car7858's Blog

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Nolan Finley Red lights couldn't slow Kilpatrick

A pickup truck pulled alongside me at a red light in Detroit the other day, paused for just a second and then sailed on through the intersection without waiting for the signal to turn green.

I couldn't help it -- I craned my neck to see if Kwame Kilpatrick was behind the wheel.

The driver of the truck knew there'd be no consequence for blowing off the red light; traffic laws are rarely enforced in Detroit.

That's the same attitude Kilpatrick brought to City Hall. Yes, there are rules. But why should they slow me down when I can get away with breaking them?

Even now that he's been pulled to the curb, Kilpatrick is convinced he can get the ticket fixed.

For months, he's been urging community leaders to intercede on his behalf with Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.

All he wanted, the mayor claimed, was to stay out of prison and be able to support his family, but he couldn't get Worthy to talk turkey.

A lot of folks, including myself, thought a reasonable plea bargain would be the most efficient way to clean up this mess and let Detroit move on.

Compuware Chairman Peter Karamanos even led a delegation for a sit-down with the prosecutor to lobby for settlement of the charges.

But Kilpatrick didn't want a reasonable deal. That's why he never sent his lawyers in to meet with Worthy, at least not until recently.

He wanted off the hook. He wanted to plead guilty to a misdemeanor, keep his law license and finish out his term as mayor. And he thought he could use community pressure to get Worthy to go along.

She was never going to make that deal, no matter who carried it into her office. And she certainly won't now, with Kiplatrick teetering on his last legs.

Yet the mayor is still trying to avoid taking his licks. Last week he begged Gov. Jennifer Granholm for a pardon, something she likely can't give if she wanted to.

And you can bet she doesn't. Granholm can salvage her governorship by taking down Kilpatrick. She's not going to let that gift horse slip away.

Rewind this drama and you can pause it in so many places where the outcome would have been different had the mayor accepted that there's nothing so special about Kwame Kilpatrick that places him above the law.

Even now, with his life collapsing and nearly every voice in Detroit pleading with him to go, Kilpatrick doesn't seem to understand or accept that he's not a rock star anymore.

What level of extreme denial must he be in to think he'll be welcome in Denver next week as a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention?

Obama operatives right now are shopping for fat chains to wrap around the convention center in case he shows up.

Kilpatrick is desperate to manipulate a soft landing for himself and put things back the way they were.

But this tragic car wreck will be over soon. And when it ends, Kwame Kilpatrick will be just another guy who ignored the red lights and got crushed.

Nolan Finley is editorial page editor of The News. Reach him at nfinley@detnews.com or (313) 222-2064. Read his blog at forums.detnews.com/blogs/, and watch him at 8:30 p.m. Fridays on "Am I Right?" on Detroit Public TV, Channel 56.