Kwame Kilpatrick May have EMBEZZLED $1.3 Million BUCKS....CHA CHING :(

The City of Detroit is hit with yet another blow. I mean damn, how much abuse can we get in one year. Let me just get ight into it. According to freep.com Kwame has some MORE explaining to do.

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has failed to file a required campaign finance report, violating state law and raising questions about what happened to the $1.3 million he had on hand at the end of 2007.



The report is now nearly two months overdue.


Maurice Kelman, a retired Wayne State University law professor and expert on election law, said the public has a right to know how Kilpatrick used those campaign funds as he faced felony charges stemming from last year’s text message scandal.


“What he has to gain by not filing is continuing to conceal how he’s spent his money,” Kelman said.


Kilpatrick’s long-time campaign treasurer told the Free Press he resigned last year. Kilpatrick’s current treasurer could not be reached.


Kilpatrick by far had the largest war chest of the scores of candidates who have not filed campaign finance reports. The penalties for not filing, however, are relatively minor in Michigan.

120 others also failed to file
Kilpatrick isn’t the only politician who failed to file a 2008 campaign finance report: 120 other office seekers in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties also missed their deadline.


The issue is a challenging one for officials. While missing one finance report can result in a fine, candidates and campaign committee treasurers can face up to 90 days in jail for failing to file if they miss two reporting deadlines. Still few — if any — candidates get prosecuted.


In Kilpatrick’s case, his second deadline would come in January 2010 before it would rise to a potential crime. Kilpatrick historically has filed his reports late.


Candidates in Michigan who file late reports can be fined $50 initially, with costs rising to a maximum of $500.


Records on file with the Wayne County Clerk list Jacquelyn Watts — Kilpatrick’s cousin — as his campaign treasurer. She could not be reached for comment Monday.


Gregory Terrell, who prepared Kilpatrick’s campaign finance reports since his first mayoral run in 2001, said he resigned as treasurer last year.




“I’m not involved in preparing the report so I don’t have any information with respect to the filing or when it would be filed,” he said in a voice mail message left with the Free Press Monday.


Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garrett notified Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy on Feb. 16 that Kilpatrick and dozens of other candidates were delinquent in filing their campaign finance reports by the beginning of February, as required by state law.


Worthy’s office declined to comment Monday.


Because prosecutors emphasize more serious crimes, most candidates get off with paying late fees.


John Sellek, a spokesman for Attorney General Mike Cox, acknowledged that state law requires clerks to notify the attorney general, but it does not require the attorney general to prosecute such cases. So they are typically referred back to the county prosecutors.


Roger Cardamone, Macomb’s chief elections clerk, said he is unaware of any local prosecutions. He said his office uses the county treasurer to collect the fees.


The Oakland County Clerk’s Office sends a list of its delinquents to both the attorney general and the county prosecutor while also using the treasurer to collect fees, said Jim VanLeuven, deputy clerk and register of deeds.


Oakland elections officials have not asked to prosecute delinquents, VanLeuven said.


“We’re not in a position to suggest they prioritize their workload,” he said of prosecutors. “How much time and energy do you spend collecting $100 for a committee that’s been disbanded?”


Paul Walton, deputy chief prosecutor in Oakland, said he could not recall any prosecutions for a delinquent filing.


“We’re never going to summarily ignore anything,” he said. “Whether charges are issued or not is dependent on factors that are only going to be revealed in the report itself.”


Rich Robinson, executive director of the watchdog Michigan Campaign Finance Network, said he isn’t surprised, because cracking down on violators isn’t a priority for any public official. “It’s a bad situation,” Robinson said, “and I’m not sure exactly what the answer is because I empathize with the Prosecutor’s Office.”


Contact M.L. ELRICK at 313-222-6582 or mlelrick@freepress.com.

Well he is not the only one, but that does raise some eyebrows. Will he try to use that money to pay the City back. Did his wife and family use the money to make ends meets while he was "locked up"? Did he try and pay off his lawyers with that money? Was that money used to hush people up? There could be many reasons and places that money could have went. I think that regardless of how big or how small a case is, offenders should be prosecuted. I think that they are only letting people off in this case becasue they are the people choice. It's not fair, but it's life. People we have to do better and we have to start doing it NOW!