Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Yeah, I was waiting for this one … heh!Note to Obama-operative: ALL government is local … hence, your “Michigan family” problems are the result of YOUR local politicians … and your citizens, quite frankly.

Michigan governor will not pardon Detroit mayor

By David Bailey

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich., Aug 14 - Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm said on Thursday she would not grant a pardon to Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on perjury and other charges, reiterating that the situation needed to be resolved.

Granholm, a Democrat like Kilpatrick, said on Detroit radio station WJR she received the pardon request on Wednesday in relation to a hearing in September in which she will consider whether to use her official powers to remove him from office.

“I will not be pardoning or issuing immunity for anyone testifying in that hearing,” Granholm said in the radio interview conducted at an auto industry conference.

The governor has so far resisted calls for her to remove Kilpatrick from office but will preside over a hearing on Sept. 3 to consider a request by the Detroit City Council to remove him. She said she would decide quickly.

“I’ve said all along this has got to be resolved,” Granholm told reporters. “This has been very, very difficult for the city, for the state, and that’s obviously why we need a resolution.”

Kilpatrick’s counsel had asked Granholm to grant immunity from prosecution or a pardon to clear the way for the mayor to testify on his own behalf at the governor’s hearing.

On Thursday, the governor’s legal counsel said Granholm had no authority to issue a pardon before a conviction.

Kilpatrick, 38, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of perjury, obstruction of justice and official misconduct charges stemming from his handling of a whistle-blower lawsuit, which exposed his affair with a former staff member.

Kilpatrick also faces a possible two-year prison term on separate assault charges in which he is accused of pushing a deputy sheriff trying to serve a subpoena on one of the mayor’s friends. Kilpatrick is out on bond in that case.

Kilpatrick’s deepening legal woes have added to the uncertainty over the leadership of Detroit at a time when the 11th largest U.S. city faces hard times due to the decline in the auto industry.

Michigan is considered a battleground state in the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 4 and Kilpatrick, once seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party and a superdelegate to the Democratic Party convention, faces pressure to resign.

He made court appearances in the two criminal cases on Thursday.

In the first, Kilpatrick pleaded not guilty in the perjury case and the judge eased travel restrictions placed on the mayor and ordered an electronic tether removed. The judge also said he could attend the party convention.

But at a second hearing on the assault charges, Judge Ronald Giles, who ordered the mayor jailed last week, restored the travel restrictions and ordered the tether put back on.

Kilpatrick was jailed for one night last week for violating terms of his bond by traveling to the neighboring Canadian city of Windsor in July. His release was conditional on a stiffer bond, confinement to the Detroit area and a requirement to wear an electronic tether.
(Reuters)

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Obama aide: Mayor Kilpatrick would be a distraction at convention

By Kathleen Gray - (free press)

If Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick decides to go to the Democratic National Convention in Denver in 10 days, he would be a distraction from the historic nomination of Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive nominee’s campaign said today.

But Obama staffers wouldn’t go as far as saying Kilpatrick shouldn’t make the trip to Denver.

The convention should be about the economic problems facing the nation overall and Michigan specifically, Brent Colburn, Obama’s Michigan campaign spokesman said.

“Many Michigan families are struggling as a result of the failed policies and old politics that John McCain wants to continue. The focus of our convention to people back here in Michigan should be on Barack Obama and how the party intends to get America back on track, not a distraction involving the troubles of one individual,” Colburn said in a statement released this afternoon.

Bond restrictions placed on Kilpatrick, in light of 10 felony charges filed against the mayor, had included no travel outside of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties. But Circuit Court Judge Leonard Townsend lifted those restrictions so Kilpatrick could go to the convention, which runs from Aug. 24-28.

(h/t JammieWearingFool and Ace Of Spades)