Kwami Kilpatrick: Lady In Red

What would a day in Detroit be like without another Mayoral controversy? Perhaps like a day in Chicago, or Cleveland, or Indy. Well, all I can say is thank God we don't have their boring run-of-the-mill big city politics and their ho-hum humming cities of economic growth. *Yawn*. No, instead give me a mayor who race baits, mismanages city funds and dresses in drag.

The Hill recently reported that Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick appeared in a play while he was in Middle School dressed as a women. According to reports, that's him below, fourth from the left in that sexy red dress with the plunging neckline.

What's really interesting about this story is not that the mayor dressed as a girl while he was a kid performing in Dwight Rich Middle School's production of "Little Annie." I mean, what guy hasn't at least once slipped on a soft silky dress just to feel its liberating comfort lovingly caress every curve of his body? Um, I mean, metaphorically. But what is really interesting is how vehemently the mayor's office denied the "allegation" and attacked the media for suggesting such a thing, despite the fact that the Kilpatrick attended the school at the time of the picture, his name was on the playbill, and several people from the school remember him in the play. His press secretary, Denise Tolliver, went so far as to say, "I know what he looked like as a child. This is not the mayor."

Twenty-four hours after flatly denying that he was in the play, Kilpatrick changed his mind. As The Detroit News reports:

Kilpatrick says he still doesn't remember appearing in the play, but does not argue with the recollections of director Michael Crabb, who was his favorite teacher. Crabb told Kilpatrick in a telephone call today that the mayor and other student athletes donned dresses to play Annie's mothers, Kilpatrick said. Kilpatrick said he and the other jocks then ran off the stage once they realized they were not getting any reward money. The bit lasted about two minutes, Kilpatrick said.

"I don't remember this at all," the mayor said, noting he called an old schoolmate who told him "If Mike Crabb said it then it definitely happened."

Kilpatrick said his mother and sister did not remember him donning a dress for the bit, but said he is certain he did not shave his legs for the role.

Luckily for all of us, the mayor clarified the whole leg-shaving concern. But the real question is why he denied his part in the play in the first place, only to later provide the Lilliputian response that he had just forgotten. It seems such a silly issue to try to cover up so why do it? Is it because his administration is so prone to denial that it auto-sprays from their lips like rotten milk after an accidental sip? Is it because the mayor thought it would ruin his gangsta image? Is it because red isn't his color?

Whatever the reason it's just another troubling response from the Manoogian Mansion that makes me about as comfortable as Sean Penn taking an IQ test.