit City Charter calls for any elected official convicted of a felony while in office to be removed...

The city agreed to pay $8.4 million to the two officers and a third former officer who filed a separate lawsuit. Documents released last month showed Kilpatrick agreed to the settlement in an effort to keep the text messages from becoming public.

The text messages published by the Free Press revealed a romantic discourse.

"I'm madly in love with you," Kilpatrick wrote on Oct. 3, 2002.

"I hope you feel that way for a long time," Beatty replied. "In case you haven't noticed, I am madly in love with you, too!"

In all, Kilpatrick faces charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, misconduct in office, perjury in a court proceeding and two counts of perjury other than in a court proceeding.

Barack Obama and supporter Kwame Kilpatrick graced the cover of the Trinity United Church of Christ Trumpet magazine this past year.

Kilpatrick's mother is Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-MI).

Previously:
Name That Party: Detroit Mayor & Chief of Staff Lied Under Oath
After Speaking at N-Word Funeral-- Detroit Mayor Resurrects the Dead

UPDATE: Debbie Schlussel has a roundup on the Pan-Islamist Detroit Mayor Kwame "The Kingpin" Kilpatrick.