Former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick may not be running for public office anytime soon, but some of his friends and family are still reaching out to Detroiters for support -- at least the monetary kind.

Family members -- including Kilpatrick's mother, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, a Detroit Democrat -- were gathered at Butcher's Inn Tequila and Margarita Bar on Friday. They told some close friends they would be collecting cash to help the former mayor with mounting legal bills and a looming restitution deadline.

On Tuesday, hours after Kwame Kilpatrick made a $3,000 scheduled restitution payment, a Wayne County judge denied Kilpatrick's request to delay $79,000 in restitution due Friday. Last week, Kilpatrick claimed in a court filing that he did not have the money to meet the deadline.

"I'm not surprised his family is trying to raise some money," said Detroit attorney Ray Paige, who was at Butcher's on the city's east side Friday. "Someone made me aware that they were trying to give a gift to the mayor, and said someone would be in touch down the road about how to donate."

Kilpatrick loses bid to delay $79K repayment
Wayne County Circuit Judge David Groner rejected Kilpatrick's challenge Tuesday to the stepped up repayment schedule of the $1-million restitution the former Detroit mayor owes.

As it stands now, Kilpatrick must pay about $79,000 by Friday, but he and his attorneys can go to the Court of Appeals to seek a delay.

Kilpatrick's attorney, Daniel Hajji, said Tuesday: "As of today, he doesn't have the money" for the $79,000 payment, but added that the situation might change by Friday.

Groner's ruling likely will escalate the efforts by Kilpatrick's family to help him raise money. On Friday, word spread among some of those close to the Kilpatrick clan that family members would be at an Eastern Market saloon deciding how to raise money for Kilpatrick.

Some at Butcher's Inn Tequila and Margarita Bar saw a few bills being passed to Kilpatrick family members -- others were told they would be contacted on how to donate -- but it didn't appear to be an organized function.

"There was nothing announced, though who knows what they might have been doing under the table," said Victor Judkins, Butcher's co-owner. "I think they would have pulled my coat if they wanted to use the space for an official fund-raiser."

Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, who was in attendance, said she did not plan a fund-raiser. She did not respond to any other questions posed by the Free Press.

"I did not organize a fund-raiser for my son, Kwame Kilpatrick, last Friday," she said in a statement.

As part of Kilpatrick's guilty plea to perjury-related charges in the text message scandal, he was ordered to pay $1 million in restitution to the City of Detroit.

After Kilpatrick claimed he had only $6 a month left after paying for his living expenses in Texas, Groner held a contentious six days of hearings into Kilpatrick's finances.

During the hearing, it was revealed that hundreds of thousands of dollars had passed through the Kilpatrick family bank accounts.

Groner ordered the accelerated repayment schedule after the hearing.

The judge's decision Tuesday makes Hajji's request from earlier in the morning a moot point. Hajji had asked Groner for the stay until the judge rules on a motion that Hajji filed last week challenging Groner's order that Kilpatrick would have to pay the $79,000 due Friday, as well as another $240,000 due in about two months.

Hajji said: "I'm just asking him to stay the whole case until he makes a decision on the emergency motion we filed last week. We're asking him to hold off on that deadline."

Groner's payment schedule "is really setting him up for failure. He's made a good faith effort. He's already paid $100,000 in 10 months."

Hajji, on behalf of Kilpatrick, challenged the repayment, saying that it was unfair and that Kilpatrick did not have the resources to meet the revised repayment schedule.

In rejecting the delay, Groner said he set the new payments because the hearing showed that Kilpatrick "failed to comply with the original terms of the order for restitution."

Groner's order also said that Kilpatrick's shifting of $240,000 to his wife, Carlita Kilpatrick, "was a fraudulent conveyance to avoid restitution payments."

The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office had no comment Tuesday.

Hajji, though, said he welcomed Groner's decision because it gives him time for his appeal: "I got my answer. That's what I was asking the judge for."

Source: http://www.freep.com/article/20100216/NEWS01/100216037/1320/Kilpatrick-boosters-seek-donations