A former Detroit mayor will be sentenced today for orchestrating wide-ranging corruption that prosecutors say contributed to the city's financial collapse, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. Kwame Kilpatrick "is not the main culprit of the city's historic bankruptcy," federal prosecutors wrote in court papers earlier this month, "but his corrupt administration exacerbated the crisis." A federal jury convicted Kilpatrick in March for his connection to extortion, bribery and fraud that prosecutors say hobbled the cash-poor city. He will be sentenced today before U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds. Prosecutors are seeking at least 28 years in prison, which would be one of the harshest sentences for a political-corruption case in recent years. The role of public corruption in Detroit's fiscal downfall has been hotly debated since the city said it had $18 billion in long-term liabilities and little way to pay them off. Many city officials blame the financial misfortune on a rapid population decline, cuts in state aid and a sharp drop in tax revenue. Experts say it is rare that criminal wrongdoing by officeholders can be seen as principally responsible for a municipality filing for Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection. "I don't think what happened during the Kilpatrick administration is what led us into bankruptcy. But it most definitely added to the position we were in," said Mayor Dave Bing.
