Detroit (WWJ)  -- There are new calls for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to resign amid the scandal that has the mayor facing ten criminal charges. 

Congressman John Dingell issued a statement Wednesday calling for the mayor to resign.  The Michigan Chronicle also called on the mayor to step down.  

Dingell said the matter with Mayor Kilpatrick is dragging down the business and the hopes of the city.  

The statement reads:  "I make these statements with great sorrow. It’s a sad time for everyone involved. I have watched the events in Detroit unfold for as long as I can. While I no longer reside in or represent Detroit, I love the city and its people. The matter with Mayor Kilpatrick is dragging down the business and the hopes of the city. This situation is also hurting Michigan, the 15th District and the entire region. We can no longer look at the people of Detroit and say ‘it’s your end of the boat that’s sinking, bail yourselves out.’ In my reading of history I found a comment Oliver Cromwell made as he dissolved the Rump Parliament in 1653, and I think it would be good advice for the Mayor now: ‘You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately... Depart, I say…’”

Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff Christine Beatty are due in Wayne County Circuit Court Thursday morning at 9 a.m. for an arraignment on perjury, misconduct and obstruction charges.  Both deny the charges.

While the Detroit News and Free Press have been calling on the mayor to resign,  the Michigan Chronicle had taken a position of letting the system of jurisprudence take its course and allowing prosecutor Kym Worthy do her job.  Wednesday that changed. 

An editorial in the Chronicle says "Detroit, the nation’s -largest African American -electoral base, has reached a state of paralysis. It has come to a point where the mayor’s personal problems are overshadowing anything he has to say regarding the city. We have long resisted calls and other requests to urge Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to resign because of his mountainous legal troubles."

The editorial goes on to say: "Whether it is on a local, regional, state, national or international level, it is evident that Kilpatrick can no longer function to full capacity as mayor. If his love for Detroit is as strong as he professes, he will make the right decision which, we believe, is to step down."

In other developments today:

Governor Granholm has received a letter from Mayor Kilpatrick's general counsel, Sharon McPhail reportedly suggesting the governor pardon the mayor on his criminal charges.  The pardon would be in exchange for the mayor's testimony in Granholm's removal hearing next month.

McPhail also requested a delay in the proceedings that could force him out of office.  Kilpatrick spokeswoman Denise Tolliver also says the letter from McPhail says the mayor's testimony at the Sept. 3 hearing could violate his Fifth Amendment rights in criminal cases.
  
A Granholm spokeswoman says the letter will be reviewed.  A lawyer for Granholm has said the governor lacks authority to grant immunity to Kilpatrick if he chooses to testify during a removal hearing.
  
Meantime, Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama's campaign is said to be debating whether he should call for the resignation of Mayor Kilpatrick.  Reportedly the camp is divided on what to do.  Governor Granholm says the Republicans will try to link the two.  And one Republican leader tells our Lansing Bureau Chief, Tim Skubick that making the connection is fair game because friendships are important and Obama made a wrong decision.

The Obama campaign is denying that this is happening.  And there's been no comment from the mayor's office.

Republican presidential hopeful, Senator John McCain was asked about the mayor's scandal during his stop in Birmingham, Michigan Wednesday afternoon.   He said he doesn't see the scandal as an issue for him and said he didn't have enough information to have an opinion on the matter.

 Click here to read the full editorial.

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