“Mired in a sex scandal that crippled the governance of Detroit all year, the city’s troubled mayor chose Thursday to walk out of office, rather than run the increasing risk of being heaved out. The tawdry drama of Kwame Kilpatrick, the once-promising 38-year-old mayor of the nation’s 11th largest city, ended in a wood-paneled courtroom when a subdued Kilpatrick, after months of defiant claims of innocence, meekly pleaded guilty to reduced felony charges and agreed to serve four months in jail and pay up to $1 million in restitution. ‘I lied under oath,’ Kilpatrick told the court, conceding what growing numbers of Detroiters have suspected for months –he covered up an affair with his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, as part of a lawsuit settlement that cost the city $8.4 million.” (09/04/08)