Kilparticks New Home

**exdetroiter** · June-14-09, 08:26 AM

Commentary: Kilpatrick's digs show contempt for those he left behind

It's a house fit for a heart surgeon who saves seven lives a day or an entrepreneur who recently sold his digital gizmo firm to a public company. It's a house, even, for a software salesman who has risen to the top of his profession, improbably scooping up new accounts on the shoals of recession.
But the bloated, 5,866 square foot suburban Chateau Kwame Kilpatrick in Southlake, Texas, is an insult to those he left behind.
Read him loud and clear: His digs scream contempt for those he's left oh so far behind.
From his superbly-landscaped pool, a mini-lake with gardens surrounding it, to the cavernous recesses of his new closets, he's enjoying the perks and entitlements that a fall from grace unexpectedly brings a notorious mayor.
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Think of the suckers who admired and trusted him, who believed his renaissance patter. Think of Lou Beatty, the schmo, who overpaid for the Kilpatricks' old house, then lost his wife Christine, and then lost the house, too, in a cascade of misfortune.
Kilpatrick? He and wife Carlita doubled their money off the Beattys, as The News' David Josar has reported. They castled up the Manoogian, too, before he split -- first to Tallahassee, then to the Wayne County Jail, then on to this enclave of suburban privilege in Southlake, Texas.
Let Detroit -- with its bottomed-out housing values, its trashed public schools, and depleted resources -- pick up the shards. It's not his fault that people here are too dumb or slow or just in hock to get out of Dodge, as he has. At his gated and gentrified mini-palace, Kilpatrick can pull up an oversized chair to his big screen TV. Maybe he caught Stephen Colbert, in Iraq, ridiculing Detroit as the more awful location.
Kwame Kilpatrick is skating faster than Pavel Datsyuk, trying to prove he's not scarred by disast
Commentary: Kilpatrick's digs show contempt for those he left behind

It's a house fit for a heart surgeon who saves seven lives a day or an entrepreneur who recently sold his digital gizmo firm to a public company. It's a house, even, for a software salesman who has risen to the top of his profession, improbably scooping up new accounts on the shoals of recession.
But the bloated, 5,866 square foot suburban Chateau Kwame Kilpatrick in Southlake, Texas, is an insult to those he left behind.
Read him loud and clear: His digs scream contempt for those he's left oh so far behind.
From his superbly-landscaped pool, a mini-lake with gardens surrounding it, to the cavernous recesses of his new closets, he's enjoying the perks and entitlements that a fall from grace unexpectedly brings a notorious mayor.
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Think of the suckers who admired and trusted him, who believed his renaissance patter. Think of Lou Beatty, the schmo, who overpaid for the Kilpatricks' old house, then lost his wife Christine, and then lost the house, too, in a cascade of misfortune.
Kilpatrick? He and wife Carlita doubled their money off the Beattys, as The News' David Josar has reported. They castled up the Manoogian, too, before he split -- first to Tallahassee, then to the Wayne County Jail, then on to this enclave of suburban privilege in Southlake, Texas.
Let Detroit -- with its bottomed-out housing values, its trashed public schools, and depleted resources -- pick up the shards. It's not his fault that people here are too dumb or slow or just in hock to get out of Dodge, as he has. At his gated and gentrified mini-palace, Kilpatrick can pull up an oversized chair to his big screen TV. Maybe he caught Stephen Colbert, in Iraq, ridiculing Detroit as the more awful location.
Kwame Kilpatrick is skating faster than Pavel Datsyuk, trying to prove he's not scarred by disaster: Be clear: He hasn't gone all humble pie on us. He's the arrogant guy we got to know.
How can he possibly afford to maintain that new leased pad -- $1.1 million but now off the market -- with its five or six bedrooms, its jetted tubs and wood-burning oven, the backyard that looks like a Ritz-Carlton ad?
A patron is subsidizing his extravagant lifestyle. Surely that's the case. Can a patron be paying the bills for landscaping, air-conditioning, termite control, alarm companies, and all of the other expenses that attend the expansive, gentry lifestyle he's so gracefully segued into?
Detroiters are living on Baltic Avenue. He's living on Park Place.
And so far, when he lands on jail, he's just visiting.er: Be clear: He hasn't gone all humble pie on us. He's the arrogant guy we got to know.
How can he possibly afford to maintain that new leased pad -- $1.1 million but now off the market -- with its five or six bedrooms, its jetted tubs and wood-burning oven, the backyard that looks like a Ritz-Carlton ad?
A patron is subsidizing his extravagant lifestyle. Surely that's the case. Can a patron be paying the bills for landscaping, air-conditioning, termite control, alarm companies, and all of the other expenses that attend the expansive, gentry lifestyle he's so gracefully segued into?
Detroiters are living on Baltic Avenue. He's living on Park Place.
And so far, when he lands on jail, he's just visiting.

**R8RBOB** · June-14-09, 09:49 AM

As a Detroiter, I did not vote for Kwame Kilpatrick and I was pleased that he was knocked off his high horse. However, the press is still fixated on Kilpatrick and he doesn't live here. He is no longer our problem, the city of Detroit have thousands of problems to deal with and Kilpatrick is not one of them.

Ms. Berman is attempted to demonize Kilpatrick because he continues to live the high life, but what did she or we as a region expect? For him to return to the life of a pauper? Since I have never lived that life, I suppose I would imagine that when you get a taste; you don't want to give it up. As long as the Kilpatricks can continue to live that life, they are going to live that life regardless of the lies Kilpatrick is attempting to sell to the court.

I've read the comments from the News about this story and I would like to post the comments from an individual named 2012. This 2012 shows how ignorant some people can be when it comes to race.

black on black crime pays. LMFAO. The black residents voted for him twice. Detroit is screwed up. LOSERS. Kwame did what every black person does screw thier own race to move ahead. There is no family unity in the black race, they do not value life or education. They have ten kids and walk away because they do not care and thats accepted in the black race. Hay but he was the cool hip hop mayor they were proud of.SUCKERS LMFAO. hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Perhaps if this person's parents had let him or her out of their attic once in a while they would have realized it is 2009 not 1959. Not to lower Kilpatrick on the criminal totem pole but this fool and others like him or her believes that it is only Blacks can commit the crime of corruption and embezzlement. We know that is not true.

**pffft** · June-14-09, 10:12 AM

Are there only two ways to live, the life of a "pauper," or the life of a high roller who invented plutonium or something?

What's wrong with living a modest, middle-class life and paying your bills?

**R8RBOB** · June-14-09, 10:23 AM

Originally Posted by pffft

Are there only two ways to live, the life of a "pauper," or the life of a high roller who invented plutonium or something?

What's wrong with living a modest, middle-class life and paying your bills?

There is nothing wrong with living a modest, middle-class life but I have to bring out my Gordon Gekko and say "greed is good"

Greed is not really good, but you get the point. Once you get a sniff or taste, I would imagine it would hard as hell to let it go. Greed is the motivator to keep a hold of that life.

**pffft** · June-14-09, 10:36 AM

Well that's very nice, but just because you like something, doesn't mean you can afford it. It's one of the first life lessons for most of us.

LodgeDodger · June-14-09, 10:41 AM

Originally Posted by pffft

Well that's very nice, but just because you like something, doesn't mean you can afford it. It's one of the first life lessons for most of us.

Take a look around you. Society seems to have taken that train.

KK doesn't think he's one of us. He was born to be great. That was HIS life lesson.

**pffft** · June-14-09, 11:19 AM

I don't have to take a look around me, thanks. Folks who live beyond their means have been in the forefront of the subprime mortgage mess. It always catches up with them.

**smogboy** · June-15-09, 03:06 AM

Originally Posted by R8RBOB

There is nothing wrong with living a modest, middle-class life but I have to bring out my Gordon Gekko and say "greed is good"

Greed is not really good, but you get the point. Once you get a sniff or taste, I would imagine it would hard as hell to let it go. Greed is the motivator to keep a hold of that life.

Greed really does get a bum rap. It's got such a horrible connotation. Let's swap out the word greed and replace it with "ambition" for the time being.

That being said, KK was a very ambitious young man. He climbed his way to the top of the Detroit food chain. But what happened once he got there is reprehensible. He lied & cheated, not just to his wife & family but to those of us whose trust he held. He simply put- shafted the city and immediately after getting out of jail, he lands this sort of home?

Does he really deserve to live this sort of lavish lifestyle immediately after getting out? I'd almost be somewhat forgiving if he lived at an equal sort of lifestyle but from all indications, this felon has moved up in lifestyle. It makes most of us question- has prison taught him anything about humility?

I don't think any of us here think he should live in squalor but this is just a slap in the face. I never thought KK really understood Detroit or its people but this really takes the cake. He's still arrogant and smug as ever. There are so many other bright, intelligent, charming people who work twice as hard as this bloated politician who deserve twice as much as this thug.

And now that he's got his swanky home in Texas, I sincerely hope he never ever comes back to Detroit in any way shape or form.

**ejames01** · June-15-09, 06:29 AM

"Deserve's got nothin' to do with it." - William Munny

This is getting absurd. Big Diamond is no longer mayor and does not even live in Michigan any longer. As long as he keeps mailing his checks, it is no ones business whether he lives in a mansion or one of his "friends" lets him drive a Rolls-Royce or gives him rides on the private jet or yacht.

Originally Posted by smogboy

Does he really deserve to live this sort of lavish lifestyle immediately after getting out? I'd almost be somewhat forgiving if he lived at an equal sort of lifestyle but from all indications, this felon has moved up in lifestyle. It makes most of us question- has prison taught him anything about humility?

**exdetroiter** · June-15-09, 07:22 AM

The media would not be concerned with Kwame's living arrangements if he hadn't filed a motion requesting his restitution payment be lowered to $6.00 a month because he can't afford the current amount he agreed to as part of the plea bargain. The media would not be concerned with Kwame's living arrangements if he had not filed a lawsuit against the city and Skytell for releasing his text messages.

Kwame wants the media attention just as the media loves to give him attention. If he had made his monthly restitution payment as previously agreed, I doubt if anyone would have cared how big of a house he has or plans to purchase. Kwame is rubbing his thief of city funds into the citizens faces, by continuing to splurge while attempting to avoid repayment of money he misappropriated by way of the settlement to keep his affair under wraps.

**carman** · June-15-09, 08:04 AM

Close to 50% of the Detroit electorate would vote for him again. Why? Well think about it. Not that difficult to see what garners votes in this region. Be it on either side of 8 Mile Road.

Hard to believe that Pete Karmanos can look in the mirror. Steal, lie, cheat, mistreat and get rewarded due to a business connection. I don't care how good it is for business, don't we have to have some decorum to survive long term?

**Bobl** · June-15-09, 08:15 AM

carman
Your quote: "Hard to believe that Pete Karmanos can look in the mirror. Steal, lie, cheat, mistreat and get rewarded due to a business connection. I don't care how good it is for business, don't we have to have some decorum to survive long term?" is easily answered. Those who have participated in "pay to play" will continue to court Kilpatrick. Even subsidize his lifestyle and mansion. There is an expanding federal investigation going on, and the ex mayor likely has a lot of knowledge that could come back and haunt many of the players. They must treat him well to protect themselves from any testimony that shines the light on them.

**ejames01** · June-15-09, 08:16 AM

The $6.00 motion was just a joke to get back at the Kim Worthy, the media and all the people that hate his guts. Obviously it worked.

Originally Posted by exdetroiter

The media would not be concerned with Kwame's living arrangements if he hadn't filed a motion requesting his restitution payment be lowered to $6.00 a month because he can't afford the current amount he agreed to as part of the plea bargain. The media would not be concerned with Kwame's living arrangements if he had not filed a lawsuit against the city and Skytell for releasing his text messages.

Kwame wants the media attention just as the media loves to give him attention. If he had made his monthly restitution payment as previously agreed, I doubt if anyone would have cared how big of a house he has or plans to purchase. Kwame is rubbing his thief of city funds into the citizens faces, by continuing to splurge while attempting to avoid repayment of money he misappropriated by way of the settlement to keep his affair under wraps.

**exdetroiter** · June-15-09, 08:22 AM

Think of the suckers who admired and trusted him, who believed his renaissance patter. Think of Lou Beatty, the schmo, who overpaid for the Kilpatricks' old house, then lost his wife Christine, and then lost the house, too, in a cascade of misfortune.
Kilpatrick? He and wife Carlita doubled their money off the Beattys, as The News' David Josar has reported.

He's obviously full of jokes. I have a feeling he won't have the last laugh. With the investigations that are currently underway and have been for quite sometime now, don't believe that the Feds are taping his father, his bestfriend and many of his associates and Kwame is going to cruise off into the sunset. Tried and true throughout the years, the Feds don't publicize their investigating you, unless they have a case and they don't stop until they get their targets.

**Crystal** · June-15-09, 09:19 AM

Stephen Colbert's mocking of Detroit was out of line. The fact that it was his character doing the mocking does not make it any less un-funny.

I am working on a letter to him now.