Obama camp says Detroit mayor unwelcome in Denver Associated Press

Published: Thursday August 14, 2008





Print This Email This Update at bottom: Loses travel freedom, will not attend DNC Democratic candidate Barack Obama doesn't want the embattled mayor of Detroit on hand when Obama accepts the party's presidential nomination in Denver. A spokesman for Obama said Thursday that Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick would be a distraction if he goes to the convention as a superdelegate. Kilpatrick faces eight felony charges in a perjury case and two felony charges in an assault case. A Michigan judge told Kilpatrick on Thursday that he could attend the convention. His lawyer, James Thomas, said high-ranking Democrats want Kilpatrick to attend. But Obama spokesman Brent Colburn said in an e-mail that the focus of the convention should be on Obama and not on what Colburn called "the troubles of one individual." Detroit mayor loses travel freedom, will not attend DNC Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's tumultuous day began with one judge suddenly declaring he could get rid of the ankle device tracking his movements and another ruling only hours later that it must go back on. By the end of the day, the embattled politician's hope of attending the Democratic National Convention was dashed. Kilpatrick faced another tough day Friday, when he was due to learn at a preliminary hearing whether he must stand trial on assault charges. The hearing was not expected to pack the same drama that filled two courtrooms Thursday. Hours after Wayne County Circuit Judge Leonard Townsend told Kilpatrick to remove his electronic tether, District Judge Ronald Giles ordered the mayor to put it back on, a result of legal pingpong between Kilpatrick's two separate criminal cases. Townsend was overseeing Kilpatrick's arraignment on perjury and other charges. Besides removing the tether, the judge said the mayor could attend the Democratic National Convention in Denver later this month  over heated objections by a prosecutor. But by afternoon, Giles reinstated the tether as a condition of Kilpatrick's release in the assault case. It was back on the mayor's ankle nearly four hours after it was removed. "The lawyers for the mayor said they were willing to comply," said Rusty Hills, spokesman for the Michigan attorney general's office, which is prosecuting the assault case. Kilpatrick and his former top aide, Christine Beatty, were charged in March with conspiracy, perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office, mostly tied to their testimony in a civil trial. Sexually explicit text messages between the pair, published by the Detroit Free Press in January, contradict their sworn denials of an affair, a key point in the trial last year involving a former deputy police chief. Separately, the 38-year-old Kilpatrick is accused of assaulting two investigators who were at his sister's house trying to serve a subpoena last month in the perjury case. Giles was to determine at Friday's hearing if there is probable cause for trial on the latest charges. Defense attorney James Thomas said Kilpatrick will abide by Giles' order barring the mayor from travel outside the Detroit metro area, despite Townsend's earlier ruling. The Wayne County prosecutor's office filed an appeal with the Michigan Court of Appeals. It was not known when the appeals court would act. A Michigan spokesman for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Kilpatrick would be a distraction at the convention, where he would have gone as a superdelegate. Brent Colburn said in an e-mail that the focus of the convention should be on Obama and not on what Colburn called "the troubles of one individual." Without saying whether he wanted to attend the convention, Kilpatrick echoed Colburn's assessment in a statement released Thursday evening. "The nomination of Senator Obama at the Democratic National Convention will be a historic event, however I'm focused on running the city and I don't want anything to distract from that extraordinary moment," Kilpatrick said. "The focus should remain on uniting the party and leading our great nation in a different direction." Gov. Jennifer Granholm plans to hold a Sept. 3 hearing to decide if she should remove Kilpatrick from office. Earlier Thursday, she addressed the matter following a speech in Traverse City. "I've said all along this has got to be resolved," Granholm said. "This has been very, very difficult for the city and for the state, and it's obvious why we need a resolution." Associated Press writers Ben Leubsdorf in Detroit, Tom Krisher in Traverse City, Mich., and Kathy Barks Hoffman in Lansing, Mich., contributed to this report. The following video was published by the Associated Press on August 15, 2008.