18 posts tagged “corruption” (page 2)
BY BILL MCGRAW
MOTOR CITY JOURNAL
April 15, 2008
After the latest episode of city government dysfunction -- the City Council's brush-off of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his new budget Monday -- it's tempting to conclude that the city of Detroit has fallen into an unprecedented crisis since Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy charged the mayor with eight felonies last month in the text message scandal.
But the crisis goes beyond the possibility of the mayor's going to prison.
It goes beyond Councilwoman Monica Conyers' calling council President Ken Cockrel Jr. "Shrek" during a tantrum Friday that quickly wound up on national TV.
It goes beyond Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins' celebrating her 69th birthday by wearing a silver tiara to the council meeting Monday.
Perhaps the most serious and long-lasting crisis is the city's operational crisis.
The mayor and other officials recognize the problems that budget woes bring.
"At the end of the day, it's all about dollars and cents," Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams said Monday. "If you don't have the money, you can't provide the service."
Although it's difficult to quantify delivery of services across a 137-square-mile city, anecdotal evidence suggests the city is struggling more than ever before to do things that are most important to residents and businesses.
When Detroit stand-up performer Karen Addison warmed up the Fox Theatre crowd for the Damon Wayans' comedy show, she mostly refrained from doing predictable jokes about Kilpatrick.
Instead, Addison said she knew how Kilpatrick could revolutionize Detroit: "Pick up the bulk trash," she deadpanned.
The crowd laughed, having seen the piles of couches, tables, toilets, toys, carpeting and even broken-down boats.
Last month, a west-side resident couldn't get cops to show up after intruders had broken into his house until he phoned Councilwoman JoAnn Watson, who called the chief of police. Kilpatrick admits the city has a "manpower issue" in the Police Department and that its hiring of recruits is, in his word, "horrible."
Last month, when an off-duty cop suffered a heart attack while shoveling snow, it took EMS so long to arrive that the man's friends took him to the hospital, according to Free Press reporting partner WDIV-TV Local 4.
Each day, the Detroit Fire Department idles up to 10 working rigs because it doesn't have the staffing to keep them all running.
Streetlights? They remain a problem on many blocks. One small example: There were virtually no nights all winter when every light functioned properly near the corner of West Lafayette and Third. And downtown is supposed to be the part of the city that works.
Some of the current cutbacks resulted when the mayor started trimming jobs in 2005 as Detroit faced the possibility of a $300-million deficit.
When Kilpatrick took office in 2002, the Police Department had 4,200 members. Today it has 3,000.
Kilpatrick and his aides say the city is doing its best to enact smart government practices, such as employing more civilians in police desk jobs.
They say the bulk trash problem will lessen as residents learn more about new pickup days (reduced from 12 a year to four).
No matter what Kilpatrick's fate, the city's fate will be determined by how it does things like pick up bulk trash.
Said Adams: "No one says the city is where it needs to be."
Worthy to announce her decision at news conference
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said today that she will hold a news conference at 11 a.m. Monday to reveal her decision about whether to charge Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in the text message scandal.
Worthy's probe stems from a Free Press report in January that revealed that text messages between Kilpatrick and then-chief of staff Christine Beatty showed the pair lied at a police whistle-blower trial last summer when they testified they were not romantically involved. The trial, and subsequent settlement of two police lawsuits, cost taxpayers more than $9 million.
A Free Press report recently revealed that other text messages raised questions about whether a friend of Kilpatrick and Beatty received favoritism in the awarding of city contracts.
By Ruben Castaneda
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Former Prince George's County homeland security official Keith A. Washington, jailed awaiting sentencing for fatally shooting a furniture deliveryman and wounding another, was found last week with a handcuff key and had a "clear intention of escaping," according to court papers filed by prosecutors.
A Prince George's jail spokeswoman said yesterday that officials were investigating how Washington, who is also a former police officer, obtained the key. Law enforcement officials said that handcuff keys are generally universal and that the key probably could have opened any handcuffs.
According to the court papers, correctional officers discovered the key in the pocket of Washington's jail shirt Thursday, three days after he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and other crimes. Washington, 46, resisted being strip-searched before being taken to the Calvert County jail, where he was being transferred for his safety, according to the papers.
"The shirt was 'pulled' from the defendant's grip and the handcuff key was found in the pocket of the defendant's jail shirt," prosecutors wrote. "Defendant stated that he found the handcuff key approximately two hours earlier and placed same in his pocket."
The papers were filed in opposition to a request by Washington's attorneys that he be released on home detention pending sentencing, which is scheduled for April 23.
In the filing, Assistant State's Attorneys William D. Moomau, Joseph Wright and Raemarie Zanzucchi wrote that the possession of the handcuff key shows Washington is a flight risk. "Defendant's actions further show his danger to the community as the possession of a handcuff key reflects a clear intention of escaping his current circumstances," they wrote.
Yesterday, in a brief written order, Circuit Court Judge Michael P. Whalen denied the defense request.
Whalen revoked Washington's bond and ordered him taken into custody Feb. 25, the day a Prince George's jury convicted him of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of first-degree assault and two counts of using a handgun in the commission of a felony. The jury acquitted Washington of second-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder.
State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey said yesterday he was "shocked" to learn that Washington had a key. "I thought this kind of thing only happened on shows like 'Prison Break' -- evidently not."
Washington's attorneys did not return phone calls yesterday.
An investigation is underway to try to determine how Washington obtained the key, said Vicki D. Duncan, a spokeswoman for the county Department of Corrections. Duncan said she could not comment further because of the investigation.
Police Chief Melvin C. High suspended Washington's police powers and ordered him to turn in his police gun last April. High took the action after Washington was accused of brandishing his handgun at a home appraiser who said he mistakenly knocked on the door of the officer's home in Accokeek.
At the time he surrendered his service weapon, Washington was also required to turn in whatever police equipment he had, said Officer Henry Tippett, a police spokesman. If Washington had police handcuffs and a key, he would have been required to turn those in, Tippett said.
On Jan. 24, 2007, Washington shot the deliverymen at his home in what he said was self-defense.
Deliveryman Brandon Clark, 22, died nine days later. Robert White, now 37, was severely wounded but recovered. He was a key prosecution witness at Washington's trial last month.
After the shooting, Washington left the homeland security department, where he was a deputy director. Several months ago, he was granted medical disability and retired from the police department, where he was a corporal.
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and company really must believe Detroiters are stupid. Kilpatrick is convinced, arrogantly so, that he didn't commit a crime. He's a lawyer, and he doesn't know what perjury is? Kilpatrick and Sharon McPhail say nothing new came out in the released settlement documents. The City Council signing an agreement that was later discarded and replaced by two new documents isn't new?
Reading the Mike Stefani deposition confirmed my belief that Detroit is being run by attitude instead of expertise. The constant interruptions and objections by the city lawyers were comical to read, but I couldn't enjoy it, because my city is looking more and more foolish as details of each new revelation are presented.
Michelle Leon
Detroit [Ed. Note: Of course kwame thinks Detroiters are stupid: he's obviously unbelievably stupid himself.]
Above it all
Mayor Kilpatrick will not willingly leave office; he thinks that he is above it all. He doesn't really have any place to go. I am quite sure that he is working on a back-up plan just in case the City Council chooses to remove him from office. I sure hope that the city does it right; it cannot afford to be the laughingstock of the country.
Robert Maier
Washington
Take responsibility
Mayor Kilpatrick is emotionally and psychologically incapable of accepting responsibility for his past or present behaviors and has surrounded himself with people willing to compromise their integrity for misplaced loyalty and a paycheck.
While he theoretically could gain new insights about himself, it is unlikely that this will happen any time soon. He might consider relocating to a country where a state-controlled press will promote and protect the delusions of the leaders regardless of the truth.
Mary Therese Lemanek
Allen Park
Rising economic damage
Your Thursday editorial ("The painful truth about mayor's lies: High court underscores how much Kilpatrick abused the public trust") left out a very important consequence of the mayor's dishonesty. This story is making headlines around our nation, at a time when Michigan is struggling to find employers and qualified, talented employees. Don't pretend for a minute that these stories do not influence the opinions of many outside of Michigan.
The economic impact of this stupidity is far greater than the $8.4-million check from the city. Opinions have been drawn in boardrooms, the classrooms, and the national legislature. How likely are you to move to Michigan, invest in Michigan, or even visit Michigan when hooligans run the town?
If this group of legal "experts" is not punished and fully sanctioned, our losses over time will be hundredfold the face value of that check.
Christopher Bliss
Warren
Lawyer questions
Not to take the focus off the mayor in this sordid affair, but it is clear there is a lot about the legal system that I do not understand. Mike Stefani, attorney for the ex-cops and an officer of the court, uncovers evidence that a crime may have been committed but agrees to conceal it in exchange for $1 million in legal fees, paid for by the good citizens of Detroit.
I guess my mother was right when she encouraged me to go to medical school.
Kenneth J. Levin
West Bloomfield
Corporate questions
A huge thank you to the Free Press and its investigators for uncovering this scandal. Tom Walsh's Feb. 27 column clued us in to more unsavory dealings in which CEOs helped get the mayor get re-elected ("DTE chief: Mayor credibility hurt"). This makes me feel quite suspicious, to wonder what they may have been promised. Was Freman Hendrix not willing to play ball with them? It must make these people feel warm and fuzzy to know they helped put an apparent confirmed liar in office. Should there be more investigations?
Claire Wilkins
Royal Oak
A barrel of bad apples
Lies upon lies flaunted as truth while deception mires the whole in a morass of corruption beginning at the top and continuing to the bottom. It isn't a case of one bad apple; the whole barrel is rotten.
Paul A. Heller
Washington
It has happened before
The great city of Detroit shouldn't be embarrassed by what the mayor's scandal is uncovering. This is about corruption, not about Detroit. This is about greedy lawyers and misrepresentation. This type of thing has been documented over and over through history. Getting to the bottom of these crimes has in the past shown to be difficult but worth the struggle.
Patrice Lehman
Newport
Criminal Law 101
What part of "criminal conspiracy" doesn't Sharon McPhail understand? She should be ordered to take her bar exams, again.
K. Pat Schuesler
Dearborn
Money needed elsewhere
I read about the tragic death of a handicapped person in a fire because of the lack of resources the beleaguered Detroit Fire Department has to cope with ("Broken rigs, broken hearts in deadly blaze: Detroit fire shows how budget cuts, safety can collide," Feb. 27). Although in a city government as inept as this one seems to be it is not surprising to find such tolerated mismanagement, I can't help but wonder how much of the money that Detroit used to pay for the mayor's hanky-panky could have been used to protect the lives of its citizens.
Pete Laitinen
Canton
The pursuit of truth
Every person living in Detroit and surrounding suburbs owes the Free Press and its staff a heartfelt thank-you. Because of your hard work, diligence and perseverance, the real truth involving the text-message scandal of the mayor has finally come out. The great length the mayor went to keep the court documents under wraps only proves that we would have never learned the truth had the Free Press given up the fight.
Janet Johnson
Novi
Law reinvented
I hope that the legal wrangling in the text-messaging scandal isn't really over, as I so enjoy waking up each morning to read about the latest legal theory dreamt up by city lawyers John Johnson Jr., Valerie Colbert-Osamuede, and Ellen Ha, as well as Mayor Kilpatrick's general counsel, Sharon McPhail.
Before these folks went to work, who knew that the state Freedom of Information Act was meant to help conceal information from the public? Or that it was possible to go to court to prevent the release of documents that purportedly didn't exist and aren't secret anyway? Or that it was possible to serve the best interest of your client -- the City of Detroit -- by withholding information from it?
Given the facts, the charitable interpretation is that these people are incredibly devious and dishonest. The only other explanation would be that they're too incompetent to grasp the most basic principles of law.
Adrian Cho
Grosse Pointe Woods
By ZACHARY GORCHOW
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
March 5, 2008
A proposed recall effort against Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick was given the green light today.
The Wayne County Election Commission ruled that one of the six petitions submitted by Douglas Johnson was sufficiently clear under the law that requires it to be clear enough for Kilpatrick and the public to understand it.
Alan Canady, the lawyer representing Kilpatrick in the meeting, said afterward Kilpatrick would appeal the ruling to the Wayne County Circuit Court.
The commission rejected Johnson's other five petitions for lack of clarity.
If the commission's ruling stands, pro-recall forces can begin collecting signatures to put the issue on the ballot. They must collect 57,328 signatures of registered city voters in 90 days to put the issue before voters.
The language found to be sufficiently clear by the commission states:
"In 2007, Kilpatrick was a defendant in a lawsuit brought by 2 law enforcement officers under the Whistleblowers Protection Act for being fired for investigating his personal actions and/or misconduct in office. After only 3 hours of deliberation, on September 11, 2007, a jury found Kilpatrick responsible for the inappropriate firings and awarded the officers $6.5 million in damages as well as running up over $500,000 in legal expenses that became the financial burden of not only Detroit taxpayers, but those who live outside of Detroit, but work within its city limits. However, on October 18th, 2007, Kilpatrick decided not to appeal the jury’s verdict and offered a $8,000,000.00 settlement to the 2 officers along with an additional $400,000.00 to a 3rd officer to avoid another lawsuit being filed asserting the same allegations contained in the forementioned lawsuit that was subsequently approved by the Detroit City Council based on misinformation provided to them by Kilpatrick."
In a prepared statement, Kilpatrick press secretary Denise Tolliver dismissed Johnson as "a transplant who after recently moving to Detroit has determined he should decide who our leadership should be instead of voters at the ballot box."
Johnson moved from Sterling Heights to Detroit in October. Although he's registered to vote at a house in the city that he said he is renovating, Johnson said he is not staying there and has declined to say where he is living.
Tolliver also criticized the election commission's decision.
"We would also like to express our disappointment with the conduct of the commission whose primary duty is to protect the integrity of the process and uphold voting rights and in this case failed on both counts," she said. "Mayor Kilpatrick will continue to focus on his agenda for the NEXT Detroit and let others focus on getting their 15 minutes of fame."
Friday, February 29, 2008
Paul Egan / The Detroit News
The conduct of lawyers who represented the city of Detroit and Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in the text message scandal came under intense scrutiny Thursday as a result of records ordered released by the Michigan Supreme Court.
Experts said city lawyers may be subject to discipline under the Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct. For example, city lawyers may have had an undisclosed conflict of interest -- acting in Kilpatrick's best interests rather than the interests of the city as a whole in helping to craft settlements calling for $8.4 million in city payments to three former police officers who filed whistle-blower lawsuits.
City lawyers knew -- but did not tell Detroit City Council -- that part of the settlement involved promises to keep secret embarrassing and potentially incriminating text messages exchanged in 2002 and 2003 between Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, the records show.
"It's a violation of the basic components of the attorney-client relationship," said Southfield attorney Robert Cleary, who has extensive experience representing management in labor negotiations. "You're obligated to disclose that there is a conflict and you're obligated to get direction on what to do."
On Thursday, the Detroit City Council was mulling an amendment to the city charter that would make the city's chief lawyer -- the corporation counsel -- an independent officeholder similar to the auditor general. Under the present set-up, Corporation Counsel John E. Johnson is appointed by, and can be fired by, the mayor.
Johnson could not be reached for comment Thursday.
His role in the secret agreements was among the new elements to emerge with the newly released documents.
According to the sworn testimony of the lawyer for the police officers, Michael Stefani, a negotiations impasse broke when Stefani showed one of the mayor's lawyers, Samuel McCargo, a motion Stefani planned to file in court that would use excerpts from the text messages to bolster allegations that Kilpatrick and Beatty committed perjury at the whistle-blower trial.
McCargo contacted the mayor, who dispatched Johnson to the Detroit law offices where negotiations were taking place. A settlement was then reached that linked the secrecy of the SkyTel messages to Detroit City Council's approval of $8.4 million for the officers. Johnson did not sign that agreement, but other city lawyers did.
It's unclear whether McCargo, a private attorney hired by the city to represent the mayor, knew the contents of the text messages from reading Stefani's motion. Experts say McCargo, who has not returned phone calls, had an apparent obligation to tell the trial judge Kilpatrick may have testified falsely. It's also clear city law department attorneys knew the deal involved keeping the text messages secret, though it is not clear the law department attorneys knew the contents of the text messages.
"We need to know which lawyers knew what, when and where," Detroit Councilman Kwame Kenyatta said.
Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr. said he wants to know whether the city law department's actions constituted misconduct or even broke the law.
"It's of paramount importance," Cockrel said. "If sanctions are in order, that is definitely something we need to take a look at."
The city has 81 attorneys in the law department. At least two, Johnson and Valerie Colbert-Osamuede, were involved in the whistle-blower case. At least two others, Dennis Mazurek and Ellen Ha, were involved in the city fight to keep settlement records secret.
By PAUL DAVENPORT
The Associated Press
Friday, February 22, 2008; 9:25 PM
PHOENIX -- Federal authorities announced corruption charges Friday accusing Rep. Rick Renzi of engineering a swap of federally owned mining land to benefit himself and a former business partner and stealing from his insurance company's clients.
A lengthy federal investigation that had put the three-term Republican congressman under a cloud for more than a year culminated in a 26-page indictment issued Thursday against him and two other men. Renzi announced Aug. 23 that he wouldn't run for re-election in Arizona's mostly rural 1st Congressional District.
"Congressman Renzi deprived the citizens of Arizona of his honest services as a United States elected representative," U.S. Attorney Diane J. Humetewa said.
The indictment's 35 counts include charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, insurance fraud and extortion. Most of the charges allege Renzi, 49, used his office to promote a land swap to collect on a debt owed by former Renzi associate James W. Sandlin of Sherman, Texas.
Renzi, Sandlin and Andrew Beardall of Rockville, Md., another of the congressman's former business associates, were to be arraigned in Tucson on March 6. Convictions on the most serious charges carry maximum penalties of 20 years in prison.
Renzi has denied wrongdoing, and his attorney, Kelly Kramer, issued a brief statement saying Renzi would "fight these charges until he is vindicated and his family's name is restored."
GOP leadership, however, immediately pressured Renzi to step down.
House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio called the charges against Renzi "completely unacceptable for a member of Congress" and said Renzi should "seriously consider whether he can continue to effectively represent his constituents under these circumstances."
Renzi had been considered in political peril ever since FBI agents raided his wife's insurance business in the southern Arizona town of Sonoita in October 2006. He immediately stepped down from the House Intelligence Committee, and followed that by taking a leave of absence from the House Financial Services and Natural Services committees.
Authorities accuse Renzi of using his position as a member of the Natural Resources Committee to push land deals for Sandlin. Renzi wanted Sandlin to make money so the congressman could be paid for an earlier land deal they made together, according to the indictment.
Attorneys for Sandlin did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
In 2005, Renzi promised to support proposed land exchanges sought by an unidentified investment firm and an unidentified company that owned mineral rights to a copper deposit on federal property in his district, but only if they bought property owned by Sandlin, the indictment states.
The mining company didn't make the purchase, prompting Renzi to tell the business' leaders, "No Sandlin property, no bill," the indictment states.
The investment group agreed to purchase Sandlin's land, and Renzi received $733,000 from Sandlin for helping with the sale, the indictment said.
The identities of the company and the investment group were not specified in the indictment, but they were previously identified as Resolution Copper of Superior, Ariz., and Preserve Petrified Forest Land Investors of Las Vegas, Nev.
Resolution Copper on Friday issued a statement saying that it did not buy the Sandlin property after learning that Sandlin and Renzi "had a business relationship that made us uncomfortable."
Officials from the investment group could not immediately be reached Friday.
"Renzi was having financial difficulty throughout 2005 and needed a substantial infusion of funds to keep his insurance business solvent and to maintain his personal lifestyle," the indictment reads.
The 27 counts in that part of the indictment included conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering.
Other charges including conspiracy, extortion and insurance fraud relate to allegations that Renzi funneled cash from his insurance firm in 2002 to fund his first campaign. Prosecutors allege Renzi and Beardall embezzled more than $400,000 in insurance premiums from Renzi's insurance business and misled customers and state insurance regulators.
Beardall's lawyer, Lucius T. Outlaw III [Ed. Note: Lucius T Outlaw III?!!], said his client is confident the facts will show he never tried to defraud the government or injure anyone.
Renzi is one of 24 co-chairmen for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign in Arizona. McCain seemed surprised when asked about the indictment Friday at a campaign stop in Indianapolis, choosing his words carefully, shaking his head and speaking slowly.
"I'm sorry. I feel for the family; as you know, he has 12 children," McCain said. "But I don't know enough of the details to make a judgment. These kinds of things are always very unfortunate. ... I rely on our Department of Justice and system of justice to make the right outcome."
Government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington applauded the Justice Department for holding Renzi "accountable given that his House colleagues refused to do so." The group has had Renzi on its "Most Corrupt Members of Congress" list for the last three years.
"Bluster aside, this latest in a string of congressional indictments demonstrates that Congress simply will not police itself," said CREW executive director Melanie Sloan.
The Renzi investigation began during the tenure of then-U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton, a Bush administration appointee who was forced from office as part of a Justice Department purge of U.S. attorneys around the country.
There has been speculation that the Renzi case figured in Charlton's ouster, but Humetewa said her office "had tremendous support" from the Justice Department and other federal law enforcement agencies.
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.
