When in a Hole, Even Ex-Mayors of Detroit should stop Digging

Once again, its not the crime but the cover-up, or in this case an apparent failure to be candid about his financial ability to pay his court ordered restitution that is plaguing the ex-mayor of Detroit, Kwame Kilpatrick. The story keeps changing and spinning and it may end up with his returning to jail if he can't get his story straight.

Kilpatrick's friends helped pay part of his restitution, hearing reveals

One would have thought that he would have learned after already being caught committing perjury and lying to cover it up. As his former honor keeps trying to brazen it out, its not going to get any better.

New doubts surfaced Wednesday about former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's claim that he doesn't know how his rent is paid on his million-dollar Texas home when an FBI agent testified that Kilpatrick was intimately involved in the lease negotiations.

And Kilpatrick, who testified three weeks ago that he didn't know whether his wife, Carlita Kilpatrick, had a job, said Wednesday on the witness stand: "At this particular time, I have the only income in the home."

Kilpatrick raised more eyebrows during the third day of his restitution hearing when he testified that he has borrowed thousands of dollars from friends to make his restitution payments.

"There's so many different people giving you so much money that you can't even keep it straight, is that what you're telling us, sir?" asked Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Athina Siringas, drawing a rebuke from Wayne County Circuit Judge David Groner.

The revelations stood out on a day in which prosecutors sought to convince Groner that Kilpatrick has violated his probation by hiding his assets.

They also tried to prove that a $240,000 loan Kilpatrick received from local business leaders was really a gift that should have been reported to the court.

But the top Compuware attorney who drafted the deal testified that the business leaders always had intended only to lend Kilpatrick the money.
Doubts raised on rent claim

Three weeks ago, Kilpatrick said he didn't know who was paying his rent.

On Wednesday, an FBI agent testified that Kilpatrick approved the deal.

Lying doesn't work because it can be hard to keep your story straight, especially if someone checks up on it. That's why you tell the truth under oath as when its followed up and you're found to be lying, its not going to go well:

Siringas also grilled Kilpatrick on how he pays his monthly restitution to the city.

He said he might borrow $1,000, go to the ATM, withdraw money here and there. He said he stockpiles the money.

"Stockpile?" Siringas asked.

Kilpatrick caught himself.

"I shouldn't have said that," he said, chuckling.

Ooops, that had to hurt.

It also seems that Kwame's friends who were appointed to office by him have been generous in helping him out now:

Another surprising development Wednesday came when Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Athina Siringas divulged that the mother of longtime Kilpatrick friends DeDan and Kandia Milton paid $12,500 toward Kilpatrick's restitution.

Even Kilpatrick was surprised about one aspect of the revelation: He testified that he thought the Miltons' mother, Sandra Ramsey, loaned him only $10,000. He learned from prosecutors that an additional $2,500 he thought DeDan Milton had loaned him had actually come from Ramsey.

Ramsey and her sons were all high-ranking political appointees during Kilpatrick's nearly two terms as mayor.

DeDan Milton was an assistant to Kilpatrick who later represented Kilpatrick on one of the city's pension boards. Kandia Milton had risen to deputy mayor by the time Kilpatrick resigned in September 2008.

Siringas slammed Kilpatrick for borrowing the money from Ramsey shortly after receiving a $150,000 installment of a $240,000 loan from four prominent local businessmen.

Kilpatrick said Ramsey helped him make the payment because "to leave town, to get to my wife and children, I had to pay that. ... She gave me some money."

Nice to have such loyalty.

And the gift/loan from the four Detroit Businessmen continues to be in question, with the loan documents only being created after the IRS and FBI started investigating:

Prosecutors argued Wednesday that a $240,000 loan to Kilpatrick from four prominent businessmen was actually a gift.

As evidence, the prosecution called as a witness Compuware lawyer Daniel Follis, who testified that the repayment terms on the loan -- the promissory notes -- weren't completed until after the FBI and IRS came calling.

Siringas argued that was evidence the loan was a gift.

Schwartz attacked the prosecution's theory that it was a gift with Follis' testimony that not one of the business leaders who made the loan to Kilpatrick ever said to Follis that the money was a gift.

The real question is who put these businessmen up to these "gift/loans" and what were they either promised to receive in return or threatened with to ensure their compliance:

John Rakolta Jr., chairman and chief executive officer of the Walbridge construction company, reiterated Wednesday that he never agreed to lend any money to Kilpatrick.

"I was asked and declined the opportunity to participate in the loan after consulting with my closest advisers. I know Pete, Jim, Roger and Dan very well, and I have the utmost respect for them both professionally and personally. They are men of honor and integrity and have worked tirelessly for the betterment of the city of Detroit," Rakolta said in a statement issued Tuesday.

You'll note it does not identify who asked him for his donation, and curiously there is no follow-up.

You can be sure that Kwame's Kontortions aren't done yet.