Ex-Mayor Enjoys Good Life as Detroit Struggles

(Feb. 26) -- For Kwame Kilpatrick, disgrace is but a nuisance. Just two years after he was forced from office amid scandal and convicted on felony charges, Detroit's former mayor found himself facing the prospect of jail time again. A warrant was issued for his arrest Thursday morning after he violated his parole by failing to meet his monthly payment to the city of Detroit, part of the $1 million he owes in restitution for a text-messaging scandal. The judge also accused Kilpatrick of failing to offer the court "a complete and accurate accounting of all finances" for his wife, Carlita.

But no scandal seems large enough to get him down. And incredibly, by Thursday evening, Kilpatrick's lawyer, Daniel Hajji, had successfully convinced an appeals court to halt the arrest warrant.

According to the Detroit Free Press, Kilpatrick's reaction was triumphant. "Yes, damn you! You go, Dan!" he is reported to have exclaimed to his lawyer. "Keep fighting."

His lawyer's argument? Hajji told the appeals court that "it doesn't take a rocket scientist" to know that Kilpatrick has to maintain his lavish lifestyle and "function in the upper echelons of society" in order to keep his job and repay the city of Detroit. In his brief to the court, Hajji also accused some of scapegoating Kilpatrick as a "darker version of Bill Clinton," though he didn't explain further.

What is apparent, however, is that while the city of Detroit is -- to put it mildly -- down on its luck, its disgraced ex-mayor is living the good life in Texas as a computer salesman. Indeed, political exile has never looked this good.

But just two years after he pleaded guilty to using taxpayer money to hide his affair with his chief of staff, Kilpatrick and his wife are living in a rented, 5,866-square-foot Texas mansion. Government prosecutors told The Associated Press that they "drive luxury vehicles and spend money on golf, restaurants, nail treatments and other amenities."

In July, the Detroit Free Press noted that his home, which is in a gated community, is 50 percent larger than the mayor's house in Detroit. These details might have been a moot point if Kilpatrick hadn't insisted to a court that he could only afford $6 a month in restitution payments.

The Court of Appeals, which halted the arrest warrant "for reasons of judicial economy," seemed to do so grudgingly. Judge Karen Fort Hood, who called Hajji's appeal a "rant" and threatened to issue a gag order, was disgusted. She said the appeal was "grossly noncompliant and inappropriate," and described its language as "mere rhetoric that does not warrant any time or consideration, let alone appellate relief."

After years of scandal, Detroit-area residents didn't seem to be buying Kilpatrick's defense either. In a letter to the editor in the Detroit Free Press, one suburban Detroit woman suggested garnishing Kilpatrick's paycheck or putting him back behind bars. "Maybe sitting in jail for 60 days would change his attitude. It would mine!" Linda Larson wrote.

The 39-year-old former mayor isn't the only Kilpatrick in hot water. A congressional ethics panel gave his mother, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, a slap on the wrist Friday after she was found using corporate money to pay for trips to the Caribbean.