Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick–one who should be headed for rightful justice and the other for whom justice was served.
Runners-up for top story of the month:
Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, the jury for whose corruption trial is sadly still deliberating as of the date of release of this issue of TAR. Blagojevich, whose misbehaviors were first chronicled in the January 2009 TAR Top Story, with brief snippets in the May 2009 and July 2010 editions, is the subject of a story by Jonathan Franzen in the July 26, 2010 The New Yorker titled “What About Me?” Rarely has the alcoholic’s theme song “Me, me-me-me, me me me me me me me-me me” (sung to the tune of the well-known traditional Mexican song “Cielito Lindo”) rung so true. Franzen reports that Blago became “increasingly erratic” during his second term as governor and that when there was important legislation to discuss, he often would sneak off or hide in the bathroom. One former state senator who served briefly in his cabinet said Blago was “off his rocker…He was yelling and screaming and being irrational [and his proposals] often didn’t make sense.” It will be interesting for the addiction-aware to follow Blago’s future history.
Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who is being held responsible for ruining the re-election chances for his mother, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick. His guilty plea to two felony charges of obstruction of justice after he perjured himself in a police whistle-blower lawsuit was followed by additional jail time for hiding assets that should have gone toward $1 million in restitution to Detroit. He is now awaiting trial on charges of tax evasion and mail and wire fraud in federal prison. Every once in a while, taxpayers get lucky and then act appropriately. A family dynasty of three decades that many thought could last another few decades is over due to the sort of improper spending, abuse of public funds and wild partying that few engage in without benefit of alcoholism.