Kilpatrick: Sons told me to stop fighting

DETROIT, May 6 (UPI) -- Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick says he wanted to keep fighting the fallout from a political-sex scandal, but his twin boys convinced him to stop.

His elder sons, now in the seventh grade, said they were tired and wanted to move forward, Kilpatrick told the Dallas Morning News.

"We were shocked," Kilpatrick said in the interview. "We were all crying."

"It's one of those moments where they led," Kilpatrick's wife, Carlita, told the newspaper. "Oftentimes, children have a much clearer view of things."

The scandal emerged from a sexual relationship between Kilpatrick and mayoral Chief of Staff Christine Beatty.

The revelation of the extra-marital affair was confirmed in text messages between Kilpatrick and Beatty.

The convicted former mayor, whose 6 years in office were plagued by numerous scandals and rampant accusations of corruption, is to find out May 25 if he'll return to jail for hiding assets that could have been applied to a $1 million restitution to Detroit he was ordered to pay for his text message crimes.

Kilpatrick, who served 99 days in jail, announced a public fundraiser for himself on several new Web sites, anchored by friendsofkwame.com.

The friendsofkwame site invites notes of support and financial contributions to help him pay off his restitution.

The site also directs supporters to Kilpatrick pages on the Twitter microblogging service and the Facebook social networking Web site.

Kilpatrick resigned Sept. 18, 2008, after pleading guilty to two felonies for obstruction of justice arising from a complex settlement.