Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick of Detroit will be allowed to attend this month’s Democratic National Convention after a judge on Thursday lifted an order that had forced Mr. Kilpatrick to wear an electronic tether and stay in a three-county area because of pending assault and perjury charges.
Judge Leonard Townsend of the Wayne County Circuit Court called the restrictions on Mr. Kilpatrick, who spent a night in jail last week after violating his bond by traveling to Canada, “silly” and unwarranted.
“The defendant may go to the Democratic National Convention,” Judge Townsend said during an arraignment for the mayor. “I don’t think the people of the city of Detroit should be represented by a person wearing prison clothes or wearing a tether.”
Kwame, who bowed out of an appearance at Joe Louis, now wants to go to Denver? Oh, joy. Won't that be fun.
And as predicted, the Republicans are going to make a political issue out of this. The governor calls it...
Gov. Jennifer Granholm said Wednesday it would be "incredibly cynical and wrong" for Republicans to use Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's growing controversy as a bludgeon against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
"I fear they will do that. It's been their practice in the past," Granholm told reporters outside the Capitol. She said Michigan voters should see through any such effort as an unfair attack on Obama.
... and Craig DeRoche steps right up to show everyone how incredibly cynical, wrong and unfair the Michigan Republicans can be. He sees no problem linking the two. When asked about rumors (and please provide proof of this, Mr. Skubick) about the Obama campaign intervening in the Kilpatrick affair, Craig had this to say-
"Wow. It's hard to find the words to respond to that," notes Novi Republican Rep. Craig DeRoche who concedes the mayor is a liability for Obama but adds; it's fair to link the two and judge Obama "by the company he keeps."
Sounds like Craig is being baited here, but he sure jumped right up and took the bait. House Republicans are now pressing for a resolution to remove Kilpatrick amongst other things, and demanding Dillon take a vote. Dillon says that Craig is playing politics, and he is. Here is the rest of his statement-
DeRoche says if Obama "throws another one of his personal friends under the bus" it will have no credibility with the voters.
Now Kwame is a "personal friend". Nope, no politics here from the Michigan Republicans, who never pass up an opportunity to dive right into the gutter. DeRoche shows that they are more than willing to play politics with this situation.
How long until the ads start?
UPDATE: The scumballs from the Tennessee GOP are willing play politics with Kilpatrick - as well as the Republican National Committee.
Republicans are stepping up attempts to connect Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama to Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's scandal.
Just as Republican candidate John McCain was in Michigan on Wednesday declining to comment about the Detroit mayor's legal problems, the Tennessee Republican Party was putting a video online criticizing Obama for praising the mayor during a 2007 campaign visit to Detroit. And the Republican National Committee this week included Kilpatrick on a mock Facebook page that highlights Obama's connections to unsavory characters such as indicted Chicago real estate developer Tony Rezko.
"Incredibly cynical and wrong", she said. Um, yeah. But are you really surprised by this?