The son of longtime Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich., has been indicted for allegedly using money from a nonprofit civic fund for personal and political expenses and to pay friends and relatives and give them gifts, the Detroit Free Press reports. The 19-count indictment accuses Kilpatrick of tapping the fund that was meant for voter registration and neighborhood improvement to pay for such things as counterserveillance and anti-bugging equipment, yoga lessons, golf clubs and instruction and summer camp for his children.
Makes you want to ask: who is in more trouble, Kilpatrick or former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich? Blagojevich is currently on trial for allegedly being recorded by feds while illegally trying to sell President Obama‘s vacated Senate seat.
The federal government also says that when Kilpatrick was mayor, he received unreported taxable income of $640,000 between 2003 and 2008. He is also accused of filing false tax returns, failing to declare the income and failing to declare that income in the tax years, 2003 through 2007. Additionally, Kilpatrick is accused of evading taxes in 2008.
Kilpatrick, the man whom the Democratic Party once touted as having national promise, will be arraigned on July 13. He won’t have to travel far because he is serving a five-year sentence for a probation violation stemming from obstruction of justice charges in connection with the infamous “text-messaging” scandal with a former staff member that toppled his administration. –terry shropshire
