I wish I could quit you, Kwame

In his first public appearance since his Grove Park Inn speech at Asheville’s MLK breakfast, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on Wednesday night said he would not resign, despite the controversy that’s surrounded him.

The Detroit Free Press has the story:

In a voice that sometimes shook with emotion, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick apologized to his wife, his family and the city of Detroit tonight for the scandal that has engulfed his administration for the past week, but he said emphatically he will not resign.,/p>
“I would never quit on you, ever,” Kilpatrick said in a televised speech. “We’ve got a lot of work to do. And with your help, I am going to continue to lead this city in getting the work done.”

During the 13-minute speech, neither Kilpatrick nor his wife, Carlita, who sat at his side, referred specifically the act for which he was apologizing. The mayor said that he had put his wife “in a situation which many couples deal with in the privacy of their homes” and talked about having to have a difficult “grown-up” conversation with his 12-year-old twin sons.

But he never specifically mentioned his former chief of staff Christine Beatty, who resigned Tuesday after the Free Press reported that the two had lied under oath about an affair they had.

“I want to start tonight by saying to the citizens of this great city, I’m sorry.”