By: Jackie Jones
Embattled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick left office officially at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, spending part of the day preparing a statement thanking and saying goodbye to his supporters.
“Being elected Mayor of Detroit, my hometown, was an honor and a privilege,” said the 38-year-old Kilpatrick, who spent seven years in office. “I want to thank everyone who supported me through the years. I am proud of the fact that we, as a community, were able to accomplish so much in such a short period of time.”
Kilpatrick encouraged citizens to support incoming Mayor Ken Cockrel, Jr., with whom he concluded transition meetings on Wednesday.
Kilpatrick announced his resignation two weeks ago as part of a plea deal on federal perjury charges stemming from a text-messaging scandal that consumed the city for months.
The Detroit Free Press said that before the texting scandal erupted, Kilpatrick had tamed the city’s budget, cutting nearly $300 million in annual costs, continued the downtown development trend that started under his predecessor, Dennis Archer, and was beginning to focus on decaying neighborhoods in the city.
“His ability to lead wasn’t the issue; he just made some bad choices,” Robin Barnes, a Detroit realtor and a former Kilpatrick campaign volunteer, told BlackAmericaWeb.com.
Kilpatrick Officially Leaves Office, Setting the Stage for New Mayor....
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