metro
Blaming The Jews?
Newspaper says ex-Mayor Kilpatrick points to Jewish conflicts for his downfall.
Don Cohen
Contributing Writer
I
centers, under the name
Detroit's Work Place
(DWP), from 1996-2007.
The federally mandated
centers provided central-
ized services to assist
unemployed residents
of Detroit identify and
overcome barriers to
employment.
n his forthcoming book, former Detroit
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick appears to
blame "the area's powerful Jewish com-
munity" for his downfall, according to a July
3 story published in the Michigan Citizen, a
Kwame
progressive newspaper serving the African
Kilpatrick
American community.
Claim Against
The article, "Kwame Has His Say,"
JVS Is Refuted
written by the Citizen's managing editor
The Citizen's account said that a $25 million
Zenobia Jeffries, provides insights into
Surrendered: The Rise, Fall & Revelation of contract with JVS was canceled because it
Kwame Kilpatrick, scheduled for release at only had a 2 percent placement rate and
that JVS was invited to reapply after it was
the end of July.
canceled. But Leah Rosenbaum, JVS execu-
The Citizen says it received an advance
tive vice president and chief
copy of the book, though it is unclear wheth-
operating officer, says this is
er the paper was working from
wrong on all three counts.
the final version. The Jewish
"We never had a $25 mil-
News has not been able to obtain
lion contract;' Rosenbaum
a copy in advance because
says. "That would have
review copies are not available
been bigger than our entire
until after the book's release.
budget." During the 11
Kilpatrick could not be
years of the contract, she
reached for comment at the fed-
says the contract had an
eral prison in Milan, Mich. He
"overall average of $3.8 mil-
is scheduled to be paroled by
lion" that included signifi-
the end of the month and be
cant "flow-through fund-
tried next year on a 38-count
ing" whereby JVS passed
felony indictment on federal
money through to trainers
corruption charges.
it contracted with.
Reached at her office,
Kilpatrick's book will be
"It concerns us that in all
Jeffries stated that the opin-
released at the end of July. of the media they picked up
ions expressed were not
that we lost a contract on
hers, but Kilpatrick's. She
explained that in a chapter titled "Hoofbeats," failure to perform; that is completely inaccu-
rate,' Rosenbaum says. "The 2 percent place-
Kilpatrick speculated on three incidents that
ment rate had nothing to do with JVS. The
he thinks may have made him a target for
contract ended because the city decided, for a
removal.
number of reasons, that they wanted to run it
Two involved the Jewish community:
themselves. It did not go out to bid."
Kilpatrick's decisions to end a city con-
A letter to the Michigan Citizen by Sharon
tract with JVS (formerly Jewish Vocational
McPhail, shared with the IN by Rosenbaum,
Service) and to greet Nation of Islam
contradicts several of Kilpatrick's reported
leader Louis Farrakhan at a Saviour's Day
allegations. McPhail, who served as general
Rally at Detroit's Ford Field in 2007.
counsel for the mayor, writes: "The article
The other was his decision to move $90
mentioned only one of the system's con-
million in city funds from Comerica to an
tractors, Jewish Vocational Services [sic],
African American-owned bank.
and indicated that JVS had a 2 percent
According to Jeffries, Kilpatrick writes
performance rate. That is not accurate. The
of visits by Detroit attorney Reginald M.
article went on to say that the low perfor-
Turner Jr. of the Clark Hill law firm in
mance rate was the basis for the 'removal'
Detroit. Turner, a former president of the
of JVS as a contractor. To be fair, I was
State Bar of Michigan, and an African
the person responsible for the redesign of
American, was under contract with JVS as
DWDD [Detroit Workforce Development
a government liaison for the agency.
Department], and I believe it is important to
Reached for comment, Turner would
correct the record. JVS was not 'removed:"
not discuss those visits, speculate on
McPhail notes there were more than 135
why Kilpatrick may have written about
private contractors in the DWDD system
them or share if he also represented
and, "to be fair, the performance of JVS was
other Jewish clients in city dealings. He
the best of all of the One Stop contractors,"
confirmed his work with JVS, saying the
adding that far from being dissatisfied with
agency "has been providing high-quality
the agency, "JVS was asked to continue their
services to the city of Detroit for decades."
relationship with DWDD in a new format,
JVS operated three One Stop" career
8 July 14 m 2011
Reginald M.
Leah
Betsy
Robert
Sharon
Turner Jr.
Rosenbaum
Kellman
Cohen
McPhail
by creating and implementing industry-
specific training 'career centers:" as well as
being selected to establish a Transportation
Career Center.
Once Kilpatrick's book is released, his
version of the JVS incident can be exam-
ined and compared with the Citizen report.
Embrace Of Farrakhan
The second issue involving the Jewish com-
munity was the 2007 Saviour's Day event
featuring Nation of Islam leader Louis
Farrakhan at Ford Field. Kilpatrick hugged
Rev. Farrakhan and gave him a warm wel-
come at the Feb. 25 event.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reg-
ularly expresses concerns about Farrakhan
and the Nation of Islam, and Michigan
Regional Director Betsy Kellman says this
visit was no exception.
"I was one of the people who contacted
Mr. Kilpatrick," Kellman says. "We let him
know that Mr. Farrakhan is an avowed anti-
Semite, and we were sure that the African
American community could find a better
role model. Our request fell on deaf ears."
Kellman says that ADL "would rather
not comment about any Jewish conspiracy
or jump to any conclusions until the book
is actually out and we are able to read for
ourselves what Mr. Kilpatrick actually said
... and make sure these reports are credible.
Once the book is out, we will be happy to
issue a response."
Robert Cohen, executive director of
the Jewish Community Relations Council
(JCRC), likewise qualified his comments
but went further. "If Kilpatrick wrote what
the article said he wrote, that would be con-
sistent with the same kind of anti-Semitism
we have from such demagogues as Louis
Farrakhan," Cohen said.
"It's outrageous that a convicted felon who
betrayed the trust of the voters of Detroit
would try to use anti-Semitic canards,
hundreds of years old, to deflect blame for
actions that he alone is responsible for."
Nolan Finley, editorial page editor of the
Detroit News, also took Kilpatrick to task
in his July 10 column titled "Kwame Keeps
Hurting Detroit." Also citing the Citizen
article, he challenges a number of alleged
claims by Kilpatrick, before turning to the
issue of the Jewish community.
"While he was exploiting ignorance,
Kilpatrick figured why not libel the Jews as
well. So he claimed that powerful Jewish
interests also were against Finley writes.
"A lot of people who aren't black and
who don't live in the city — many of them
Jewish — have put their sweat and tears
into helping rebuild Detroit. They've also
invested bales of money, even though
an investment in the city is more about
altruism than profits. And much of their
work and money was swept away when
Kilpatrick brought himself and the city
crashing down.
"If destroying Detroit would be so profit-
able to so many, why can't we find anyone
who struck it rich from the destruction
Kilpatrick wrought?" he asked.
A blog post being circulated widely in
the Jewish community, "Michigan Citizen:
Kwame Kilpatrick was victim of Jewish
conspiracy, says Kwame Kilpatrick" was
posted July 5 by MLive.com producer
and blogger Jeffrey Wattrick. He wrote:
"It's always the Jews' fault, isn't it? ...
Apparently, Kilpatrick lays out the Dearborn
Independent like Jewish conspiracy to bring
him down in his soon-to-be-released auto-
biography. The Citizen was the first media
outlet to review the book, and they swal-
lowed his rank anti-Semitism hook, line
and sinker."
It wasn't always like this. Susan Herman,
director of the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit-supported Michigan
Jewish Conference, had nothing but praise
for Kilpatrick's work with the Jewish corn-
munity while Kilpatrick was a state repre-
sentative from 1995-2001.
"He was a great friend of the Jews who
understood our issues and related to them
as one minority to another," Herman says.
"We had an excellent working relationship
at all levels. We could go to him on any kind
of issue, and he introduced amendments on
our behalf on a number of occasions:' she
said, recalling a number of issues relating
to separation of church and state. She says
the Jewish community treated him well, too.
"He got nothing but respect and support
from all of us:' she said, noting he often
spoke of his trip to Israel, sponsored by the
Jewish Community Relations Council, as
one of the highlights of his life. Li
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