The Tale of Two Kwames

Detroiters are numb from this latest controversy involving Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. We can't take one more damn scandal. Not one more rumor. Not one more dark cloud.

Charles Pugh is a broadcast journalist in Detroit..

Lord, what next?

Detroiters are numb from this latest round of controversy out of the mayor’s office.

We can’t take one more damn scandal.

I swear. NOT ONE!!

Not one more rumor. Not one more dark cloud.

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has finally broken his week-long silence about a newspaper printing romantic text messages that had been sent back and forth between him and his now former chief-of-staff.

The reason why anyone even cared about the texts is because they both had been asked, during a whistle-blower trial involving a different mayoral scandal, if they were romantically involved with one another.

The mayor and chief-of-staff Christine Beatty said, "no".

Well, we all read the texts in the paper. They were enough to make you horny. Okay, maybe not that titillating, but they did suggest that someone wasn’t telling the truth about romantic involvement. And not just lying, but lying while under oath. On the stand. In front of a live television audience watching every twist and turn of that trial last August.

On Wednesday night, the mayor told Detroit television viewers, "I’m sorry".

Sorry for the pain he caused his wife, kids and family.

Pain he caused supporters and haters.

Embarrassment, disappointment.

Many Detroiters say they’ve had enough!! Sick of the apologies. Sick of a mayor who keeps having things to apologize for.

What’s so sad is that he came into his first term with so much promise.

In 2001, he ran against, and beat, a man who was old enough to be his father. Detroiters said we were tired of the old guard, and were ready for a new era. New ideas. New hope.

Kwame Kilpatrick, at that time, was a state representative who had ascended to Democratic Party leadership in the Michigan legislature like few people had ever done. He was the youngest and first black person to be the legislative party leader. He had been a teacher. He had his law degree. He married his college sweetheart and had cute twin sons. His mother is a well-liked U.S. Congresswoman. He was tall, dark and handsome. Detroit’s son. Damn, we were ready for such promise. Kinda like so many people feel about Barack Obama.

So, what happened?

How did a young man, with such a bright future in the Democratic party, fall so hard?

The big, bad, scandalous mayor the media often skewer, is so different from the young, talented, articulate leader the city elected not once, but twice.

Right before the televised apology, a group of about 300 Detroiters showed up with signs and bullhorns at a rally about the mayor.

I say, a rally "about" the mayor, because half the crowd was there in support of him, and the other half was there demanding his resignation.

I talked to people in both crowds. Each person passionately described the mayor they had come, in the bitter cold, to either hate or support. It was amazing how different the two guys were. What was more amazing is that they were describing the same guy.

Honestly, in many ways, it is like knowing two different mayors. Jekyll and Hyde. Mayor Kilpatrick and "Kwame". Charismatic leader and "thug".

Who is this "other" mayor so many love to hate? Where the hell did he come from? And when is he going back?

It’s so strange.

On the one hand, you’ve got the mayor who’s a 37-year-old former football player at Detroit’s best high school. He went on to Florida A & M to study and play football down there.

He’s overseen major riverfront projects, Superbowl XL and all the festivities, a World Series later that same year, hundreds of homes being built around the city, several rec centers, Quicken Loans/Rock Financial promising to move it’s headquarters downtown Detroit, the construction of several hotels.

We’re like, "Wow!! More. More. Bring it on!!"

Then, on the other hand, you’ve got this "other" mayor who was caught lying about whether he had set aside a city-owned Lincoln Navigator for his wife’s use. This mayor also had a devastating rumor rock the entire city about a wild party at the official mayoral residence (a mansion on the Detroit river). The rumor mill churned out stories about the party that are still lingering 6 years later. Stories that say the first lady came to the mansion and assaulted a stripper who was "dancing" for the mayor. LORD!! You couldn’t go anywhere in the city without someone saying they knew one other angle of this fabled party. There were also rumors of a conspiracy to cover up evidence of the alleged assault and party--including missing police reports and hospital records. DAMN!!

But, wait, there’s more!!

The grand daddy of ALL rumors: the stripper who was assaulted by the first lady was murdered to shut her up.

OMG! Murder?!! Wait a damn minute!

That’s not the mayor we know.

Just who IS this scandalous, murderous, lying, flashy snake-in-the-grass thug everybody keeps talking about?

I don’t know him. Or do I?

And here’s the killing part(excuse the pun): there WAS an exotic dancer who WAS shot to death in April of 2003. Now her family is suing the city for $150 million. They want answers about why her murder case has yet to be solved or, in their judgment, thoroughly investigated.

And about those sexy text messages in the paper, the county prosecutor is now looking into whether the mayor perjured himself.

So, this "other" mayor could go to prison like Lil Kim or Martha Stewart?

DAMN!!

Jail time for lying about having sex with his chief-of-staff?

Didn’t Bill Clinton lie about the same thing, under oath?

Yeah, and he got his ass impeached and almost kicked out of the oval office, too.

So, now what?

Well, most of us are still trying to recognize this "other" mayor. Who is he? It sounds nothing like the mayor we WANT to know to love. But this other mayor won’t let us.

We are all wondering if he will go to jail, or if he’ll lose his law license, or be fined by the state.

And since he didn’t resign the other day, we wonder if he will run for office again next year.

And if he wins-- which mayor would it be?