Detroit5000
05-13-2008, 12:39 PM
City burdened by Kilpatrick kin, cronies
No wonder Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick clings so tenaciously to his job, despite the eight felony charges hanging over his head, the disdain of the City Council and the national public ridicule the city endures while he sticks around through his sex, text and hush money scandal.
He's got a ton of dependents on the city payroll and if he goes, presumably most if not all of the relatives and friends he's hired will have to follow him out the door. That's quite a burden -- to be responsible for the livelihoods of so many families, especially in this dour Michigan economy, where decent jobs are darned hard to come by, let alone "executive assistant" positions where the pay can jump 86% in five years.
The Free Press reported Sunday that Kilpatrick has put 29 identifiable family members or pals on the city payroll since taking office in 2002 -- while city employment overall has been cut by about 4,000 jobs. Whether you call it patronage, nepotism or a "spoils system," a certain amount of this goes on in the administration of just about every major elective office. But Kilpatrick's employment largesse has far exceeded any of his recent predecessors in the mayor's office.
Worse, as the Free Press reported, some of the appointees have at best questionable qualifications. At least one's claim of attending college could not be verified, and a private eye hired at public expense to check into these folks turned out to be a friend of the mayor's cousin.
As if the legal and ethical mess the mayor has made for himself isn't bad enough, his hiring practices are terrible and look worse. This kind of favoritism can poison a workplace as it becomes apparent who has "connections" and who doesn't. It discourages qualified people from seeking positions or advancement. And it ought to make the City Council review just how many jobs the mayor can fill without some kind of oversight.
City government is supposed to be primarily a service provider, not an employment agency and certainly not a wellspring of well-paying opportunities for people who by blood or circumstance have ties to the mayor.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080513/OPINION01/805130332
No wonder Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick clings so tenaciously to his job, despite the eight felony charges hanging over his head, the disdain of the City Council and the national public ridicule the city endures while he sticks around through his sex, text and hush money scandal.
He's got a ton of dependents on the city payroll and if he goes, presumably most if not all of the relatives and friends he's hired will have to follow him out the door. That's quite a burden -- to be responsible for the livelihoods of so many families, especially in this dour Michigan economy, where decent jobs are darned hard to come by, let alone "executive assistant" positions where the pay can jump 86% in five years.
The Free Press reported Sunday that Kilpatrick has put 29 identifiable family members or pals on the city payroll since taking office in 2002 -- while city employment overall has been cut by about 4,000 jobs. Whether you call it patronage, nepotism or a "spoils system," a certain amount of this goes on in the administration of just about every major elective office. But Kilpatrick's employment largesse has far exceeded any of his recent predecessors in the mayor's office.
Worse, as the Free Press reported, some of the appointees have at best questionable qualifications. At least one's claim of attending college could not be verified, and a private eye hired at public expense to check into these folks turned out to be a friend of the mayor's cousin.
As if the legal and ethical mess the mayor has made for himself isn't bad enough, his hiring practices are terrible and look worse. This kind of favoritism can poison a workplace as it becomes apparent who has "connections" and who doesn't. It discourages qualified people from seeking positions or advancement. And it ought to make the City Council review just how many jobs the mayor can fill without some kind of oversight.
City government is supposed to be primarily a service provider, not an employment agency and certainly not a wellspring of well-paying opportunities for people who by blood or circumstance have ties to the mayor.
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080513/OPINION01/805130332
