DETROIT (WJBK) -
I hate to say
"I told you so … "
Wait. That's
not true.
I LOVE to say
"I told you so."
(Hell, it's
one of the reasons I launched this damn column!)
So, without
further adieu: "I told you so, Kwame Kilpatrick."
It was a
little more than 10 years ago, shortly after we learned that Bernard Kilpatrick
had retired from his job as a top Wayne County official to open Maestro
Associates LLC, a lobbying firm.
His plan was
plain enough: He would use his two decades in government to help businesses
navigate state, county and local government.
Given that his
son ran the biggest local government in Michigan, many reasonable folks would
have seen the potential for at least the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Not Hizzoner.
When I asked
him if he planned to implement any guidelines for dealing with his father or
his father's clients, the mayor said he didn't need any rules to show him the
difference between right and wrong.
Fast forward
10 years. The Kilpatricks and another regular on the 11th floor of City Hall --
the mayor's floor -- are on trial, accused of abusing the public trust and
using their positions to enrich themselves and their associates.
Former
homeless shelter operator Jon Rutherford testified that he paid the elder
Kilpatrick $10,000 a month for his good counsel. (He gave the mayor $10,000.
For suits.)
Contractors
Thomas Hardiman and Avinash Rachmale testified that they gave B.K. $2,500 for
his city hall savvy. (They gave the mayor cut-rate campaign office space.)
And former
Cobo Center concessionaire Karl Kado said he paid Bernard Kilpatrick hundreds
of thousands of dollars to ensure that he would not get tossed out on his rear.
(He gave the mayor at least $10,000, though he can't remember whether it was
delivered in a brown paper bag or an envelope.)
Whether this
was ill-advised, unethical or illegal will be up to the jury to decide.
One factor
that may help B.K. is that all of his clients who became government witnesses
testified that they didn't get everything -- or, in some cases, anything --
they wanted, despite their lavish payments to the mayor's daddy.
If the jury
does decide that the government over-reached and, as the defense attorneys
contend, has cast everything the Kilpatricks and their pal Bobby Ferguson did
in a falsely negative light, wouldn't it be ironic if all of this could have
been avoided if only the mayor had installed safeguards to guide the city's
dealings with his father?
Of course,
installing safeguards would have amounted to taking good advice.
And, so far,
the testimony we've heard suggests that the only thing the mayor was good at
taking is other people's money.
Follow M.L.
Elrick's coverage of the Kilpatrick & Co. trial daily on FOX 2 and at
www.myfoxdetroit.com. Contact him at ml.elrick@foxtv.com or via Twitter
(@elrick) or Facebook. And catch him every Friday morning around 7:15 a.m. on
Drew & Mike on WRIF, 101.1 FM. He is co-author of "The Kwame Sutra:
Musings on Lust, Life and Leadership from Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick,"
available at www.kwamesutra.com. A portion of sales benefit the Eagle Sports
Club and Soar Tutoring. Learn more at www.eaglesports.com.
