Uproar Over Kwame Kilpatrick Hire By Peter Karmanos Is Foolish

I have been sitting here and kind of shaking my head at the jealousy that so many people have toward former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Kilpatrick recently was released from jail (after serving 99 days) for his highly-publicized text messaging/sex/lying-under-oathscandal and now is off the unemployment market. Kilpatrick has been hired by Peter Karmanos, who said, “I think it’s worth a chance. If everything works out, we’ll have a very talented person. If it doesn’t, well … we tried.” Most of the critics you hear of this decision by Karmanos will be haters of Kilpatrick (and there are a lot of them). I was one of many people calling on Kilpatrick to step down as mayor after the scandal blew out of proportion and was crippling the city’s image and his ability to effectively get any of the necessary work done for the citizens of Detroit. Kilpatrick stepped down, served his time in jail and must continue to pay for his sins. But, the man does deserve a job. Lets face it, most of the hatred toward Kilpatrick has less to do with the fact that he has gotten a job and more to do with the fact that he has gotten an outstanding (high-paying) job working for Karmanos. I am pretty sure if Kilpatrick was working some place for minimum wage or somewhere just above minimum wage, no one would care what he was doing. Put the jealousy aside and move on. It appears Kilpatrick has moved on and it’s time for everyone else to let the healing begin. Said Karmanos, who has done great work in the city to help revitalize it, “I brought Compuware downtown because it was a good business decision, which it has proven to be. I am hiring Kwame Kilpatrickbecause it’s a good business decision, and that’s it.” We shall soon see what Kilpatrick does with his second chance.

Detroit News:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090213/METRO/902130420