The Mayor's mother
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/06/30/art.kilpatricksplit.jpg caption="Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick Kwame Kilpatrick"]
Steve Turnham
AC360° Staff
Detroit Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick has never lost an election. In fact, she's never received less than 78% of the vote. But that was before her son, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, was indicted for perjury; for lying about an alleged sexual affair with his chief of staff, and about whether he fired a police officer in an act of political retaliation. The evidence against him includes some very graphic text messages.
In Democratic Detroit, the primary is the only contest that really counts. Last time up, Rep. Kilpatrick coasted: this time she has two opponents, one of whom has already produced a savage ad that uses an old defense of her son against her. Despite the filial baggage, Kilpatrick is still expected to win the August primary, but as she herself acknowledged in an interview with CSPAN this weekend, her son's troubles haven't helped.
A bit of good news for Congresswoman Kilpatrick, her son's trial isn't set to start until late September, well after the primary. The Mayor, for the record, maintains his innocence.
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Filed under: Raw Politics |
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While Ms. Kilpatrick should NOT be judged or voted on related to her son's activities, she just might be. Why? If people can't get to the person to make them fess up and fly right, they will hurt the ones they love.
Some people may make a statement by not voting for her in order to send a message to the lying, cheating, self-righteous mayor. Is it right? of course not. but it happens.
It should be interesting to follow Carolyn's campaign for re-election to Congress and the impact her son's behaviors will have on it. She is not advocating that her son resign eventhough he's been indicted. Perjury means a lot in my book but my guess is Detroit will soon forget all this drama but not anytime soon.
It is also interesting that both Kwame and Carolyn are superdelegates who earlier this month announced they are endorsing Obama. Kwame using his influence to get the Michigan voters to back Obama....or maybe not. We shall see!
Jolene, St. Joseph, MI
Steve:
Congesswoman Kilpatrick should be judged by the people on how she represents her district. Her son is an adult male and should solely be held accountable for his own behavior.
As politics is a dirty business, it is not a surprise that negative ads are being used by her opposition.
Susan
Phoenixville,PA
P.S. I am very sorry for the error that I made in my comment on your sugar blog.
The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
I was born and raised in Detroit... It breeds corruption.
Half of the buildings in the downtown area are empty and have been since the late 1970's. Southfield and Troy is where the most of the real money producing business are located...north of Eight Mile.
Bill Clinton did the same thing people didn’t hold that against Hillary. People are not responsible for others actions. Who knows what kind of personal life this woman leads but if she has done a good job thus far as congresswoman then why punish her for her son’s actions.
Kwame can deny it all he likes, but the lies he and his aide told on the stand are forever preserved on video tape, think Bill Clinton regarding Monica. September can't come too soon for Detroit residents they want this over so the city can get back to business.
Well you can't hold Mrs. Kilpatrick responsible for what her son does. He is a grown man and she can't control him. And it doesn't mean that she is the exact same type of person as he is. You can teach your kids right from wrong as they grow up but it is their decision on how they live once they are grown. Obviously he has chosen the wrong path.
Cindy...Ga.
What Don Imus said, 'well there you go; black men get arrested for doing nothing.'