Oust mayor, Granholm asked

City Council also to pursue Kilpatrick's removal from office
By Zachary Gorchow and Naomi R. Patton
Free Press Staff Writers
May 13, 2008

The Detroit City Council has just voted to launch a two-track effort to remove Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick from office by both beginning its own process and asking Gov. Jennifer Granholm to oust him.

The vote was 5-4 as the council made an historic move to topple a mayor.

A delicate majority in favor of removing Kilpatrick managed to hold together overnight.

Voting yes were Council President Ken Cockrel Jr and Councilmembers Sheila Cockrel, Brenda Jones, Kwame Kenyatta and JoAnn Watson. Voting no were Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers and Councilmembers Barbara-Rose Collins, Martha Reeves and Alberta Tinsley-Talabi.

Both processes are expected to take months. The council set an initial public hearing for its removal hearings of June 13.

The independent attorney hired by the council to assist with its investigation, Bill Goodman, estimated that it would take two months for the council to complete removal hearings and then – if the council actually votes to oust Kilpatrick – another year for the mayor’s appeals to play out in the courts.

How long it will take Granholm to determine Kilpatrick’s fate is unclear. Despite today’s vote, the council must still submit to the governor’s office a formal sworn statement requesting she remove Kilpatrick from office.

The law giving Granholm the power to remove elected local officials does not give a timetable for action.

The last time a governor conducted removal hearings on a local official was 1982 – for a West Bloomfield Township official accused of public drunkenness. Gov. William Milliken ordered the official to quit drinking or be removed.