Disgraced former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick claims in an upcoming book that an unspoken alliance of political adversaries, Detroit business leaders and an aggressive media capitalized on a sex and perjury scandal. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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Disgraced former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick claims in an upcoming book that an unspoken alliance of political adversaries, Detroit business leaders and an aggressive media capitalized on a sex and perjury scandal to send him from leading one of America’s largest cities to a prison cell.
The former politician bills “Surrendered! The Rise, Fall and Revelation of Kwame Kilpatrick” as the true tale of his saga. While he takes responsibility for an affair with an aide and lies told during a civil trial, he also blames plenty of others for his downfall.
“When I perjured myself, I gave my enemies a lane. And they turned that lane into a highway,” Kilpatrick writes, according to an advance copy obtained by The Associated Press. “My intent entering office was to empower Detroiters, and my actions heading into my second term suggested that we had the ability to do it. And that threatened too many people’s bottom line. Their bottom lines for me, then, became simple. Get rid of me. And they’re not finished.”
Kilpatrick, dubbed the “Hip-Hop Mayor” when he was elected at age 31, was charged with perjury after text messages on city-issued pagers contradicted testimony he gave during a 2007 police whistle-blowers’ trial. The sexually explicit text messages showed he lied when he denied under oath that he had a romantic relationship with the aide.
Throughout the book, he levels criticism at the aggressive Wayne County prosecutor, Kym Worthy, who charged him as well as two judges who heard the case as it went through the court system.
Kilpatrick is open, however, about the affair with one-time chief of staff Christine Beatty and falsehoods he told, even in front of the Wayne County Circuit Court judge who would decide his future and his freedom.
“I stood before Judge David Groner, who requested my plea. `I lied under oath,’ I said, `with the intent to mislead the court and jury and to impede and obstruct the fair administration of justice,'” Kilpatrick writes. “For the record, I lied when I made that statement. The real reason I lied under oath was because I didn’t want my wife to know I cheated. But be clear. There was absolutely no justice to obstruct in the whistle-blowers’ suit. The case was manufactured. I was just cornered.”
Kilpatrick, 41, eventually pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and no contest to assault and served time in the county jail. Groner sent him to state prison last year for not adhering to the terms of his probation, which called for the truthful disclosure of his finances. The former mayor is set to be paroled within weeks from state prison for violating probation in the 2008 criminal case.
The book, co-written by Khary Turner, is set to be released Aug. 1. Groner has ruled that any book profits intended for Kilpatrick, his relatives or other agents must first be applied toward $860,000 in unpaid restitution to the city.
