Blog_15 Corruption in Detroits Government.

            I found an article that discusses a specific example of somebody in power exploiting his position for personal profit; in this case, it is a simple government bribe. The article is titled “Kilpatrick is Indicted in Criminal Ring.” Kilpatrick is now imprisoned, but is a former mayor of the city of Detroit.  Kilpatrick and a couple of his close aides used their positions to rig contracts, defraud taxpayers, and collect bribes. Ultimately they became pretty rich. The date of the article is 12/16/2010, and was published in the New York Times. This is the date when Kilpatrick was charged on 38 accounts of long-term crimes within his inner circle. The reason I feel that this article is of much importance is because the investigation to catch these crooks was started in 2004. This means that this criminal ring was ongoing for at least six years before they were stopped, stealing tens of millions of dollars from the city, as well as the people who live there. 2004 was only when the investigation started, so I feel it is safe to assume that their crimes were going on long before they drew attention from the federal government. Had you been a citizen of Detroit, money was being stolen from you, which you worked hard to get, and it would hardly be noticeable. This is a major problem because many people would overlook their taxes at the end of the year, so it would slide past in a subtle manner. Also nobody was their to monitor the mayor, at least with power over him, so he could do these criminal acts with great ease, and there is nothing an individual citizen could do about it. Corruption was put to an end in this case, but only after millions of dollars was lost to the hands of these politicians.