DETROIT (AP) — Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was sentenced Thursday to 28 years in prison for corruption, the apparent last step after a series of scandals destroyed his political career and helped steer a crisis-laden city even deeper into trouble.

Kilpatrick, who served as mayor from 2002 until fall 2008, fattened his bank account by tens of thousands of dollars, traveled the country in private planes and even strong-armed his campaign fundraiser for stacks of cash hidden in her bra, according to evidence at trial.

"I'm ready to go so the city can move on," Kilpatrick told the judge. "The people here are suffering, they're hurting. A great deal of that hurt I accept responsibility for." In March, Kilpatrick, 43, was convicted of racketeering conspiracy, fraud, extortion and tax crimes. The government called it the "Kilpatrick enterprise," a yearslong scheme to shake down contractors and reward allies. He was doomed by his own text messages, which revealed efforts to fix deals for a pal, Bobby Ferguson, an excavator who got millions of dollars in city work through the water department.

Contractors said they were forced to take on Ferguson as a partner or risk losing lucrative deals. The government alleged that he in turn shared cash with Kilpatrick. Agents who pored over bank accounts and credit cards said Kilpatrick spent $840,000 beyond his salary during his time as mayor. Defense attorneys tried to portray the money as generous gifts from political supporters who opened their wallets for birthdays or holidays.
The sentence was a victory for prosecutors, who had recommended Kilpatrick serve at least 28 years in prison, while defense attorneys argued for no more than 15 years. Kilpatrick, a Democrat, quit office in 2008 in a different scandal that was extraordinary at the time but seems smaller compared with the sweeping federal probe that has led to the convictions of more than 30 people. Sexually explicit text messages revealed that Kilpatrick had lied during a trial to cover up an affair with his top aide, Christine Beatty, and to hide the reasons for demoting or firing police officers who suspected wrongdoing at city hall.

I wonder if he was a Democrat?

does he have,by any chance,a Cousin on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?

Another Obama pardon?

Kwame's minions?

Straight from the SEIU Local Office.

Former California SEIU Big-Shot Sentenced to Federal Prison

We noted back in 2008 the lavish lifestyle of Tyrone Freeman, the then-president of SEIU's second-largest local, based in Los Angeles, after reports emerged that he had directed tens of thousands of dollars from the union and a related non-profit to businesses operated by relatives and friends, and spent wildly at a Beverly Hills cigar club and numerous restaurants and clubs. Just last year, Freeman was finally charged for these financial philanderings, and a January trial resulted in him hearing the word many of his union peers have heard before: Guilty.

And on Monday he heard his sentence. U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins sentenced Freeman to 33 months in a federal penitentiary. She also ordered him to pay roughly $150,000 in restitution and barred him from holding office in any union for 13 years after his release. The verdict brings to an end a saga that saw many of the onetime rising union star's closest allies plead guilty to related charges, including his wife, Pilar Planells, who pleaded guilty last year to income tax violations she committed in accepting over $540,000 in consulting payments from the SEIU local while Freeman was its president.

The saying goes that a few rotten apples ruin the bunch. But when it comes to union leaders, it increasingly seems that rotten apples are the norm, not the exception.

http://laborpains.org/2013/10/09/former-california-seiu-big-shot-sentenced-to-federal-prison/