Tagged: dale kildee

Patrick Clawson is one of the more aggressive investigative reporters I know.

The former CNN journalist is now semi-retired, and dabbles in a number of occupations. He is no great worshipper of government, titles or institutions. Last year he broke the news that Governor Granholm had awarded a huge tax break to a convicted embezzler whose business was entirely fiction.

Yet he is now outraged about a story he sees as totally irresponsible, and so am I. Yesterday, media throughout the state began reporting allegations that longtime Flint area congressman Dale Kildee improperly touched a young male second cousin of his more than half a century ago. The 82-year-old congressman, indignantly denied the allegations, and noted that the man making them had a long history of mental illness.

There has never previously been any hint of scandal involving Congressman Kildee, who has a wife, three children and announced months ago that he intended to retire after this term.

These stories bothered me when I saw them, because they contained absolutely no evidence or shred of proof. And because I know that any time anyone is accused of something like this, the accusation sticks to them through life, even if later exposed as totally false. What I didn’t know was that it had been checked out.

Pat Clawson contacted me last night and said that he and another well-known investigative journalist, a man instrumental in exposing Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick became aware of these allegations more than a year ago.

Updated at 10:55 pm: The Flint Journal reports that Congressman Kildee WILL NOT hold a press conference on Monday. According to the newspaper, Kildee has agreed to "an in person interview with the Flint Journal and at least one other media outlet." Michigan Radio will also try to speak with Congressman Kildee on Monday.

Michigan congressman Dale Kildee (D) is denying allegations by distant relatives that he sexually abused a then-12-year-old second cousin several decades ago.

Kildee released a statement Sunday evening calling the 50-year-old allegations "completely false and shameful." The Washington Times first reported the allegations and posted on its website video interviews with the alleged victim's mother, stepfather and sister.

The race to replace longtime Michigan Congressman Dale Kildee moves into a higher gear today.   

Kildee announced earlier this year he would not seek a 19th term in Congress.   

Today, the outgoing congressman’s nephew, Dan Kildee will  formally announce his candidacy for the Democratic nomination. 

“I’ve spent my whole life really fighting for people. Worked in local government, now in the non-profit sector, through that entire period I have been able to make government work  to achieve things to put people back to work and make communities better," said Dan Kildee.    

With U.S. Representative Dale Kildee announcing his plans to retire after next year, his nephew, Dan Kildee, says he is seriously considering a run for Congress. Dan Kildee is the President and CEO of the Center for Community Progress, and a former Genesee County treasurer. He also ran for Governor early last year before dropping out of the Democratic race.

The Associated Press reports that Kildee told the AP yesterday that, “running for Congress ‘has been on my mind for some time.’ He says he plans to announce his decision soon.”

Congressman Dale Kildee announced his retirement earlier this month. He has spent 18 terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, a total of 47 years, as a Democratic Congressman representing the area around Flint.

The voters of Flint first sent Dale Kildee to Congress in the year our nation celebrated its bicentennial. He was in his mid-forties then.

Next year, he’ll turn eighty-three, and as last weekend started, he announced next year would be his last in Congress. He’s had a long and honorable career, in politics and beforehand.

Kildee started adult life as a high school teacher who had almost become a priest as a boy, and who, after ten years in the classroom, had gotten himself elected to the state legislature.

He spent a dozen years there, running shoe-leather campaigns during which someone calculated he had to have knocked on every door in Flint. When the seat in Congress opened up in 1976, he jumped into the primary, and won it and the general election easily.

Years ago, I heard Kildee say that he was embarrassed that he wound up spending more on that first campaign than he wanted to.

How much was that?  $48,000. In case you need reminding about how much things have changed, a Democratic candidate in another Michigan district spent $8 million trying to get elected last year, and by the way, he lost.

Kildee never lost an election. After that first election, the voters sent him back to Congress seventeen more times.

UPDATE:

A number of Michigan politicians are responding to the news of Rep. Dale Kildee's retirement.

Here's the response from Mayor Dayne Walling of Flint:

"Congressman Kildee is an exemplary public servant with a distinguished record of accomplishments that is unmatched in Flint's history."

"Congressman Kildee has been a leader in education, human rights, and social justice. Our community has benefitted time and time again from his wisdom, dedication and hard work."

"I attribute my interest in elected office to working for Congressman Kildee's re-election campaign in 1998. I consider him a mentor and a friend."

Senator Carl Levin also released a brief statement: