Unless, that is, we're writing to Kwame Kilpatrick. Few have done more to dishonor their office, their constituents and the calling of public service than the megalomaniacal mayor of Detroit.
His personal and official transgressions are well documented. Hosting a wild party, featuring strippers, at the mayor's mansion. Persistent rumors linking him to the murder of one of those strippers. Sanctioning smear campaigns against police officers who sought to expose his impropriety. Appropriating a Harley for his personal use from the Detroit Police. The now-familiar affair with his chief of staff, characterized by steamy text messages. Earlier this year, his indictment on ten felony counts, including perjury and obstruction of justice.The list is long -- those are just highlights. It's likely that Kilpatrick has been a bad actor since birth, but it's certain that he's been shaming his city since taking office in 2002.
So why the hell is this guy still the mayor of Detroit?
That's the most obvious question -- especially among those of us watching this train wreck from afar -- but it's not the only one.
Why did the Michigan Chronicle, the state's oldest black newspaper, only this week call for Kilpatrick to resign his office? Why hasn't Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm removed Kilpatrick from office? What has Detroit's City Council been doing for the last six-plus years? Are the city's power-players actually intimidated by the mayor's mother (a U.S. Congresswoman and chair of the Congressional Black Caucus) and his aunt (a state legislator)?
Most important, perhaps, is this: Although the citizens of Detroit can be excused for succumbing to Kilpatrick's charm, however crude, in 2001, how could they be foolish enough to re-elect him in 2005?
The answers to those questions spread blame far, wide and thick -- but the citizens of Detroit and the people of Michigan have the same answers, and yet have responded with all the outrage of a potted plant.
Putting aside miscreant Kilpatrick for a moment, consider that this is a city and a state suffering greatly from the collapse of American manufacturing. Detroit's unemployment rate of 9.7%, like Michigan's 8.5%, leads the nation. The city's poverty rate is over 30%. More than 75% of Detroit youth won't graduate from high school.
When we ask the same questions again -- Where are city and state government? Why don't citizens demand better? -- we get the same docile replies. The same absence of outrage. The same resignation to a bad situation getting worse, much worse.
Make no mistake, Kwame Kilpatrick is a problem child who deserves to be locked up until the sun stops shining, but he's not the problem. He's not even a poster boy for the problem. He's a product of the problem.
Kilpatrick is the creation of an impressionable, ignorant and impotent citizenry. Had his constituents been less easily fooled, his misbehavior would appear only on the police blotter, not on the front page.
The citizens of Detroit got the government they deserve. We all do.
