Kilpatrick cuts vacation short, heads home

David Josar, Christine MacDonald and Gordon Trowbridge
The Detroit News
January 24, 2008

DETROIT -- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his family Thursday cut short a visit to their Florida vacation home to return to Detroit, a day after the release of salacious text messages showing he had a sexual relationship with his chief of staff.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is expected this morning to announce how she will address the text messages, which contradict August testimony by the mayor and Chief of Staff Christine Beatty in a Whistleblowers lawsuit filed by two former police officers that resulted in the city paying an $8 million settlement.

While radio talk shows were hot with opinion and gossip about the events involving the mayor, the city's political, civic and business officials were largely muted in their response to the development.

But there is clear concern that the mayor's travails are bad news for him personally and could be for the economically beleaguered city and region.

"I think Detroiters have reached their tipping point," said Sam Riddle, a longtime political consultant who once worked for Kilpatrick and who expects a shakeup of the mayor's staff -- if not more dramatic moves. "This is going to change the political landscape in the city."

The text messages, obtained by the Detroit Free Press, were written during brief periods in 2002 and 2003 and include sexual banter, planned rendezvouses at locations across the United States and also discuss city business. The messages contradict testimony in the civil suit filed by former Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown and Officer Harold Nelthrope, who claimed they were punished for attempting to look into inappropriate behavior by the mayor and his staff, including allegations of an affair.

The attorney who handled the civil suits, Mike Stefani, said he saw the text messages about two weeks after the trial ended last September but decided to go ahead and work out a multimillion-dollar settlement with the city. He said if he had the messages at trial, it may have bumped up the damage awards but not the outcomes. If he had them earlier, he predicted the case would have been settled before trial.

"Kilpatrick is very charismatic but the jury saw him for what he is, a liar," said Stefani, who declined to discuss the records further saying he was barred by a confidentiality agreement. "This could have been settled for much less."

The communications contradict repeated denials both in and out of court by the mayor and Beatty, both 37, that they had an intimate relationship.

'Hip hop mayor' hailed

When Kilpatrick took office in 2002, he was heralded as the "hip hop mayor" and drew national adulation for his energy, ideas and diamond earring. But the luster dimmed as he became mired in miscues involving a plan to have the Police Department lease a Navigator for his wife, rang up more than $200,000 on his city-issued credit card and then was forced to cut back city services and layoff hundreds of workers.

He narrowly won re-election in 2005 but vowed he had cleaned up his act. Now the text messages, which are now being read on national TV broadcasts and syndicated radio shows, are casting a new cloud. Washington, D.C., -based talk show host Warren Ballentine, who is carried locally on 1200 AM WCHB, read the some of the messages on his show Thursday morning.

"This does not make the city or the mayor look good," Ballentine said.

President Kenneth V. Cockrel Jr. said Thursday that Worthy needed to look into possible perjury charges. And if he were in the same situation, he would consider resigning to spare the city further damage, he said.

"There's no doubt it puts a cloud of suspicion around him. It seriously, seriously damages his credibility," said Cockrel, who would replace Kilpatrick if the mayor stepped down or was removed from office under the city charter.

"Statements were made in court that said one thing, and we have information now that suggests something different," said Cockrel, who had begun to consider a run for Kilpatrick's seat next year.

According to the city charter, the council could suspend Kilpatrick if he is charged with a crime but it cannot take action until then. The only requirement to be mayor is the person resides in Detroit and speaks and writes English.

Kilpatrick's spokesman, James Canning, said Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams was the point-man until the mayor was back in the office.

"The city continues to operate," said Canning.

But Canning has refused to discuss the status of Beatty, who was not seen publicly at city offices on Thursday.

The Detroit News was able to track down the mayor and his family at the vacation home in a golf course community in Tallahassee, Fla. Kilpatrick bought the house in June for $430,000 with a $344,000 mortgage from Quicken Loans, which is planning to move its headquarters to downtown Detroit in the next 18 months.

On Thursday morning, Jalil Kilpatrick, one of the mayor's twins, answered the phone and said he was there with his family, and then told his dad a reporter was on the phone. The line then went dead.

But by dinner time, the Kilpatricks had decided to return to the city. "Mayor Kilpatrick and his family were in Florida today," Canning said in a statement. "They will return this evening and plan to continue their private time for the next several days. They are asking that the public and the media continue to respect their privacy during this time."

Beatty was not at her Rosedale Park home Thursday, and fresh snow had not been shoveled and recently delivered fliers remained on her front step.

Beatty sought counsel from her church Thursday, said Rev. Ronald Griffin of Rose of Sharon Church of God in Christ.

"She is just devastated," Griffin said. "She fully and totally realizes the colossal mistake she's made."

But this week's emergence of intimate messages between Kilpatrick and Beatty -- messages that also document that they fired Brown -- should end Beatty's city career, some say.

"As a chief of staff you can't get things done if your authority is questioned," said Adolph Mongo, a political consultant, who said Beatty has to resign.

Some fear for city

Major business leaders and political leaders declined to comment Thursday; calls to several executives on the board of Detroit Renaissance went unreturned. Kilpatrick's troubles were a major topic of conversation in Lansing -- but mostly private conversation.

Bill Rustem of Lansing's Public Sector Consultants said concern is well-placed.

"For those in the Legislature who want to be anti-Detroit, this provides them more ammunition. For those who want to use Detroit as a wedge issue this provides them more ammo, which is unfortunate," he said.

Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano declined to comment and an aide to Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said he was out of state and unavailable for comment.

In a written statement, Detroit Renaissance President Doug Rothwell acknowledged Kilpatrick's leading role in bringing development projects to the city, and the seriousness of the allegations against him. "But they should not be allowed to slow the economic progress we are making and I don't believe they will," Rothwell said.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm declined to comment, as did state Rep. Craig DeRoche, the Republican leader in the House.

But state Sen. Hansen Clark, D-Detroit, called on the floor of the Senate for the media to focus on less titillating, more substantive matters. "Our priorities are not text messages regarding sex, but something about the government's failure to protect families facing foreclosure," he said.

Kilpatrick is an attorney, and much the way former President Bill Clinton was punished for committing perjury, could be censured by his peers.

The Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission could initiate an investigation, which could result in Kilpatrick losing his law license. Robert Agacinski, the commission's grievance administrator, said typically they wait until a criminal proceeding is complete before pursuing an investigation.

Attorney General Mike Cox, who investigated and called unfounded rumors of wild party at the Manoogian Mansion, didn't have much to say.

"Usually, the county prosecutors have the first crack at that," Cox said Thursday after testifying before a Senate committee in Washington, D.C., on emissions regulations. "I'm not interested in stepping on any jurisdiction's toes."

In a written statement, Councilman Kwame Kenyatta expressed concern about the fallout of the mayor's actions.

"I do believe that thus far, the city's finances have been jeopardized by the mayor's actions and decisions in various court cases that have cost the city millions of dollars," he said.

But Councilwoman Martha Reeves said she doesn't believe the scandal affects Kilpatrick's ability to lead.

John Riehl, president of AFSCME Local 207, which represents water department workers, said Kilpatrick should step down and that that union will hold a picket outside city hall Wednesday calling for the mayor to quit.

"He should resign. There is no excuse for what he did," said Riehl, who also dismissed reports that heads of 17 unions would decide Friday to ask the mayor to step down or they would initiate a recall drive.