Hizzoner Charged

Right, so Mayor Kwame (Who, yes, is a Democrat.) and his paramour Christine Beatty (pictured) are facing a laundry list of charges stemming from trying to conceal evidence of their affair. Perjury for lying under oath about it, obstruction of justice for firing investigating police officers, even governmental misconduct for negotiating a deal with the police officers behind the City Council's back, so to speak.

Throwing the proverbial book at the pair is important because if the Mayor is actually convicted of a felony then the Council (Which, let's be perfectly honest is far from being on the side of angels here. The Detroit City Council is a mess, too, but we'll leave that for another day. Essentially, though, it uses a system that's nearly unique among the nation's major cities and there's a reason that others don't.) can stop issuing nonbinding proclamations and, instead, actually remove Kilpatrick from office. Since the Kilpatrick administration seems determined to fight any recall effort tooth and nail, it means there's another avenue by which he can be ousted. Because, at this point, there's little chance the man is going to, well, be a man and step aside here. So, at least the Kwame Legal All-Stars will have to wage courtroom battles on two fronts.

Again, the Governor could end all this tomorrow with the stroke of the proverbial pen but Granholm, after a string of unpopular decisions is unwilling to inflame sentiment in Detroit. Because, again, the Hip Hop Mayor still has a lot of people in his corner - thanks to rampant race baiting, of course, which just makes the image of a white woman removing a black man from office that much more politically unpalatable - even my mother who think that even though he needs to go he's still been a "good mayor". But the Governor is term limited so it's not like she can run for another term so I don't get why, exactly, she's being so timid.

Like a lot of other people, I didn't think the prosecutor, Worthy, would have the guts to act here. That she'd be hamstrung by the same political concerns that have held the governor's hand. Needless to say, I'm surprised but pleasantly so.