'I'm Set for Comeback,' Boasts Booted Detroit Mayor

Plea-deal felon apologizes, talks of his 'standards for excellence'
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 5, 2008 2:45 AM CDT
'I'm Set for Comeback,' Boasts Booted Detroit Mayor
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick stands with his wife, Carlita, hours after pleading guilty to two felonies.    (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Hours after pleading guilty to two felony perjury charges, disgraced Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick gave a televised address that the Detroit Free Press called part apology, part campaign speech. "This city always gets up," said Kilpatrick, pointing out the "standards for excellence" he has established. "I want to tell you, Detroit, that you done set me up for a comeback.” He will step down, serve four months in jail and give up his pension as part of a plea deal.

“I know that supporting me has not always been easy, but it has not been boring, either," Kilpatrick said. He noted that his successor inherits a city "in much better shape than the city I inherited seven years ago,” and that the challenge for leaders will be to "put the anguish and turmoil of recent months behind us." The perjury charges were linked to  Kilpatrick's cover up of his affair with an aide.
(More Kwame Kilpatrick stories.)

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