Kwame Kilpatrick Asked to Resign as Mayor

The Detroit City Council is expressing its disdain for disgraced Detroit Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick. This week, the council moved for a resolution asking for Kilpatrick to resign voluntarily. However, Mayor Kilpatrick has refused to do so.

"This is what I was born to do," said Kilpatrick.

A formal vote by the council is set for Tuesday. If the resolution passes, the council will seek a voluntary resignation. If Mayor Kilpatrick refuses to resign, the city then resorts to other options available to force his removal from office.

"The city has basically been paralyzed since all this information has come out," said Councilwoman Brenda Jones. "We can't just sit here and act like we are moving forward."

Jones and the other council members unanimously passed the resolution against Kilpatrick.

Kwame Kilpatrick, known as "The Hip Hop Mayor", has had a troubled administration from the start. Most recently, he found himself in the middle of a whistle-blower case, in which two Detroit Police Officers sued, citing that they were fired for revealing details of the Mayor's extracurricular activities.

Mayor Kilpatrick, who is the son of Congress Woman Carolyn Kilpatrick, has been accused of perjury after he and his Chief of Staff, Christine Beatty, lied under oath about having an affair. If found guilty of felony perjury, Kilpatrick could be disbarred, forced to resign as mayor and given up to 15 years in prison.

Kilpatrick had little to say about possibly being forced out by the City Council. "I don't want to get into that," he said. "I'm not resigning."

The Detroit City Council also had some disparaging remarks about the national attention that the case has drawn.

"Detroit has received embarrassing coverage nationally and internationally, which has caused the mayor to be absent from his duties for a prolonged period of time and absent from the public," the resolution stated.

Whether the council can remove Kilpatrick from the Mayor's Office is yet to be determined. Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr. stated that he doesn't believe Kilpatrick can be removed without being convicted of a felony.

"I think at this point he's dug his heels in pretty well," Cockrel said.

Kwame Kilpatrick, an attorney, was the youngest Mayor ever elected in the city of Detroit. His troubles began as Mayor in 2002, when rumors of a wild party at his mansion surfaced. It is alleged that the party involved strippers, and that Kilpatrick's wife, Carlita Kilpatrick, came home unexpectedly and got into a fight with one of the strippers.

But Kilpatrick's problems with strippers did not stop there. Tamara Greene, a stripper with the nickname "Strawberry", allegedly performed at Kilpatrick's home. Greene was shot over a dozen times by the same .40 caliber pistol offered for use by the Detroit Police Department. Her family is claiming that her murder (which came shortly after another failed attempt on her life) was committed to keep her from testifying.

Tamara Greene's family is suing the city of Detroit for $150 Million.