Kwame Should Bite the Bullet and Save Taxpayers $$$

Kwame Kilpatrick used to be known as the "Hip Hop Mayor."

Now of days he's better known for being the self-absorbed, sometimes-delusional ex-mayor who cared far more about getting laid and living the good life than he did about lifting Detroit off its ailing bed. 

Kilpatrick could do the noble thing and plead guilty in his pending federal racketeering case. He's accused of taking bribes and helping line the pockets of friends.

reported that the Kwame offer never happened. It may really come down to semantics.What constitutes an offer and what is just talk?

The other day when I spoke to James Thomas, Kilpatrick's attorney, he wouldn't flat out deny that such a plea was ever mentioned in passing by the feds.

But he was adamant that he never engaged in any plea talks, never asked to and was never given any official offer known in the federal system as a Rule 11. 

"My client has directed me to go to trial," he told me.  He added that the fact such a report about a plea has surfaced in the media undercuts the presumption of innocence. And he says his client has not admitted any wrongdoing.

If the feds are offering up a 15-year plea, they may simply be saying to the ex-mayor, we've got one heck of a case.

That's great. But if I were the feds, I'd  offer 8 or 10 years. Kilpatrick is not likely to take that. But it's worth offering him something realistic to think about.

What we know from the past is that some of the most airtight looking cases can fall flat.  I've seen it happen in federal court, even with FBI videos and solid witnesses.

It's a shame so much of the taxpayers' money has to be spent investigating and prosecuting an ex-mayor who cared too little about his constituents.  Then again, the bigger shame would be if he walks free.