Detroit Council Trio to Gov: We Weren't Duped

As reported in the Detroit News today, there is an astounding quasi admission from three members of Detroit's City Council--they either knew all about the hush money being paid to the whistle blower plaintiffs in their lawsuit against the city and blessed the payments anyway, or they are saying they were unaware of the payment but feel it was well within the rights of the mayor to engage in acts of political self-preservation that financially hurt the city.

In either case, who is looking out for the citizens of Detroit?

Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers sent a letter May 27 that asks Granholm to refrain from using state powers that allow governors to unseat elected officials for misconduct. The letter disputes the council's claim that Kilpatrick violated the city charter, claiming there is "no factual basis whatsoever" that members were duped into the deal.

Ah, that Monica Conyers truly is the gift that keeps on giving.

Conyers and the other signing council members, Barbara-Rose Collins and Martha Reeves, have somehow decided that by asserting that, since they were not duped into the hush money payoffs, they have somehow legitimized the mayor's payoffs themselves. Unfortunately for the trio, all they may have done is exposed their own culpability in this whole sordid scheme or testified to their willingness to put a personal friendship with the hip-hop mayor ahead of their elected responsibilities to look out for the residents of Detroit.

In fairness, Conyers has said the letter is not in support of the mayor personally, but simply a caution to the Governor to not jump too quickly and to allow the legal mechanisms of Detroit to run its course on the whole affair. I've heard rational people make the same arguments recently and, though I don't agree with them in toto, they do have some merit.

However, if this is the case, why then did Conyers insert the possibly incriminating "we were not duped" red herring into the equation if not solely for Kwame's defense?

If Monica Conyers gets what she desires the city of Detroit will remain in the shadows of the Kwame Kilpatrick scandal for another couple of years--long enough for the courts to settle the dispute in their own time while the Governor sits on her hands.

For a person so wise as to not be duped by Kwame's clandestine activities, how can Monica Conyers be so unwise as to want her city to suffer through a needlessly extended period of embarrassment and financial hardship? Because she loves and respects Kwame Kilpatrick more than she loves and respects the city of Detroit.

Monica Conyers may not have been duped, and neither is she duping me.