Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said today that he should remain in office because the alternative would put a city and state in economic turmoil even more at risk.
"There's a danger of unplugging. There's been such a knee-jerk reaction of leave, leave, leave. But what happens the next day?" Kilpatrick told a crowd of more than 300 people at a forum with the region's other top elected officials today in Birmingham. "You'd have a temporary mayor and an election in 90 days. You could have four mayors in 15 months."
Kilpatrick also said that while the news media hounds him about his legal problems -- which include felony charges for perjury and obstruction of justice in the text message scandal -- progress is under way in the city.
"What you see on television every night is not what's happening in the city of Detroit," he said. "We're closing deals, fixing streets and solving crime."
While no one in the audience directly asked about the text message scandal or calls for Kilpatrick's resignation, it was on everyone's mind.
"It's between him and his constituents," Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said before the forum. "I don't need to be piling on."
Also inflaming passions at today's breakfast meeting of business and political leaders was the scheduled April 27 speech by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the controversial former pastor of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, at the annual Freedom Dinner of the Detroit chapter of the NAACP.
Patterson said after seeing some clips of Wright's sermons, in which he condemns the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he had heard enough.
"If he goes to the Freedom Dinner and makes similar comments, he'll drive a huge wedge in the region," Patterson said. "I think he's one of the most divisive speakers I've ever heard."
His assessment was challenged by Kilpatrick, who said that Wright's body of work should not be judged by the three lines that get played on cable news shows.
Patterson said listening to Wright's message would be comparable to an African American accepting an invitation to listen to a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan.
"I'm just trying to pick someone who would inflame your passions, like Qaddafi or Osama bin Laden," Patterson said.
Some other participants questioned Patterson's remarks.
"If we just listened to your sound bites, we wouldn't want to hear you anymore," said Marvin Beatty, a former Detroit deputy fire commissioner and member of the city's Zoning Board of Appeals. "I've watched you for 25 years, and you inflamed me 25 years ago. But I've watched your transition and I respect you today."
Kilpatrick said the comparison was wrong but instructive.
"You see how issues land on whites differently than they land on blacks," he said. "We respond to them differently emotionally. And to have Jeremiah Wright compared to the Grand Dragon is so far beyond African Americans' experience."
Kilpatrick compared Wright's treatment with his own in light of a scandal that has engulfed his administration.
"As a person who's been demonized as a thug who holds parties with strippers, 99% of the people who hear about me hear about me through that lens," he said. "It's the same thing with Jeremiah Wright. I've been to his church, and he's one of the greatest orators to walk the Earth."
Not all the comments from and about the mayor were so serious.
Said Patterson: "I see Alan Schwartz in the audience, and I think he's the only lawyer you haven't hired yet."
Responded Kilpatrick: "It's still early."
"There's a danger of unplugging. There's been such a knee-jerk reaction of leave, leave, leave. But what happens the next day?" Kilpatrick told a crowd of more than 300 people at a forum with the region's other top elected officials today in Birmingham. "You'd have a temporary mayor and an election in 90 days. You could have four mayors in 15 months."
Kilpatrick also said that while the news media hounds him about his legal problems -- which include felony charges for perjury and obstruction of justice in the text message scandal -- progress is under way in the city.
"What you see on television every night is not what's happening in the city of Detroit," he said. "We're closing deals, fixing streets and solving crime."
While no one in the audience directly asked about the text message scandal or calls for Kilpatrick's resignation, it was on everyone's mind.
"It's between him and his constituents," Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said before the forum. "I don't need to be piling on."
Also inflaming passions at today's breakfast meeting of business and political leaders was the scheduled April 27 speech by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the controversial former pastor of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, at the annual Freedom Dinner of the Detroit chapter of the NAACP.
Patterson said after seeing some clips of Wright's sermons, in which he condemns the United States after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, he had heard enough.
"If he goes to the Freedom Dinner and makes similar comments, he'll drive a huge wedge in the region," Patterson said. "I think he's one of the most divisive speakers I've ever heard."
His assessment was challenged by Kilpatrick, who said that Wright's body of work should not be judged by the three lines that get played on cable news shows.
Patterson said listening to Wright's message would be comparable to an African American accepting an invitation to listen to a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan.
"I'm just trying to pick someone who would inflame your passions, like Qaddafi or Osama bin Laden," Patterson said.
Some other participants questioned Patterson's remarks.
"If we just listened to your sound bites, we wouldn't want to hear you anymore," said Marvin Beatty, a former Detroit deputy fire commissioner and member of the city's Zoning Board of Appeals. "I've watched you for 25 years, and you inflamed me 25 years ago. But I've watched your transition and I respect you today."
Kilpatrick said the comparison was wrong but instructive.
"You see how issues land on whites differently than they land on blacks," he said. "We respond to them differently emotionally. And to have Jeremiah Wright compared to the Grand Dragon is so far beyond African Americans' experience."
Kilpatrick compared Wright's treatment with his own in light of a scandal that has engulfed his administration.
"As a person who's been demonized as a thug who holds parties with strippers, 99% of the people who hear about me hear about me through that lens," he said. "It's the same thing with Jeremiah Wright. I've been to his church, and he's one of the greatest orators to walk the Earth."
Not all the comments from and about the mayor were so serious.
Said Patterson: "I see Alan Schwartz in the audience, and I think he's the only lawyer you haven't hired yet."
Responded Kilpatrick: "It's still early."
Is that a threat kwame? Are you going kill us like you did *coughs* Tamera? Because last time I check the city was already in economic crisis. SMH!
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