Petition for Detroit Mayor's recall gets go-ahead

The Detroit News reports:

An effort to recall Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick cleared its first hurdle Wednesday when the Wayne County Election Commission approved wording that will appear on the petition.

The petition language calls for Kilpatrick to be removed from public office because of the $8.4 million the city of Detroit paid to settle a whistle-blowers' lawsuit brought by Detroit Police officers.

It does not mention the secret settlement in the lawsuit over the mayor's text messages or resulting scandal involving possible perjury by Kilpatrick and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty.

Recall organizer Douglas Johnson, who is running for a seat on the Detroit City Council, said he is eager to begin collecting the 57,000 signatures needed to put the issue before Detroit voters, although the city has 10 days to appeal Wednesday's ruling.

"It's nothing personal against the mayor, but he's not been productive to the city of Detroit," said Johnson, 42, a paralegal who recently moved back to the city. "The people in Detroit have been neglected and abused."

Kilpatrick's press secretary, Denise Tolliver, downplayed the recall petition, calling Johnson a "transplant" to the city.

"We respect the right of everyone to express their views, whether it's a one-man protest from a dubious public policy institute or a transplant who after recently moving to Detroit has determined he should decide who our leadership should be instead of voters at the ballot box," said Tolliver in a press release Wednesday.

"We would also like to express our disappointment with the conduct of the commission whose primary duty is to protect the integrity of the process and uphold voting rights and in this case failed on both counts.

"Mayor Kilpatrick will continue to focus on his agenda and let others focus on getting their 15 minutes of fame," added Tolliver in the statement.

Johnson filed six petitions, but only one was approved.

The other five petitions cited other reasons for recalling Kilpatrick, including the controversy over a red Lincoln Navigator SUV, which was leased at city expense for Kilpatrick's wife, Carlita.

The approved petition states in part: "On Sept 11, 2007, a jury found Kilpatrick liable for the inappropriate firings and awarded the officers $6.5 million in damages as well as running up over $500,000 in legal expense, that became the burden of not only Detroit taxpayers but those who live outside of Detroit but work within the city limits."

The personal became very politically costly for the residents of Detroit.As blogger Mickey Kaus has warned, scandal does matter.You'll notice in the above Detroit news article that the good Mayor isn't identified as a Democrat.I guess they forgot.