INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY: Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick
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GOOD MORNING FLINT! BY Terry Bankert 3/26/08
You are invited to join me at Face Book http://www.facebook.com/people/Terry_Bankert/645845362 ___________________________
Full article at http://goodmorningflint.blogspot.com/
SUMMARY ON Flint Talk
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Mayor's Perjury Case Not Open and Shut [g]
Legal experts said Tuesday that the heart of the perjury case against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick - steamy text messages that seem to contradict his sworn denials of an affair with an aide - might be less open-and-shut than many believe. [g]
Kilpatrick's lawyer, meanwhile, has suggested the prosecutors' case hinges on "vague, indefinite and ambiguous" questions that hardly resulted in enough evidence to warrant the charges. [t]
The two were charged on Monday, when prosecutor Kym Worthy announced that she had authorised a 12-count criminal indictment. [b]
Kilpatrick: 8 charges Conspiracy to obstruct justice: 1 charge; 5-year felony Obstruction of justice: 1 charge, related to the firing former Deputy Chief Gary Brown, interfering with Brown's investigation of him and perjury about his alleged affair with Beatty; 5-year felony Misconduct in office: 2 charges, related to Brown's firing, perjury and authorizing an $8.4 million settlement of whistle-blower lawsuits by Brown and two other cops to hide incriminating text messages; each charge a 5-year felony Perjury: 4 charges, related to trial and deposition testimony relating to his alleged affair with Beatty and Brown's firing, each charge a 15-year felony Beatty: 7 charges Conspiracy to obstruct justice: 1 charge; 5-year felony Obstruction of justice : 1 charge, 5-year felony related to the firing of Brown, interfering with his investigation of the mayor and perjury about her affair with Kilpatrick Misconduct in office: 1 charge, 5-year felony related to Brown's firing and perjury about her alleged affair with mayor Perjury: 4 charges, related to trial and deposition testimony relating to Brown's firing and her affair with Kilpatrick; each charge a 15-year felony[d]
HIGH TEXT AND AMBIGUITY, Plenty of room to extract innocence.[trb]
Kilpatrick's attorneys want to keep the intimate and sexually explicit text messages out of a trial, and at least one outside defense lawyer says the admissibility of such high-tech communications is an unsettled legal question. Even if they are admitted, experts say the defense will exploit any ambiguity in the messages, in the questions the mayor and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty were asked under oath, and in their answers. [g]
IS REASONABLE DOUBT, REASONABLE?
``If the questions were not clear, and that's going to be used to prove the case, then that's another avenue in trying to establish a reasonable doubt,'' former federal prosecutor Matthew Orwig said Tuesday. [g]
SPEECHLESS IN DETROIT
On Tuesday, the usually gregarious Kilpatrick was subdued as he stood mute to eight felony charges of perjury, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office during his arraignment in Detroit. Beatty also stood mute to seven of those charges. [g]
In a Monday morning press conference, Wayne County's top prosecutor, Kym L. Worthy, charged Kilpatrick with eight felonies, including perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct for the text messages he allegedly traded with his paramour, Christine Beatty. (Beatty was also charged with seven felonies, including perjury.) Worthy also said several other individuals may be charged in connection with the case. [t]
WILL NOT RESIGN
The charismatic Kilpatrick, 37, who was happy to be known as the nation's first "hip-hop mayor," today dismissed Worthy's investigation as "flawed" and indicated he has no plans to resign, even after Detroit's city council passed a resolution urging him to do so last week. Kilpatrick and Beatty surrendered to Wayne County authorities Monday afternoon for booking. If found guilty of the perjury charges, he could face a maximum of 15 years in prison.[t]
PERSONAL BOND GETS PERSONAL BONDS
Not guilty pleas were entered for both. They were released on personal bonds and are expected to appear at a June 9 preliminary examination that will determine if they will face trial in Wayne County Circuit Court.[g]
A SAD STATE OF AFFAIRS
The charges stem from a lawsuit filed by two former police officers who won a jury verdict last year. They said they were fired for investigating claims that the mayor used his security unit to cover up extramarital affairs.[g]
Kilpatrick has also tried to dismiss the charges as racially motivated. But prosecutor Worthy is also African American[T] Mabey the charges are motivated because he is FAT. A fatally based discrimination.[trb]
I THOUGHT ONLY KIDS DID THAT STUFF- PAGERS AND TEXTING!
Kilpatrick had said he would challenge the verdict, but prosecutors allege that a multimillion-dollar settlement was reached after the officers' attorney showed the mayor's lawyers references to the text messages, which had been left on Beatty's city-issued pager. [g]
The Detroit Free Press published excerpts of the messages in January, prompting an investigation that led to charges against Kilpatrick and Beatty on Monday.[g]
Kilpatrick's lawyer Dan Webb is a former U.S. attorney known for his three-hour cross-examination of former President Ronald Reagan in the Iran-Contra scandal. Webb won a conviction, later reversed, against Admiral John Poindexter on charges linked to the scandal. [g]
Webb also was the chief defense attorney in the corruption trial of former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, who is now in prison. [g]
BRING IN THE FEDERALLIES
Webb says the release of the text messages violates federal law. [g]
``Under the Stored Communications Act they absolutely should not have been produced in civil litigation,'' Webb said Monday. ``Because of that, everyone who sees them is clearly tainted because the initial production was illegal.'' [g]
BROTHERS UNITED
Miami criminal defense lawyer Milton Hirsch said Webb's effort to bring the 1986 act into play is a good move. [g]
``He's a very fine lawyer,'' said Hirsch, who specializes in defending public corruption cases. ``There is very little law on this, but I think it's a motion worth filing. It could make good law and could establish an important point.'' [g]
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF INTIMATE?
Kilpatrick and Beatty denied having an intimate relationship when they testified in the police officers' lawsuit. [g]
IS CASUAL SEX ROMATIC?
``Mayor Kilpatrick, during 2002 and 2003, were you romantically involved with Christine Beatty?'' asked Mike Stefani, who represented the police officers. [g]
Kilpatrick's response: ``No.'' [g]
Beatty said ``no'' and rolled her eyes when asked if she and the mayor were ``either romantically or intimately involved'' during the period covered by the case. [g]
Text messages published by the Free Press told a different story. [g]
A METAPHYSICAL TYPE OF ATTRACTION
``I'm madly in love with you,'' Kilpatrick wrote on Oct. 3, 2002. [g]
``I hope you feel that way for a long time,'' Beatty replied. ``In case you haven't noticed, I am madly in love with you, too!'' [g]
I HAVE SINNED IN MY MIND? WAS THAT SWAGGART OR CARTER?
On Oct. 16, 2002, Kilpatrick wrote Beatty: ``I've been dreaming all day about having you all to myself for 3 days. Relaxing, laughing, talking, sleeping and making love.'' [g]
YOU CANNOT TRUST A TRYST
The messages also included dialogue about where to meet and how to conceal their trysts. Hirsch, however, said the messages may not be enough to prove perjury. [g]
THEY DID NOT SAY WHAT?
``The world is full of people who are in the habit of exchanging salacious phone calls, e-mails and text messages,'' he said. ``It doesn't mean they are having an actual relationship. Did they say (under oath) they didn't have physical sex, or have no personal relationship or interaction, at all? [g]
``If the witnesses testified 'we have nothing but a business relationship, we scarcely even talk about anything besides business matters,' that's a different matter,'' Hirsch said. [g]
BYE BYE BABY GOODBYE
Sex is not the only issue surrounding the text messages. The prosecutor's office filed an investigative report Tuesday that included an excerpt of a text message from Kilpatrick asking members of his staff for help in explaining the departure of former Deputy Chief Gary Brown, one of the former officers who sued. [g]
On June 24, 2003, he wrote: ``We must answer the question? Why was Gary Brown fired. It will be asked, I need short, powerful answer ... I just need a good answer. Whatever it might be.'' [g]
UN COLA
During the whistle-blower suit, Kilpatrick said Brown was ``un-appointed.'' [g]
``He was not fired,'' he testified. [g]
IS A HORMONE DRIVEN STATEMENT WILLFUL?
Perjury, under Michigan law, is defined as ``willfully'' swearing falsely while under oath and is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. [g]
CONTEMPT CHARGES PENDING
Worthy would not elaborate but said some of her concerns may be revealed at a court hearing Friday at which a judge has been asked to consider finding two city officials in contempt of court. She would not specify which records she has been unable to obtain from the city. Frustration in obtaining certain records has caused county prosecutors in recent weeks to take action in the Michigan Court of Appeals and the Michigan Supreme Court and to launch contempt proceedings against Detroit Corporation Counsel John E. Johnson and Deputy Human Resources Director Patricia Peoples. [d]
BUSH DID NOT PARDON DETROITS MAYOR?
DETROITS MAYOR SHOULD ASK FOR A PARDON BUSH IS OPEN FOR BUSINESS!
On the new friend list for George W. Bush were:
• William L. Baker of Spokane, Wash., who was sentenced in 1980 to two years prison for falsifying records.
• George Francis Bauckham of Oak Ridge, N.J., who received five years probation in 1958 for the unlawfully detention or delay of the mail by a postal employee.
• Kenneth Charles Britt of White City, Kan., who was sentenced to three years probation in 1998 for conspiracy to violate fish and wildlife laws.
• William Bruce Butt of London, Ky., who received three years probation in 1990 for bank embezzlement.
• Mariano Garza Caballero of Brownsville, Texas, who was sentenced in 1984 to 34 days in prison and four years probation for dealing in firearms without a license.
• Anthony C. Foglio of Santee, Calif., who was sentenced to three years probation in 1996 for distributing marijuana. He is also known as Tony Foley.
• Marvin Robert Foster of Boca Raton, Fla., who was sentenced to a year of probation in 1968 for making a false statement in connection with a Federal Housing Administration loan.
• Carl Harry Hachmeister of Denton, Texas, who was sentenced to three years probation in 1985 for conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud.
• William Marcus McDonald of Wetumpka, Ala., who was sentenced two four years confinement with hard labor by an Air Force court-martial in 1984 for cocaine and marijuana charges. His pay was docked, his rank was reduced and he was given a discharge for bad conduct.
• Robert Michael Milroy of Cinnaminson, N.J., who was sentenced to 7 1/2 years prison in 1975 for heroin importation.
• Jerry Lynn Moldenhauer and Thomas Donald Moldenhauer of Colorado Springs, Colo., who each received three years probation in 1994 for selling migratory bird parts in violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
• Richard James Putney of Woodbridge, Va., who received one year of probation in 1996 for aiding and abetting the escape of a prisoner.
• Timothy Alfred Thone of Woodbury, Minn., who was sentenced in 1987 to two years probation for making a false statement to the Department of Housing and Urban Development to obtain a mortgage.
• Lonnie Edward Two Eagle Sr. of Parmelee, S.D., who was sentenced to two years probation in 1976 for misdemeanor simple assault on an Indian reservation.
Bush also commuted the sentence of Patricia Beckford of Portsmouth, Va., who since 1992 has been serving a 23-year prison sentence for conspiracy to distribute more than 50 grams of crack cocaine. Bush left intact a five-year term of probation.[Y]
SEE [y]
Yahoo News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080325/ap_on_go_pr_wh/presidential_pardons
OH....GOOD CALL SUPREME COURT
A 2004 Michigan Supreme Court ruling could help prosecutors' case. Reversing more than 150 years of precedent, the court said prosecutors don't have to prove that a lie was material to a case.[g]
Posted here by Terry Bankert ...
http://attorneybankert.com/
Join my political party of preference, http://www.michigandems.com/join.html
—
[g]
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7411497
[T]
Time Magazine
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1725259,00.html?imw=Y
[b]
BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7313516.stm
[d]
The Detroit News
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080325/METRO/803250442/1361
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY...BUSH PARDON?
DUMP NAFTA!
NAFTA foes hope Dems' words turn into action ( C )
GOOD MORNING FLINT!
BY Terry Bankert 3/25/08
http://attorneybankert.com/
You are invited to join me at Face Book http://www.facebook.com/people/Terry_Bankert/645845362 ___________________________
Full article at http://goodmorningflint.blogspot.com/
SUMMARY ON Flint Talk http://flinttalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=26508#26508
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When the nation gets a cold Flint MI USA get phenomena. If NAFTA hurt your working men and women a little it devastated us. So we have a right to complain. Now I understand macro economics but trade policy should be challenged and open to modification at all times. To cry protectionism now simply will fuel a debate and resulting in reasonable modification to or elimination of NAFTA which has devastated the working men and women of this country. I guess I have an opinion.[trb)
TAPS FOR NAFTA
Is the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) dying? Both Hillary Clinton or Barrack Obama have made campaign promises to “renegotiate” the 14-year-old trade agreement that generally has resulted in a boom for U.S. trucking and railroad interests.(T)
ANOTHER STAIN ON BILLS RECORD
Since NAFTA was adopted in 1994 under the first Clinton administration, it basically created open trade, free of duties and tariffs, among the U.S. Mexico and Canada. But both Democratic candidates have sounded a protectionist tone during their campaign, threatening to renegotiate NAFTA and other free trade agreements to make them more favorable on labor and environmental grounds.(T)
NAFTA INTENDED TO KILL ORGANIZED LABOR IN THE USA
Sen. Bernie Sanders believes the country is ready to join his fight to overhaul American trade policy. He wants to believeBarrack Obama and Hillary Clinton are too.©)
A LIBERAL VIEWPOINT (FINALLY WE CAN BE SEEN IN PUBLIC AGAIN)
Sanders, a liberal Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, is a leader in the growing group of lawmakers who blame expanded trade for lost manufacturing jobs and stagnant wages for American workers. The campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination would appear to promise them a crowning achievement: Both Obama and Clinton say they'll renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and push for a more worker-friendly trade model if elected.©)
A POLICY THAT FORCED LOWER WAGES ON YOUR FAMILY!
Opponents of NAFTA take a starker position.Thea M. Lee is policy director for the AFL-CIO, which opposes NAFTA and lobbies against other free trade agreements as unfair to U.S. workers and corporations unless they include provisions that require signatory countries to raise labor and environmental standards. Lee argues one of the main upshots of the deal has been to "force workers into more direct competition with each other, while assuring them fewer rights and protections." The Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning research organization, says in a policy paper on NAFTA that the deal's trade agenda has served to widen U.S. trade deficits and has indirectly pushed some U.S. workers into lower-paying jobs. (w)
WE ARE AT ECONOMIC WAR WITH THE COUNTRIES THAT HAVE OIL OR CHEAP LABOR.
But many in the "fair trade" crowd aren't celebrating yet, and free-traders, particularly among Democrats, don't look worried. They have heard this before, and many of them doubt Obama or Clinton would make good on their tough talk.©)
WE HAVE TO MAKE THEM SERIOUS
"I don't know if they're really serious about going back and redoing NAFTA," said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the House majority leader. Hoyer supports increased trade, as does Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), the House Democratic Caucus chairman. Emanuel notes that both Clinton and Obama backed a recent trade deal with Peru. "That's all I have to say," he said.©)
What is NAFTA?(W) NAFTA is a trilateral free trade deal that came into force in January 1994, signed by Democratic President Bill Clinton. The central thrust of the agreement is to eliminate the vast majority of tariffs on products traded among the United States, Mexico, and Canada. The terms of the agreement called for these tariffs to be phased out gradually, and the final aspects of the deal weren't fully implemented until January 1, 2008. The deal swept away export tariffs in several industries: agriculture has been a major focus, but tariffs have also been reduced on items like textiles and automobiles. NAFTA also implemented intellectual-property protections, established dispute-resolution mechanisms, and put into place regional labor and environmental safeguards, though some critics now lobby for stronger measures on this front. (W)
NEEDED: A NAFTA MAKE OVER
"I don't know if they're really serious about going back and redoing NAFTA," said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the House majority leader. Hoyer supports increased trade, as does Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), the House Democratic Caucus chairman. Emanuel notes that both Clinton and Obama backed a recent trade deal with Peru. "That's all I have to say," he said.©)
WHY ARE WE BUYING CHINESE JUNK PRODUCTS? ARE YOU AN ECONOMIC TRAITOR TO SHOP IN A DOLLAR STORE?
Sanders seems cautiously optimistic at best. "It doesn't take a PhD in economics to see when you go shopping the only products you can afford are made in China," he said. "The American people know it, and I hope our candidates learn it."©)
Some of his allies are more hopeful: "The winner, Hillary or Barrack, will come to Congress [as president] with a different trade policy," said Sen.©)Sherrod Brown (D- Ohio). "They'll follow through." A winning issue?©)
Brown, Sanders and other Senate and House candidates ran on trade reform in their winning 2006 campaigns. Clinton and Obama began to pound the issue in the run-up to Ohio's March 4 presidential primary. They denounced "job-killing" trade deals and promised to crack down on companies that ship factory work overseas, drawing cheers in a state where dwindling manufacturing employment and soaring foreclosure rates have ratcheted up voters' anxieties.©)
VOTERS THINK THESE TRADE DEALS HAVE COST AMERICA ITS JOBS
Exit polls showed 4 of 5 voters in Ohio's Democratic primary believe trade deals with other countries take jobs from their state. The numbers figure to look similar in Pennsylvania, which is one state east of Ohio in the Rust Belt and holds its primary April 22. Nationwide, a Wall Street Journal poll last fall found 6 in 10 Republicans say trade deals have been bad for the U.S. economy.©)
Before the Ohio primary, which Clinton won by 10 percentage points, each Democrat accused the other of saying one thing on trade but meaning another. Those criticisms persist.©)
SOME ECONOMISTS DISAGREE
A paper from three prominent trade experts, C. Parr Rosson, III, C. Ford Runge, and Kirby S. Moulton, notes that the idea of trade blocs is relatively new in North America, but argues that similar arrangements elsewhere in the world have shown consistent gains when viewed from a long-term perspective. The report outlines different forms of "preferential trading arrangements," from free trade deals like NAFTA to more limited customs unions and economic unions, which have been successful in parts of Europe. The report notes that preferential trading arrangements can actually divert trade in the short term -- and can cause labor-market disruptions that are painful to some workers -- but also "can be expected to have major long-term benefits." (w)
SIDE DEALS WITH CANADA
Clinton's campaign cites news reports that Obama's top economic adviser met with Canadian officials to reassure them over not wanting to change NAFTA. Obama's campaign says Clinton advocated for NAFTA when her husband, then- President Bill Clinton, was pushing the deal through Congress. Each candidate denies the other's charge.©)
Both Clinton and Obama voted for a trade deal with Oman in 2006. They both supported the Peru agreement last year, though they missed the Senate's vote to approve it while campaigning. Both voted against the signature trade deal of the Bush administration, the Central American Free Trade Agreement.©)
THE RUSTIES SHOULD NOT BLAME THE NAFTEES
Experts disagree on how trade has affected the nation. Liberal economists, for example, blame NAFTA alone for the loss of tens of thousands of Ohio jobs. More conservative economists say Ohio's increased exports due to trade agreements have created more than enough jobs to make up for those lost to outsourcing. A wealth of data suggest the deepest sources of Rust Belt decline are a lack of educated residents and marketable ideas.©)
'A stark difference' Analysts expect trade to factor heavily in swing manufacturing states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan this fall. The differences will be clear: Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, has a pro-trade voting record. He extolled its benefits during the Ohio primary campaign.©)
MC CAIN: LET THEM EAT CAKE
"There will be a stark difference" on trade in the general election, said Scott Paul, director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, which supports revamping trade deals to benefit domestic workers. "John McCain has made it clear that he is philosophically disinclined to do anything on this issue."©)
MC CAIN: I’M STUPID ON ECONOMIC POLICY, REMEMBER 911....PLEASE!
McCain has acknowledged in the past that he knows less about economics than he does about national security and foreign policy, and Democrats have seized on such remarks to argue that the Republican is a novice on bread-and-butter issues that voters care about most.(a)
BOYCOTT ANYTHING MADE IN CHINA
Still, Paul said this week he hasn't heard the detail he'd like from Obama or Clinton on how they would change America's trading relationship with China, which ranked as the chief concern among those who attended a series of trade "town halls" his group had in the past six months. Asked if he believes either Democrat would fundamentally alter trade policy, Paul said, "It's too early to tell."©)
The Democrats' rhetoric has jarred some trade proponents. But for the most part, it hasn't worried them.©)
A GRAIN OF SALT OR ECONOMIC REVOLUTION?
"There obviously has been a lot of rhetoric and discussion on the campaign trail," said Christopher Wenk, the senior director for international policy of the pro-trade U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "You talk to anybody in Washington; I think there are concerns there about what's being said. But many of us, myself included, are taking this with a grain of salt. ... Bashing NAFTA plays well with Ohio voters."©)
FREE MARKETS OR EXPLOITATION
Decades of bipartisan consensus on free trade are "under pressure" in Washington, said Peter Orszag, a former Clinton administration adviser who now directs the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. Economic uncertainty, he said, is causing many voters to consider "throwing sand in the wheels of markets."©)
"My experience suggests," he continued, "when perceptions shift, policy proposals are not far behind."©)
NO TO NAFTA...NO TO NAFTA....NO TO NAFTA!!!!
Posted here by Terry Bankert ... http://attorneybankert.com/
Join my political party of preference, http://www.michigandems.com/join.html
--- WHERE DID THIS STUFF COME FROM---
©) The Chicago Tribune http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-trade25mar25,0,3452426.story
(TRB) Comments of Terry Bankert and BLOCK headlines http://attorneybankert.com/
(T) The Truth About Trade http://www.truthabouttrade.org/content/view/11349/54/ (A) Associated press http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iNxTApa2sQRu0Xx99P3jt2bEXw7gD8VKAI080
(W) The Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/24/AR2008032401562.html
(g) The Gazette http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/letters/story.html?id=82f25aee-d8e7-4235-8491-6f5b762e81f4
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