by
Mayor Patrick Cannon
Under the "good to know category," freshly busted Charlotte, N.C. Mayor Patrick Cannon let an undercover FBI agent know he was no "Chicago or Detroit type (of) folk." That reassurance came after the agent allegedly passed on a $12,500 bribe to Cannon in 2012 while he was on the city council.
The mention of Detroit was an obvious reference to our beloved ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
And yes, Cannon is so right. Detroit's crooked politicians are much better at the game.
Kilpatrick got a lot more money illegally before he was finally caught and sent to prison for 28 years. In fact, when Kilpatrick was busted he could have said: "At least I'm no Charlotte type of folk."
Cannon resigned as mayor Wednesday after being arrested on federal public corruption charges that include accepting more than $48,000 in bribes from undercover FBI agents, according to the Charlotte Observer. Patrick was on the city council before he became mayor in late 2013.
The Charlotte paper wrote of the 2012 incident where Detroit was mentioned:
According to the complaint, Cannon was also accused of accepting $12,500 from an undercover agent to help him develop a feminine hygiene product called "Hers" to be marketed and sold in the United States. In exchange, Cannon offered to help the agent - posing as a business manager for a venture capital company - get the necessary permits to open a nightclub.
During the meeting, an undercover agent told Cannon: "You know, again whatever you can do to get our application moved up towards the top, uh, business license and things like that, that we need."
According to the complaint, Cannon responded: "Yeah, not a problem."
Cannon later had a discussion with the undercover agent, apparently attempting to clarify that the money was strictly seed money for the "Hers" product and not payment for his help in opening the nightclub. "OK, so I mean, 'cause I'm not, I'm not one of those Chicago or Detroit type (of) folk," Cannon told the agent, apparently referring to high-profile corruption cases in those cities.
