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Jul-23-2008Detroit mayor accused of texting additional women(topic overview)
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Detroiter says he will try again after a ruling against suit claiming damage from whistle-blower settlement. DETROIT -- A Detroit lawyer hopes next month to revive a lawsuit that was aimed at recovering millions of dollars he claimed was defrauded from city taxpayers by Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty. Wayne County Circuit Judge Robert J. Colombo Jr. ruled on Friday that Corbett Edge O'Meara and his 35 clients, including Detroit residents and city employees, couldn't show they suffered direct damage from last year's $8.4 million settlement of police whistle-blower lawsuits that included a secret side deal to hush text messages that are now at the center of felony charges against Kilpatrick and Beatty. O'Meara, who claimed Kilpatrick and Beatty misled Detroit's City Council by hiding the purpose of the settlement, won the right for another hearing on Aug. 8, when the judge will consider reinstating the lawsuit if O'Meara can produce evidence that city workers have suffered because of the settlement. [1] DETROIT -- Long lists identifying text messages that defense lawyers for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty say should never be made public were delivered Friday to the judge overseeing criminal charges against the mayor and his former chief of staff. Judge Ronald Giles of the 36th District Court had asked for the "privilege logs" to prepare for a hearing July 25 where he may reveal many, if not most, of the 625,000 text messages being offered by Wayne County's prosecutor as evidence of felony perjury, conspiracy, official misconduct and obstruction of justice. Giles determined Monday that he will make public "the bulk" of the text messages filed in court earlier this month by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy in a motion that she said verified the authenticity of the messages and who sent and received them.[2] Channel 7 Action News is at 36th District Court in downtown Detroit waiting to see if Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy will amend the criminal complaint against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Specifically, the words "and others" could be added to the perjury charge in which the Mayor is accused of lying under oath, denying he had an affair with his former chief of staff Christine Beatty. In reviewing text messages, Worthy believes the mayor had affairs with other women and lied under oath about them.[3]
Associated Press Writer 5:41 PM CDT, July 22, 2008 DETROIT - Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is now charged with exchanging romantic text messages with additional women in the scandal that has him fighting allegations that he lied under oath about an intimate relationship with his ex-top aide. An investigator's report says the Wayne County prosecutor's office has determined that Kilpatrick sent and received text messages with "intimate or romantic content" to women who were not his wife or former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty. The report says the office was able to locate and identify the women through the senders' user names and e-mail accounts, but it does not list their actual names. The allegations led the prosecutor's office to amend two of its current charges against the 38-year-old mayor.[4]
Now two additional criminal counts have been filed against the mayor. The amended complaint was signed by a 36th District Court magistrate It changes a misconduct in office charge and a perjury charge. An investigator's report says the prosecutor's office has determined that Kwame Kilpatrick sent & received text messages with "intimate or romantic content" to several women who were not his wife nor his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty.[5]
The amended charge says Kilpatrick was trying to keep the affair and "other information" secret. Prosecutors will not comment on what they believe the "other information" includes. They said they are confident the new information will bolster their case against him. "She has no case and the city is tired of it," said Kilpatrick. "What it is now, let's attack his family, let's attack him, let's do whatever we can to keep the eye off the fact that she has no case." Kilpatrick also accused the prosecutors office of spending too much time and resource on his case. Worthy responded Tuesday evening by saying, "We continue to aggressively pursue all warrants and cases brought to this office by the 90 police agencies we deal with on a regular basis. This case is but one of the many that we prosecute on a daily basis." Kilpatrick nodded to the idea that his lawyers would like to meet with the prosecutors to possibly work out a deal. The mayor said Tuesday, "At some point, I am hopeful the prosecutor and my lawyers can come together to settle this legal nonsense." The prosecutor's office said they are open to the idea of speaking with Kilpatrick's lawyers, especially since the criminal case against Kilpatrick and Beatty has already cost them almost $99,000 and they project that by the end of the year, they will have spent over $200,000. Attorneys for both sides will be in court Friday for a hearing where a judge may release hundreds of embarrassing text messages. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.[6] Worthy has five staff prosecutors plus an outside counsel assigned to the case. She has told the county she will need an unspecified amount of extra money to cover the cost of the Kilpatrick case, including part-time legal clerks and investigators. The charges arose after text messages published in January, exchanged between Kilpatrick and Beatty on city-issued pagers, pointed to an adulterous relationship between them and other possible perjury when both testified at a police whistle-blower trial in 2007. Other records released as a result of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit pursued by The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press show Kilpatrick and Beatty signed a secret deal to keep the text messages under wraps as part of the city's $8.4 million settlement of the whistle-blower suits.[7] Kilpatrick and Beatty were charged March 24 by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, perjury and official misconduct. Worthy's investigation began after text messages published in January pointed to a sexual relationship between Kilpatrick and Beatty and possible perjury when both testified at a police whistle-blower trial last year. Other records released as a result of a lawsuit brought by The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press show Kilpatrick and Beatty signed a secret deal as part of the settlement that was to keep the text messages under wraps.[1]
The mayor says that Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's criminal case has "moved away from justice and fairness. He said: '''This prosecutor is on a personal vendetta. She has no case, and the city is tired of it. Now, let's do anything we can to keep the eye off the fact that she has no case. It's a perversion of the entire system." This was Mayor Kilpatrick'''s response to an effort by Prosecutor Kym Worthy to amend perjury charges in 36th District Court. The original amended complaint was filed on Monday, but the judge was '''uncomfortable''' with the package as presented which forced prosecutors to rework the document and try again Tuesday for which they received the amendments they sought. Assistant Prosecutor Robert Moran told 36th District Court Judge Ronald Giles on July 3rd that his office would seek to amend the charges after he said text messages on city-issued pagers revealed Kilpatrick lied during last year'''s whistle-blowers' trial of extramarital relationships.[5] A spokeswoman for the prosecutor Kym Worthy tells Action News, Worthy will file an amended criminal complaint that's expected to add several counts to the case. She says counts 4 and 6 of the new charges could refer to "others" involved in the case. The prosecutor's office is waiting for a Judge in Detroit's 36 District court, to approve the amended complaint. The Mayor and Beatty face charges related to their testimony in Detroit's whistleblower trial. Text messages appear to contradict their testimony that they did not have a romantic relationship.[3]
Moffitt is a marquee name among criminal defense attorneys. His many cases include getting half the charges dismissed against William Aramony, the former president of the United Way convicted of defrauding the charity. They technically represent the city of Detroit as a whole -- not the Mayor's Office. One of those city attorneys, Valerie Colbert-Osamuede, put her signature to a draft of an agreement to help the mayor keep the text messages under wraps and never told the City Council of the secret deal. Other city attorneys, Ellen Ha and Dennis Mazurek, have gone to court to fight the release of lawsuit settlement records the council wanted to see. The law department has never taken a legal position that is at odds with Kilpatrick or his attorneys in an array of text-message-related legal disputes. That has led to City Council complaints that the city law department has been hijacked by the mayor, who appoints its head, Corporation Counsel John E. Johnson Jr., and who can remove Johnson without cause whenever he wishes. In the mayor's corner is his general counsel, Sharon McPhail, whose $142,801 salary is paid by taxpayers. McPhail is heading up the fight against efforts to have the governor use her powers to remove Kilpatrick from office.[7] "One wonders why smart people do dumb things," Nancy Rapoport, a legal ethicist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said of Granholm's decision to ask the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit if there was a mutual solution to the mayor's criminal charges from the text message scandal and a federal probe of city hall. Rapoport said Granholm may have created the perception she was trying to broker a deal so she wouldn't have to make the tough political call to remove Kilpatrick from office for keeping the City Council in the dark about explosive text messages that prompted an $8.4-million police whistle-blower settlement last October. "Maybe she should step away" from the Kilpatrick removal proceedings, Rapoport said, then adding, "Sometimes, stupidity works out well." Granholm wouldn't comment Friday about the latest controversy confronting city government -- a call she made in June to Assistant U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg to find out whether there was a "global resolution" to the federal corruption probe in city government and the Kilpatrick removal issue. Berg, second in command of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit and a former Granholm staffer when she was state attorney general, wouldn't comment, either, on the contact by Granholm, first reported Friday by the Detroit News. Sources said Berg told Granholm he had to confer with his boss, U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy. After doing so, they said, Berg told Granholm that if Kilpatrick wanted to pursue the matter, he should contact the U.S. Attorney's Office. One government source said Berg did nothing wrong because he didn't confirm the existence of the federal probe to Granholm.[8] Legal experts debated Friday about whether Granholm crossed an ethical line. If her questions about the Bernard Kilpatrick probe were open-ended and didn't seek a specific result, she didn't do anything wrong, said Nancy Rapoport, a legal ethicist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The question, she said, is whether Granholm used a "sentence that could be cited as pressure." She said Granholm appears to have used questionable judgment. "One wonders why smart people do dumb things," Rapoport said, adding that Granholm may have created the perception she was trying to broker a deal so she wouldn't have to make the tough political call to remove the mayor from office. The City Council has asked her to do so because the mayor kept the council in the dark about explosive text messages that prompted an $8.4-million police whistle-blower settlement last October. "Maybe she should step away" from the mayor's removal proceedings, Rapoport said, then adding, "Sometimes, stupidity works out well."[9]
The settlement included a secret side deal to hush text messages between Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty. Detroit lawyer Edge O'Meara and his 35 clients said Kilpatrick and Beatty hoodwinked the Detroit City Council into accepting the settlement and hid the purpose of the settlement from them. O'Meara has sought to freeze Kilpatrick's personal assets and those of the mayor's legal defense fund, which has raised more than $180,000.[10] Before being hired, Sedler had written an op-ed piece saying that the forfeiture process is flawed. The City Council began forfeiture proceedings against the mayor this spring because members felt they had been duped by Kilpatrick in approving the $8.4 million whistle-blower settlement. Neither the mayor nor Law Department told the City Council that as part of the deal, the mayor would gain possession of the text messages sent on the city-issued text pager given to Christine Beatty, his former chief of staff. The messages indicate he and Beatty had an affair, something they both denied in court proceedings.[11]
Brown and two other police officers sued Kilpatrick, and the settlement cost the city $8.4 million. Kilpatrick was charged with perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office after the Free Press published text messages in January that showed the mayor and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, lied under oath during the trial about their intimate relationship and gave misleading testimony about Brown's ouster.[12] 'She's on the verge of committing some real prosecutorial misconduct,' the mayor said at a morning news conference at Campus Martius about Labor Day weekend events. Kilpatrick said it is unfortunate Worthy is issuing warrants and spending money on his case when the city has homicide and armed robbery cases that need to be solved. 'I think that her case is dying and she's trying to do anything and everything she possibly can to make this a personal vendetta on her part,' he said. Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, are facing perjury charges after text messages revealed that they lied under oath during a police whistle-blower trial last year. A decision is expected today on whether Worthy will amend a charge to indicate that Kilpatrick lied about his relationships with Beatty "and others."[13] Brian Jeffries, president and chief executive of Detroit-based Ambassador Capital Management, donated $10,000 to the fund. Jeffries, the hotel owners and others helped Kilpatrick raise $185,600 for his legal defense since the beginning of April. All but $20,000 of that money has been spent on the mayor's legal team, defending him against perjury and other charges he is facing. Bruce Sucher, an attorney for the Shubh Hotel Detroit L.L.C., said facility renovations forced the company to delay paying some bills. He also stated that most of the state taxes have been and the hotel owners have no city contracts. The contribution to Kilpatrick's fund was made to thank him for his support of tourism. Kwame Kilpatrick and his former Chief of Staff, Christine Beatty are accused of lying under oath during a whistle-blowers' trial when both denied having a romantic relationship in 2002 and 2003. Kilpatrick also is accused of lying under oath about his role in the firing of a top police official.[14] Michael Alan Schwartz, former head of the state's Attorney Grievance Commission, said "the whole situation is bizarre," but it doesn't appear Granholm violated any legal or professional rules. He said the situation could come off as another example of powerful people getting special breaks. "It makes it look like the powerful can barter," Schwartz said. In March, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office charged Kilpatrick and former chief of staff Christine Beatty with multiple counts of perjury, conspiracy and obstruction of justice after text messages showed they lied under oath at last year's whistle-blower trial.[9] Parkman of Birmingham, Ala.' s Parkman, Adams & White is seeking to have the text messages dismissed as evidence against the mayor, who faces perjury and obstruction of justice charges. "That case was dead on point, basically, with our case," said Parkman, who claims Kilpatrick's text messages were illegally released, and that his privacy rights have been violated. "That's real hope for us," he said of the 9th Circuit ruling. Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff were charged on March 24 with alleged perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office in a 12-count indictment issued by Wayne County Prosecutor Kim Worthy, who said the pair's text messages contradicted their sworn testimony in court.[15] The amended charges were accepted by 36th District Court in Wayne County. Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff Christine Beatty were charged with perjury, misconduct in office and obstruction of justice for their testimony in a police whistle-blowers trial last year. "She (Worthy) has moved away from justice and fairness and all those tenants she talked about in her grand announcement," said Kilpatrick. Both denied allegations of an affair and firing Detroit police officers for investigating them.[6]
Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, were charged in March with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, perjury and official misconduct in a case related to a police whistle-blower trial in 2007. Worthy's investigation began after pager text messages published in January pointed to a sexual relationship between Kilpatrick and Beatty, and possible perjury about the nature of their relationship and circumstances surrounding the removal of Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown. "Kilpatrick had refused to authorize the settlement of the whistleblower lawsuit until he learned that Michael Stefani, counsel for the plaintiffs had obtained the SkyTel text messages," White wrote in his report.[16] Sexually explicit text messages were referenced in an attorney's request for fees following a police whistle-blowers' trial. Kilpatrick authorized an $8.4 million settlement of the whistle-blowers' lawsuit after one of his attorneys was given a copy of defense lawyer Michael Stefani's request for fees in the case. "His motivation for the settlement was to prevent the release of the text messages that show he not only lied under oath about his sexual or romantic relationship with Christine Beatty and others, but also with the corrupt motive of preventing the release of information that would be embarrassing to him," according to the investigator's report. The amended perjury charge accuses Kilpatrick of lying under oath about romantic or sexual relationships with Beatty "and or other persons not his wife."[4]
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty wanted to depose reporters from the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News to discover who leaked the potentially incriminating text messages. Their lawyers sought the depositions not in the criminal case, but in a Freedom of Information lawsuit The Free Press and The News have filed seeking details of an underlying whistle-blower settlement. "Everyone would like to know how The Free Press got the text messages, but it's not relevant to this case," Circuit Judge Robert Colombo Jr. wrote.[17] DETROIT (AP) - Attorneys for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and ex-Chief of Staff Christine Beatty are barred from questioning two Detroit Free Press reporters on how they obtained sexually explicit text messages, a judge ruled Thursday. Wayne County Circuit Judge Robert J. Colombo Jr. cited a reporter's privilege to protect relationships with confidential sources as his reason for siding with the newspaper on its motion in an ongoing Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.[18] DETROIT -- A Wayne County judge today ruled that it would be irrelevant to question newspaper reporters about how they obtained and published text messages that were exchanged between Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty.[19]
The Detroit City Council, which was not informed of the secret settlement, is attempting to remove the mayor from office. Briefs filed by lawyers for Beatty, Kilpatrick and the city, had included questions they wanted to ask reporters, lawyers for the whistle blower cops and even the judge who oversaw the case, Wayne County Circuit Judge Michael Callahan, to find out how the newspaper obtained more than 10,000 messages. Colombo also said he won't allow the police whistle-blowers' attorney, Mike Stefani, to be question about whether he knows how the newspaper got the messages. "The issue of how Stefani got the messages and who he gave them to is totally irrelevant," he said.[19] After the messages were published in the media, Wayne County Prosecutor charged Kilpatrick and Beatty with perjury and other felonies. During her investigation, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy has said she obtained more than 600,000 messages. Kilpatrick and Beatty have fought the release of the messages in both courts, claiming that the messages are fake or doctored, that it's impossible to prove who really sent or received them, and that federal communications law protects archived messages as private. James Thomas, a lawyer for Kilpatrick, said he expects to abide by the judge's decision. "It could be relevant in the criminal case," Thomas said. "Maybe we aren't allowed to depose them, but they might be required to come forward to testify." • Also Thursday, city general manager of finance and purchasing Christine Ladson testified in a deposition in the public records case that it was Beatty who came to her in November 2002 and sought a purchase order to get SkyTel text messaging pagers for certain city employees.[19] The charges against Beatty were not changed. Kilpatrick and Beatty face a Sept. 22 preliminary examination in Detroit's 36th District Court. They also are accused of lying about their roles in the firing of a police official. Both deny all the charges. Kilpatrick unleashed a barrage of harsh accusations of his own against Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy a few hours before the amended charges were filed. "This prosecutor is on a personal vendetta. She has no case, and the city is tired of it," Kilpatrick said following an event promoting upcoming Labor Day activities in Detroit. He claimed Worthy has "moved away from justice and fairness" and is trying to divert attention from "the fact that she has no case." "It's a perversion of the entire system," Kilpatrick said.[20] Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy has filed amended charges in the criminal case against Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Action News and WXYZ.com have crews on the scene, and they are attempting to get the updated paperwork. "Kym Worthy is clearly reeling from a a string of losses in court, which prompted her to request upwards of a million dollars from a cash-strapped county budget and devote the majority of resources in her office to go after the mayor.[21] DETROIT -- Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick called Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy's move to amend two criminal charges against him a "perversion of justice." "This prosecutor now is on a personal vendetta and I think everyone can see that," said Kilpatrick Tuesday at Campus Martius while promoting late-summer events in the city.[6] DETROIT -- Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy expanded criminal charges Tuesday against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to include allegations that he lied under oath to cover up affairs with more women than just his former chief of staff, while the mayor called her efforts "a perversion of the law."[16] Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy today amended two criminal charges against Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, accusing the mayor of lying about other previously unreported extramarital affairs.[22]
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick lashed out against Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's investigation against him. He says her case is "going to hell quickly" and it is a "perversion of the law."[21] The dangers of megalomania continue to make themselves evident in the bizarre and irrational behavior of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who pronounced today that Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy's case against him is quickly "going to hell."[23] Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said this morning he thinks Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's investigation against him is 'going to hell quickly' and accused the prosecutor of playing to racism in the region.[13]
DETROIT -- The Wayne County prosecutor's office has amended two criminal counts against Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.[20]
DETROIT -- A Wayne County Court judge threw out a lawsuit filed by an attorney and some city union leaders claiming Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick defrauded taxpayers last year when the city agreed to settle the whistle-blower lawsuit for $8.4 million. Judge Robert J. Columbo threw out the lawsuit, saying the plaintiffs couldn't show enough evidence that they suffered as a result of the lawsuit.[10] DETROIT -- A Wayne County judge said he will decide Wednesday if Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick should be added as a plaintiff to a lawsuit brought by the city of Detroit to halt City Council's forfeiture hearings next month. Attorney William Goodman, who is representing the council, said the change is needed because he fears Kilpatrick may opt not to adhere to any rulings unless he is added as a party. "The mayor is behind the scenes. he is pulling the strings," Goodman argued before Wayne County Judge Robert Ziolkowski on Monday.[11]
DETROIT (AP) - A judge is expected to decide if Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is part of a lawsuit to stop city council forfeiture of office proceedings.[24]
Excerpts of the sexually explicit text messages pointing to an extramarital relationship between Kilpatrick and Beatty first were published by the Detroit Free Press in late January. Those messages were left on Beatty's city-issued pager, contradicted testimony the two had given during the 2007 whistle-blowers' trial, led to Beatty's resignation and eventually to the charges by Worthy. Kilpatrick also is facing forfeiture of office efforts by the Detroit City Council which accuses him of violating the city charter by not revealing a confidentiality agreement linked to the whistle-blowers' settlement. That agreement also referenced the text messages.[4] Defense attorneys still may be able to call the reporters to testify if a criminal case against Kilpatrick and Beatty goes to trial, Thomas and Morganroth said. Kilpatrick and Beatty face a Sept. 22 preliminary examination in Detroit'''s 36th District Court on perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice charges stemming from their testimony in the whistleblower case. They'''re accused of lying about an intimate relationship and their roles in the firing of a police official. Both deny the charges. Earlier this week, the judge in the criminal case ruled that a number of previously unreleased text messages will remain under seal.[25] The text messages between Kilpatrick, Beatty and others are now at the heart of felony criminal charges against the pair pending before Judge Ronald Giles in the city's 36th District Court. "These defendants cannot use the newspaper's efforts to find public records as an opportunity to foray into the newspaper's editorial processes," said James E. Stewart, a lawyer who represents The Detroit News. "They (Kilpatrick and Beatty) would obviously like to sue whoever leaked the text messages. They used the people's money to hush the messages and somebody may have violated that agreement.[19] Wayne Circuit Judge Robert J. Colombo Jr. rejected a bid by lawyers for Kilpatrick, Beatty and the city of Detroit to question under oath reporters of the Detroit Free Press, which in January first published excerpts of text messages sent and received on the city-issued SkyTel pager of Beatty. "This case is about whether this court can order the city to provide text messages," Colombo said.[19] "And that was the case in the 9th Circuit." That's also the case in Detroit, said Herschel Fink, a First Amendment law expert and lawyer for the Detroit Free Press, which first reported the mayor's text messages in January. Fink of Detroit's Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn noted that the city of Detroit has a policy -- signed by the mayor himself -- that puts all city employees on notice that their electronic communications are not private and are a matter of public record. "He's the top guy. It's his policy. He can't disclaim it," said Fink, who believes the 9th Circuit case is far different from the mayor's criminal case. "Its just distinguishable on its facts, particularly the assurance of privacy that was given to the police officers there that wouldn't apply here because of Mayor Kilpatrick's own written policy, which he can hardly claim was contradicted by anyone else," Fink said.[15]
Kilpatrick and Beatty's lawyers contend that the text message leak violated the federal Stored Communications Act. They said after Colombo's ruling that they'll try to question the reporters in the criminal case instead. The mayor and his former staffer have pleaded not guilty to perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice charges stemming from text messages they sent each other on a city pager between 2002 and 2003. The messages seem to indicate they had a romantic relationship, though both denied it under oath in the whistle blower case.[17] Berg declined to comment. Another source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he understood that Granholm contacted Berg in June in hopes of achieving a "global resolution" to the federal corruption probe in city government and the City Council's request that Granholm remove Kwame Kilpatrick from office for his actions in the text message scandal, which have resulted in criminal charges. The source said Berg told Granholm he had to confer with his boss, U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy. After doing so, the source said, Berg told Granholm that if Kwame Kilpatrick wanted to pursue the matter, his lawyers should contact the U.S. Attorney's Office.[9] The expansion is necessary to keep companies participating in the North American Auto Show, according to Deputy Major Anthony Adams and auto show officials. Suzuki Motor Corp. pulled out of the 2009 auto because the space in the center's Michigan Hall did not meet its needs. Kilpatrick said in addition to the governor, he is working with regional officials and will be informing the public about plans for the center in the near future. 'I think we're going to get there, and we're really close on an announcement,' he said. He made no comment regarding the pending city council request before Granholm to remove him from office over the text message scandal or about her attempt to contact the U.S. Attorney's Office about his criminal charges.[26]
SkyTel's practice of permanently archiving all text messages sent and received has provided much of the evidence for the criminal charges Beatty and Kilpatrick now face. • Serenivas Cherukuri, director of the city's ITS (computer) department, also deposed on Thursday, said the SkyTel text pagers used by the mayor's office didn't interlink with city computers so they didn't send or receive e-mail and the city's computers maintained no record of what the SkyTel pagers sent and received. He said the city doesn't monitor the e-mail of about 10,000 users on the city's computer networks, and he estimated it would take more than a month for a technician to search archived e-mails and other electronic document storage areas for references to SkyTel. Cherukuri said he is unaware of any requests to purge e-mail or other files from the city's computers.[19]
The text message excerpts contradicted Kilpatrick's and Beatty's testimony given during a whistle-blowers' trial last summer and eventually led the Wayne County prosecutor to file criminal charges against the pair in March.[18] Later, text messages released to the public revealed an affair. Prosecutors amended two of the 12 criminal counts against Kilpatrick to strengthen their case. Count 6, which is a perjury charge, claims Kilpatrick lied under oath at the whistle-blower trial when he testified that he did not have an extramarital affair with Beatty.[6] The charge was amended to include that Kilpatrick further perjured himself during a three-second question-and-answer period when prosecutors asked him, "You said you don't whore around on your wife?" Kilpatrick's response: "Yes." Prosecutors told Local 4 they now have evidence that Kilpatrick was having an affair with two women at the same time he was dating Beatty. Count 4, which is misconduct in office, alleges Kilpatrick settled the whistle-blower case for $8.4 million with the intention of keeping text messages between him and Beatty private.[6]
The amendments involved only a few words, but an investigator's supplemental report also filed with the court described how close scrutiny of the 625,000 text messages in the case turned up new evidence of other women involved with the mayor. "I was able to determine that defendant number one, Kwame Kilpatrick, sent and received several text messages with intimate or romantic content, to and from females that were not his wife or defendant number two, Christine Beatty," wrote prosecutor's detective Brian White. "These messages contain information which, if revealed, would be extremely embarrassing to the mayor." White explained he used sender names and e-mail accounts associated with the messages to track down and identify other women with whom Kilpatrick allegedly exchanged "intimate or romantic" text messages.[16] The hearings were put in place when the council learned that the mayor settled last year'''s whistleblower lawsuit for $8.4 million with a '''secret deal''' that concealed the existence of indecent text messages between Kwame Kilpatrick and his former Chief of Staff, Christine Beatty.[14] Judge Colombo properly saw through that." Other records released as a result of the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit show Kilpatrick and Beatty signed a secret deal to keep the text messages under wraps as part of the city's $8.4 million settlement of police whistle-blower lawsuits.[19] Kilpatrick is bringing the suit to thwart the council, Goodman said. It is illogical, he said, to allow the city to sue itself. "The one who speaks for the City of Detroit, if it's anybody, is the City Council," Goodman said. Goodman said he is standing for the right of the council to remove a corrupt mayor who he says hoodwinked the council into approving the $8.4-million settlement last year in a police whistle-blower suit. Dillard and Sedler contend they are fighting for the citizens, opposing a council that is twisting the charter to remove Kilpatrick. Goodman said Kilpatrick needs to be named as the client in the case to make sure he is bound by any decisions handed down to Dillard and Sedler. "There's never been anything like this," Dillard told the judge.[27] Tony Rusciano, a lawyer who represents Kilpatrick, convinced the judge to dismiss the case Friday. He argued there was no connection between the city's current financial woes and the settlement. James Thomas, another of Kilpatrick's lawyers in court Friday, said, "Taxes haven't gone up one penny as a result of this." O'Meara had sought on behalf of Detroit's taxpayers, to freeze Kilpatrick's personal assets and the assets of the mayor's legal defense fund, which has raised more than $185,000, according to recently filed documents.[1] Ziolkowski, after extensive legal arguments Monday morning, said he needed the additional time before acting on a request by Bill Goodman, the City Council's special lawyer, to name Kilpatrick as the real client of Godfrey Dillard and Robert Sedler, who filed suit claiming the council's forfeiture efforts are fatally flawed. Sedler, a Wayne State University law professor, and Dillard, a civil rights lawyer, said they represent the City of Detroit -- acting on behalf of the general population to assure the City Charter is followed. Although they were brought on board by the city's Law Department and their suit was approved by the mayor, Dillard said their interest is protecting the charter and not Kilpatrick personally. "We ask this court to stand for the people" rather than the mayor or the council, Dillard told Ziolkowski.[27] The legal power struggle continues over whether the Detroit City Council can move forward with hearings to remove Mayor Kilpatrick from office. Those for & against are set to appear in Wayne County Circuit Court today.[14] Mentioned widely as contenders: Freman Hendrix, who lost to Kilpatrick in 2005; Bella Marshall, Wayne County chief operating officer and wife of entrepreneur Don Barden, and Charles Pugh, a Fox 2 reporter and news anchor. As of Monday, 24 people had picked up petitions to run for mayor and 104 had picked them up for City Council. Kilpatrick, who is wrangling with eight felony charges while he completes his second term in office, said during a February radio interview that he plans to run for re-election in 2009. Denise Tolliver, Kilpatrick's press secretary, said Friday the mayor's response to whether he is running has been -- and continues to be -- that "he's always running for mayor." She declined to comment further. The last time such a who's who of Detroit considered running for mayor so early was the 1993 election, when the anticipated retirement of Mayor Coleman Young after 20 years in office generated massive interest.[12]
In June, the city law department retained civil rights attorney and Wayne State University law professor Robert Sedler to fight the City Council's attempt to remove Kilpatrick from office through a trial-like process called forfeiture. Sedler, who was hired by Johnson, insists he is working for the city, not the mayor. He's expected to charge $300 per hour; his contract hasn't been approved.[7] City Hall attorneys have toiled to help Kilpatrick keep crucial documents secret. Outside legal expertise has been tapped to fight civil lawsuits, repel grassroots recall efforts and to deep-six City Council members' efforts to boot the mayor from office or have the governor do it for them. Toss in a media strategy team from Washington, D.C., headed by former federal prosecutor Judy A. Smith, who counts Monica Lewinsky and former President George H.W. Bush among her past clients, and Kilpatrick has a team of heavy hitters who command respect and hefty paychecks. Whether the mayor can afford this team is under debate. His legal defense fund last week reported having $20,000 after paying three attorneys $165,000. Experts believe his overall defense will run into the millions.[7] DETROIT -- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, confronting legal challenges on at least six fronts, has assembled a huge team of attorneys to fight an array of civil lawsuits and attempts to remove him from office without compromising job one -- defending Kilpatrick on felony charges.[7]
DETROIT -- Attorney Godfrey Dillard is suing the Detroit City Council in efforts to block the Council from holding a forfeiture hearing against Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, but the case does not list Kilpatrick as a plaintiff.[28] Nearly all of the likely candidates, who hail from backgrounds as diverse as business, law enforcement and civil service, say they may run because they want to restore integrity in city government. "If the city is going to survive, it's going to survive because of good people -- quality people who are willing to step up to the plate," said the Rev. Nicholas Hood III, who is strongly considering a run even though his 2001 bid failed. "The stars shine brightest when it's darkest outside." Others who say they may run for mayor, including current Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, include Benny Napoleon, Detroit's former police chief; Dave Bing, a Detroit businessman and former NBA star, and City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr.[12] The Troy City Council awarded only a partial bid for a demolition project to a Detroit contractor and longtime friend of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.[29] Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's father is now being investigated by the FBI. The Detroit City Council meetings have become sideshows.[30]
Previous Text messages remain sealed in Detroit mayor's perjury case Judge continues order barring release of messages to news media or anyone not directly involved with criminal proceedings against Kwame Kilpatrick and his ex-top aide. 06.04.08 Related Officials' text messages can pose FOI dilemma By Melanie Bengtson Scandal involving Detroit mayor illustrates fact that electronic communication remains virtually unmentioned in open-records laws. 04.24.08 News summary page View the latest news stories throughout the First Amendment Center Online.[25] Jim Parkman, one of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's lawyers, cited the ruling last week in a motion to suppress text messages that show that the mayor allegedly lied about an affair, and his alleged role in the firing of a police officer during a 2007 whistleblower trial.[15]
Kilpatrick and Beatty face a Sept. 22 preliminary examination. They are charged with misconduct and obstruction of justice stemming from testimony they gave during the police whistle-blowers' trial. They also are accused of lying about their roles in the firing of a police official. Both have denied any wrongdoing. Excerpts of text messages first published by the Detroit Free Press in January have contradicted their testimony. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.[10] In January, excerpts of sexually explicit text messages were published by the Detroit Free Press that pointed to an extramarital relationship between Kilpatrick and Beatty. Those messages, left on Beatty's city-issued pager, contradicted testimony the two had given during a 2007 police whistle-blowers' trial.[31]
The multifront battle is fraught with pitfalls. For instance, to credibly argue in a civil lawsuit that to publicly release SkyTel text messages would invade his privacy, it would make legal sense for Kilpatrick to admit the messages were his. That admission, if made, while helpful in a public records fight, could be self-defeating in Kilpatrick's criminal case, where the onus is on prosecutors to prove the mayor sent the texts that contradict his sworn testimony in court. [7] '''The issue of a fair trial has to some degree already been threatened.''' It wasn'''t immediately clear when the messages would be unsealed, although Giles said he would rule at a July 25 hearing on what evidence would be admitted for the Sept. 22 preliminary examination. Prosecutors want to make public as part of the court case file a motion containing what they say is about 200 text messages, including some between Kilpatrick and his wife, Carlita.[25]
District Court Judge Ronald Giles said July 14 that text messages that could be subject to a privilege challenge by defense lawyers or that would be inadmissible in a preliminary examination would be sealed and not included in Kilpatrick'''s criminal case file.[25] The ruling allows defense teams to argue which of the new text messages should be included as evidence in the preliminary examination, said Jim Parkman, one of Kilpatrick'''s lawyers. '''We wanted to remain sealed those things that have not gotten out,''' Parkman told reporters outside 36th District Court.[25]
The amended complaint was signed by a district court magistrate and changes a misconduct-in-office charge and one of four perjury charges. The misconduct-in-office charge alleges that Kilpatrick authorized the city to prevent the release of text messages containing intimate or romantic messages to women other than his wife or Beatty. The amended perjury charge accuses Kilpatrick of lying under oath about romantic or sexual relationships with Beatty "and or other persons not his wife."[31] Spokeswoman Maria Miller declined to comment other than to say that one perjury charge was changed to reflect allegations the mayor lied about affairs with 'others.' Also, a misconduct in office charge has been changed to accuse Kilpatrick of cutting a secret settlement to hide his text messages not only to cover-up his lying under oath, but ' as the new information charges ' to keep other embarrassing information in the messages secret.[22] '''We'''re finding new relationships, in terms of the messages, everyday, and more witnesses.''' Moran said earlier this month that the new text messages reveal other extramarital relationships involving Kilpatrick. His office plans to amend at least one of the charges against the mayor due to those new messages, Moran said.[25]
Kilpatrick's office did not return phone calls seeking comment on the amended charges. A few hours before they were filed, Kilpatrick accused prosecutor Kym Worthy of a "personal vendetta." "She has no case, and the city is tired of it," Kilpatrick said after an event promoting Labor Day activities in Detroit. "It's a perversion of the entire system," the mayor said. Worthy said in a statement that she would not respond to Kilpatrick's "personal attacks."[31] Beatty's attorney Mayer Morganroth called the amended charges "a desperation move." "It really doesn't mean much," Morganroth said. "They're trying to do whatever they can to make it appear like they've got something." Marcus Reese, a member of Kilpatrick's Washington D.C. -based public relations team, also claimed in an e-mail that Worthy has devoting a majority of her office's resources to prosecute the mayor. Kilpatrick and his high-priced and high-profile team of lawyers have been verbally sparring with Worthy since his arraignment in March. In a statement released late Tuesday afternoon, Worthy said she would not respond to "Defendant Kilpatrick's personal attacks." She did say that her office has spent about $99,000 prosecuting the embattled mayor and Beatty, and expects that amount to more than double by Sept. 30. "We continue to aggressively pursue all warrants and cases brought to this office by the 90 police agencies we deal with on a regular basis," Worthy said. "This case is but one of the many that we prosecute on a daily basis."[4] Here is a man so full of himself, so overly confident in his value to the city, that he dares cast aspersions on the prosecutor who was only tasked to get involved by Kilpatrick's own spectacular misbehavior. Six months after Kilpatrick's trail of deceit, personal recrimination, manipulation and theft was exposed, he has learned nothing about the dangers of arrogance, the responsibility of leadership, or the meaning of justice. It is still all about him, and in his world, he's still the man. Look closer at what the mayor sputtered during his tirade: What he really believes is that there is an "honorable" way for Worthy and the mayor's lawyers to "come together" and figure out how to end this scandal ' for her to get out from under a costly and supposedly crumbling case and for him to get out of a possible prison term. In slick lawyer-talk, the mayor's diatribe was really a desperate appeal for a plea deal to be worked out before hizzoner gets into court and faces mounds of evidence - much of it still unseen by the public - that will surely make him look every bit the deceiving, manipulative officeholder people suspect him to be. You can bet the house the mayor wasn't just mouthing off; his lawyers almost certainly put him up to his comments, as a way to put pressure on Worthy to deal.[23]
Worthy's spokesperson Maria Miller declined comment on the mayor's assertions when contacted by the Free Press. 'It's just sad,' Kilpatrick said. 'It's sad for this city, because I think the citizens want this over. The mayor said he wants to put the focus back on rebuilding the city. City Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel said after hearing about the mayor's remarks: 'I'm not going to comment on his growing criminal matters. "Kym Worthy is clearly reeling from a string of losses in court, which prompted her to request upwards of a million dollars from a cash-strapped county budget and devote the majority of resources in her office to go after the mayor.[13] Two full years before the election, Dennis Archer, who was in private practice after resigning from the Michigan Supreme Court, was campaigning for a race that eventually included U.S. Rep. John Conyers, well-known attorney Sharon McPhail, now the mayor's general counsel, and Wayne County Commission Chairman Arthur Blackwell II. For Bing, whose disclosure this month in a Free Press exclusive that he was considering a run sparked interest across metro Detroit, no one particular scandalous moment motivated his actions; it was that there were so many. "All of this seems to be happening at once for the first time in the history of the city, and we can't allow ourselves to sit back and let all of these things that are negative come down on us at one time and not do anything," he said.[12] Council lawyer William Goodman argued Monday in Wayne County Circuit Court that two attorneys hired by the city's Law Department to fight forfeiture efforts actually represent Kilpatrick. Godfrey Dillard says Kilpatrick authorized him and attorney Robert Sedler only to protect the city charter.[24]
The text-message excerpts contradicted Kilpatrick'''s and Beatty'''s testimony given during a whistleblowers''' trial last summer and eventually led the Wayne County prosecutor to file criminal charges against the pair in March. This week'''s ruling means '''we cannot and should not depose the reporters,''' Kilpatrick attorney James Thomas said following the hearing. Thomas and Mayer Morganroth, Beatty'''s attorney, had argued the newspapers opened the door to being questioned when they sued for the information.[25] Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is blasting Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, saying the latest acts against him are "desperate and abusive" acts of power. Worthy changed the charges against the mayor, and that could complicate his defense.[21] Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy on March 24 charged Kilpatrick and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty with conspiracy, perjury, obstruction of justice and official misconduct.[7] The response comes as the Wayne County Prosecutor prepares to amend charges against the Mayor and his former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty.[32]
Wayne County Circuit Judge Robert Colombo Jr. dismissed a lawsuit Friday claiming that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former aide Christine Beatty defrauded taxpayers.[33] DETROIT -- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said today that he plans to meet with Gov. Jennifer Granholm this week to discuss the expansion of the Cobo Center in anticipation of a future announcement. Kilpatrick didn't say specifically when he would meet with Granholm but gave credit to Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, whom he said has been meeting with the governor as well as state legislators about expansion plans.[34]
Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm used poor judgment and may have compromised her ability to preside over removal proceedings for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick by asking federal prosecutors for guidance, some legal and political experts said Friday.[8] Gov. Jennifer Granholm called a top federal prosecutor to inquire about the strength of the government's ongoing investigation of Bernard Kilpatrick, the father of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, sources said Friday.[9]
There's a long list of things you can read about that would further update you on the saga of embattled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, the alleged freaky tales caught on text, the demand by half the city for him to resign, not to mention the foundation he's managed to build despite the trouble he's been in for practically his entire tenure in City Hall.[35] Is Detroit dying? Between indicted Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, an FBI probe of the City Council and a school district on the brink of insolvency, it's hard to say no.[36] Last week's shouting match between City Council members and mayoral appointees looked a lot like anarchy. It was brought on by public officials who are all about serving themselves, rather than their people. Kwame Kilpatrick once promised to leave a legacy as the boy wonder who gave Detroit back its dream. Now, his stubborn refusal to step aside despite facing perjury and corruption charges has assured he will be remembered as the man who strangled a city.[37] '''There are the ones that have already been out there. People can read them over again.''' In addition to the criminal charges, Kilpatrick faces forfeiture of office efforts by the Detroit City Council, which accuses him of violating provisions in the city charter by keeping secret a confidentiality agreement related to the whistleblowers''' settlement.[25] The question is whether or not the Detroit City Council still has the moral authority to conduct hearings to remove Mayor Kilpatrick from office as word of the FBI probe of the City Council is now public.[14] Instead it lists the city of Detroit. City Council attorney Bill Goodman said he believes that the omission of Kilpatrick's name hides who is really behind the lawsuit. "It's really the mayor behind the scenes -- pulling the strings and saying the council's actions are inappropriate," he said.[28] City attorneys have fought to keep documents secret, while outside lawyers have been called on to fight civil lawsuits and efforts by city leaders to remove Mayor Kilpatrick from office.[38] Instead Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been represented by at least 17 public and private attorneys since last year. Their mission is to fight a series of civil lawsuits and attempts to remove the Mayor from office.[38]
Council also said it would delay the $3 million sale of the closed Brodhead Armory near Belle Isle, saying it wanted to see a development plan, The News reported. Sheila Cockrel said Thursday she had received an unsigned letter accusing the developers of paying Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's father, Bernard Kilpatrick, up to $100,000 in consulting fees to help win the support of the Kilpatrick administration for the project, the Detroit Free Press reported.[39] Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick holds a news conference to respond to the news that he and his former Chief of Staff are being charged with a 12-count felony complaint March 24, 2008 in Detroit, Michigan.[40] "I'm hoping that whoever comes along is someone who wants the job, not just to be there one term." "This is a significant level of individuals that are out here," Eric Foster, a political consultant with the Detroit-based Urban Consulting Group, said of the potential 2009 field. "You really have some good options if the citizens of Detroit decide they want to go in a new direction." Cockrel, who has spent nearly 11 years on the council, said the text message scandal prompted him to think more about running for mayor, but reiterated that "my thinking on the subject. predates our current mayor's scandal by a long time." It is unclear how the Synagro scandal -- in which Cockrel's chief of staff, John Clark, resigned after getting caught on surveillance video allegedly accepting cash related to the contract -- would affect Cockrel's prospects. Although Cockrel has said the FBI has told him he is not a target -- and Cockrel voted no on the contract -- seeing his longtime top aide at the center of the scandal could be damaging, Foster said.[12] A Wayne County judge ruled Thursday that the embattled Detroit mayor and his ex-chief of staff can't force reporters to reveal how they obtained the former couple's flirtatious text messages.[17]
Boyd declined to comment further. Granholm is a former federal prosecutor in Detroit and the former state attorney general, where Berg served on her staff. She also worked with Bernard Kilpatrick in the administration of the late Wayne County Executive Ed McNamara.[9] The mailing appears to have been sent to registered voters, which number close to 610,000, according to City Clerk Janice Winfrey. Kilpatrick recently has used Impact Strategies L.L.C., a Washington, D.C. -based crisis-management firm for public relations, especially since the onset of the “textgate” scandal, which led to his being charged with perjury by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.[41] Maria Miller, spokeswoman for Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, whose office charged the mayor and Beatty, wouldn't comment on Granholm's call to Berg.[9]
In March, Worthy charged Kilpatrick and Beatty with multiple counts of perjury, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and misconduct in office. Today's action does not add more criminal counts against Kilpatrick; rather, it was to reflect that prosecutors believe they have uncovered more evidence of perjury and misconduct amid their review of thousands of text messages obtained with search warrants as part of the investigation. Those messages have not been released to the public.[22] '''There are a lot of text messages attached, definitely in the hundreds, if not in the thousands,''' Giles told Assistant Prosecutor Robert Moran. '''This is still a preliminary examination. Moran countered that all the messages relate to the charges against Kilpatrick and Beatty and that prosecutors anticipate challenges to some of them. '''There is a lot of evidence in this case,''' Moran said.[25]
The top priority is to defend Mayor Kilpatrick against felony charges, related to the text message scandal.[38] The Motor City's embattled mayor, who is embroiled in a scandal in which text-messaging triggered criminal charges against him, is seeking refuge in a recent federal appeals court ruling in California. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last month that a wireless phone company violated federal law when it released a police officer's text messages -- some of them sexually explicit -- to his employer.[15]
The interest in serving city government, or fixing it, is not limited to the top job, but includes people considering runs for City Council, especially with federal authorities probing the council's handling of a sludge recycling contract. Former Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown, who was at the center of last summer's whistle-blower trial that led to the text message scandal, continues his quest to find a slate of potential council candidates to run with him.[12] The mayor faces ouster by the City Council for allegedly misleading members about the settlement that had a secret provision to conceal explosive text messages between himself and Beatty. O'Meara has a motion pending to amend his complaint to obtain standing.[33] The mayor asked the City Council to settle the case but never told it about the text messages.[9]
The Detroit City Council has said it was kept in the dark about the side deal, and Worthy has said the messages show the mayor and Beatty lied under oath at the trial. Giles said Monday he reviewed all of the messages and found many are of the same nature as those leaked and published in January.[2] A jury awarded two cops $6.5 million, a verdict the mayor promised to appeal. He abruptly settled with those cops and another officer for $8.4 million last October when he learned the cops' lawyer had obtained text messages from the mayor and Beatty that contradicted their trial testimony and exposed their affair.[9] A fourth criminal defense attorney, William Mitchell III of Mitchell & Lord in Southfield, withdrew from the case, Parkman said. Worthy said she may call Mitchell as a witness to testify about his role in retrieving the damaging text messages from a bank safety deposit box on behalf of the mayor. Mitchell revealed on July 9 he gave the messages to prominent Virginia lawyer William B. Moffitt.[7]
The focus at Campus Martius was supposed to be on "3 Days in the D," a combination of festivals showcasing fast cars, hot music, great food and cool art that will enliven the Motor City over Labor Day weekend. As jazz played in the background, reporters swarmed around Kilpatrick before and after a press conference, peppering him with questions about the ongoing investigation. "She's definitely trying to poison the jury pool," he said of Worthy. "Her hope is that the racism of this region will convict me." Hinting that Worthy may not be doing her job in her pursuit of him, Kilpatrick said her office has issued less homicide and armed robbery warrants. "Her entire staff, over a million dollars is being put into this case," he said. Maria Miller, spokeswoman for Worthy, said her office had no comment on Kilpatrick's criticism. Kilpatrick called Worthy's actions "sad for the city," and insisted that citizens just want this over with. "I think there's an honorable way for her and our lawyers to come together and figure out a way to stop all this nonsense," he said.[16] Previously Dillard, and Wayne State University professor Robert Sedler, who has also been hired as co-counsel, have said the City Council did not follow the procedure outlined in the City Charter when it began the process to remove Kilpatrick from office. They also argue that the only reasons a mayor can be removed is if he no longer lived in the city or has been convicted of a felony, both of which have not happened. They say they believe a super-majority is needed to begin forfeiture proceedings and not the 5-4 vote the council took to being the process. The City Council has not approved the contracts for Sedler and Dillard and they have not been paid. They were hired by the city Law Department.[11] In May, the City Council asked Granholm to remove Kilpatrick from office for not informing the council about the texts. That proceeding is in its early stages.[9]
Most analysts said Cockrel would become one of the top-tier candidates if Kilpatrick resigns or is removed from office, making Cockrel the interim mayor. Running as council president, particularly with the Synagro scandal, would be more difficult in such a star-studded field, they said. The number of quality candidates circulating their names shows a consensus in the city that someone has to stand up to Kilpatrick and defeat him, said the AFSCME's Wilson, whose union endorsed Hendrix in 2005. Wilson has called for Kilpatrick to resign and is supporting an effort to recall him. "Anybody that's ever thought they should be the mayor, now's the time they should consider running," said Wilson. "I think that folks are of the belief that he's beatable."[12] An additional hearing will be scheduled to determine whether or not the Detroit'''s City Council, under the City Charter, actually has the right to remove the mayor from office for anything other than a felony conviction or lack of qualifications.[14] The judge ruled during a hearing Thursday morning related to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought against the city by The Detroit News, Free Press, and joined by the Detroit City Council.[19] Colombo also ruled that how the text messages were obtained isn't relevant to efforts by the Free Press and The Detroit News to get documents linked to an $8.4 million whistle-blowers' settlement.[18] Editor's Note: NLJ reporter Tresa Baldas is married to Detroit Free Press reporter M.L. Elrick, one of two reporters who broke the text message story and continues to cover the mayor.[15]
The Wayne County prosecutor'''s office wanted the new messages released to the public. Giles did say he intended to release a number of text messages that previously have surfaced in news-media reports. He said the release of those messages would not present any further harm to the defendants''' right to a fair trial. '''For the most part those text messages are already out there,''' Giles said. [25] Experts say the multifaceted legal effort -- involving at least 17 public and private attorneys since 2007 -- is almost unprecedented and is all the more remarkable because no single attorney is choreographing the effort. "It's inordinately large," Gary M. Wilson, a Wayne County assistant prosecutor from 1988-92 and now a private attorney in Grosse Pointe Farms, said of the mayor's legal roster.[7] Colombo said Detroit attorney Corbett Edge O'Meara and his clients lacked the proper legal standing to bring the case, ruling they had not shown more than generalized possible harm when the mayor allegedly engineered the $8.4-million settlement of a police whistle-blower suit last year.[33] Taking a look under the microscope the Detroit News found that three of more than 30 companies & individuals who'''ve contributed to Mayor Kilpatrick's legal defense fund owe in excess of $820,000 in state and federal taxes.[14]
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick said today he plans to meet with Gov. Jennifer Granholm this week about his plans for the expansion of the Cobo Center in Detroit.[26] Mayor Kilpatrick says the Prosecutor has a personal Vendetta. Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has accused the prosecutor of engaging in a "personal vendetta" in trying to convict him on perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice charges.[5]
The 38-year-old married mayor has already been accused of lying about an intimate relationship with then-Chief of Staff Christine Beatty. Kilpatrick and Beatty also are accused of lying about their roles in the firing of a police official. Both deny the charges and face a September 22, 2008 preliminary examination.[5] The amendments do not provide any details about the other affairs or embarrassing information. The Free Press reported in January that Kilpatrick and his then-chief of staff, Christine Beatty, lied under oath last summer during a police whistle blower trial when they denied their sexual relationship and gave misleading testimony about the firing of a police official.[22] Bobby Ferguson's company, Ferguson Enterprises Inc. -- which came under scrutiny in April after the Free Press questioned whether Ferguson received favors from Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff Christine Beatty to gut the Book-Cadillac Hotel -- will demolish only one of three buildings necessary for parkland expansion.[29]
"Kilpatrick immediately authorized settlement of the lawsuit. His motivation for the settlement was to prevent the release of the text messages that show he not only lied under oath about his sexual and or romantic relationship with Christine Beatty and others, but also with corrupt motive of preventing the release of the information that would be embarrassing to him." [16] The electronic messages indicate Kilpatrick and Beatty may have lied under oath during the lawsuit trial to cover actions taken to fire former Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown and to hide an affair.[19] The latest set of messages is much larger than the original set obtained by lawyers last year for a police whistle-blower lawsuit trial that resulted in an $8.4 million settlement with a secret side deal to keep the messages hushed.[2] The lawsuit seeks all records related to the $8.4 million settlement of two police whistle-blower lawsuits in 2007.[19]
One of the plaintiffs identified in Corbett's lawsuit is John Riehl, a Detroit Water and Sewerage Department employee and president of AFSME Local 207. Riehl said workers have seen the cost of benefits increase and they face the threat of layoffs due to the city's financial problems, which he said were made worse by the settlement. "We believe, and it was explained to us during negotiations, that the financial problems were the reason we were forced to accept these changes," Riehl said. "That is directly related to the mayor squandering millions on settlements that benefited him personally."[1]
"Making Detroit a safe city needs to be the No. 1 priority of the mayor," said Napoleon, an assistant Wayne County executive. Neither Pugh nor Hendrix would confirm he has plans to run. Both said that they are focusing solely on their jobs.[12] O'Meara is the son of U.S. District Judge John Corbett O'Meara and is a candidate for one of three open seats on Wayne County Circuit Court. O'Meara has distributed campaign literature that advertises his involvement in the lawsuit and his claims that he is working on behalf of all Detroit taxpayers.[1] A preliminary examination is set for Sept. 22, when Giles will decide if there is enough evidence to order Kilpatrick and Beatty to stand trial in Wayne County Circuit Court. They could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.[2] Judge Robert Ziolkowski will rule on the motion Wednesday. Kilpatrick faces a Sept. 22 preliminary examination in district court on perjury and other charges stemming from testimony he gave at the whistle-blowers' trial. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.[28] U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen, who presided over that trial, said at a recent hearing that Thomas is one of the three best attorneys practicing in federal court in Detroit. Thomas said the size of the mayor's team is "commensurate with the resources against him."[7]
That it not true, countered Godfrey Dillard, a Detroit civil rights attorney hired to stop the forfeiture process, scheduled to start Aug. 18. "This may benefit the mayor more, but it is also for the citizens of the city," Dillard said, noting the hearings would tramp on the rights of residents to recall the mayor via a special election.[11]
In other places, the City Council might be counted on to offer stability when a mayor stumbles. This is Detroit, and the Detroit City Council on its best day barely rises above inept.[37] Instead of putting out the fire, the council poured on fuel by getting itself entangled in a federal bribery probe. The council can't very well yank the mayor for corruption when some of its members may be heading to the courthouse with him. While City Hall is burning, no one seems to notice that the Detroit school board is at war with its newly hired superintendent. The school district has mismanaged its finances so thoroughly that it is just a bounced check or two away from insolvency.[37]
"The slate has to bring a combination of different skills and make an impact quickly -- I mean in four years." Another well-known candidate for council is John Bennett, a Detroit police officer who runs the popular Detroit Uncovered Web site that rails against the city's leadership and offers news and gossip about City Hall and the Police Department.[12]
The police whistle-blowers lawsuit was settled out of court after a Detroit police officer said he was fired for investigating wrongdoing by Kilpatrick.[10] Goodman said that by not putting Kilpatrick's name down as the plaintiff, he wouldn't be bound by a judge's decision. Dillard said the lawsuit was filed on behalf of Detroit citizens and he is litigating to uphold the council's charter.[28] Throwing out wild accusations, trying to disqualify an entire bench of Detroit judges and hiding behind your staff are all clear signs of desperation on the part of the prosecutor." Kilpatrick said he is continuing to do his job in the midst of the controversy. 'We've been able to deal with a $300-million problem in the budget, so I'm just thankful to God to still be able to wake up in the morning, kiss my wife, hug my children and do my job,' he said.[13] Throwing out wild accusations, trying to disqualify an entire bench of Detroit judges and hiding behind your staff are all clear signs of desperation on the part of the prosecutor." Stay with Action News and WXYZ.com for more on this breaking news.[21]
"I think the prosecutor's case is going to hell quickly," Kilpatrick said during a news conference before addressing upcoming Labor Day celebrations at Campus Martius Park. "I think she knows it, and I think that she's on the verge of committing some real prosecutorial misconduct. "I think that it's only now out of personal motives. there's no justice involved," Kilpatrick continued. "It's a perversion of the law." [16] Mayor Kilpatrick also seemed to insinuate that the Prosecutor's criminal case amounts to a personal vendetta.[32]
Defense lawyers for Kilpatrick and Beatty have argued that the messages were doctored or faked, that their actual senders couldn't be verified, that the prosecutor obtained them with improper search warrants and that they should be kept from the public because they are protected by federal privacy laws.[2] On Wednesday the controversy gets deeper with a judge deciding which lawyer gets to represent the city. What this means is that this scandal has reached a point where the city government is spending boatloads of taxpayer dollars over freaky text messages.[35] Text messages aside, federal agents are investigating a city sludge recycling deal with Synagro Technologies Inc. that the council approved late last year.[12]
According to court documents, the employer targeted in the California case -- the Ontario, Calif., Police Department -- had a policy that communications on company-supplied equipment were subject to review and not private. It also, however, allowed officers to avoid audits if they personally paid for text messaging overages. The court held that, given that policy, the police officer had an expectation of privacy, and that his employer wrongfully ignored it. That does not mean that employers can't audit employee's text messages, said Jane Lewis Volk of Pittsburgh's Meyer, Unkovic & Scott, who advises employers on privacy and employment law issues. She views the ruling as "a good solid warning" to employers to have a no-privacy policy that notifies employees that their text messages can be viewed or monitored by the employer.[15] Several labor and employment attorneys and privacy law experts believe the 9th Circuit ruling is too case-specific to offer blanket privacy protection to employee text messages. "Private employers should not be looking at this decision as the death knell for their monitoring policies," said Brian Hall, a management-side attorney at Columbus, Ohio's Porter Wright Morris & Arthur. "I think that those were pretty specific facts in that case," Hall said.[15] Like employment attorneys, Dobbins doesn't view the 9th Circuit ruling as a blanket prohibition on text-message auditing in the workplace. "I don't think employees should feel confident that no matter what they do that it will remain private because I don't think the opinion goes that far, by any means," Dobbins said. The opinion does warn employers that if they do have a no-privacy policy that subjects text messages to audits, they had better stick to it. "One of the problems that employers have run into is that they have a policy, but they don't follow it," Dobbins said.[15]
Excerpts of embarrassing and sexually explicit text messages left on Beatty'''s city-issued pager first were published in January by the Free Press. [25] The Free Press has not said how it obtained excerpts of the text messages it published in late January.[18]
More than a year before Detroit's mayoral election, many high-profile candidates are strongly considering a run for the job, unusually early because of the text message scandal.[12]
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A 36-page glossy brochure chronicling Detroit under Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was received last week in the mail at Detroit homes. [41] No question the legal battle is on and Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has a legal defense fund that many people and area businesses have contributed to.[14] Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick stands accused of perjury, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and misconduct.[12]
Beatty and Kilpatrick have been charged with 12 felony counts, including perjury and misuse of office. Their preliminary exam is scheduled for September in 36th District Court. Ziolkowski said he will take the next two days to read various related cases and review the arguments before making a ruling. [11] Just hours after his statements Tuesday, 36th District Court Magistrate Robert Costello signed an amended criminal complaint intended to bolster felony perjury and misconduct in office charges against Kilpatrick.[16] Top legal firms from Illinois, Alabama and Michigan are representing Kilpatrick on perjury and other criminal charges.[7]
Kilpatrick said upcoming summer events and the city's plan for Labor Day weekend, including the Jazz Fair, Grand Prix and State Fair, will be great for the city. As Kilpatrick continued about his mayoral duties, Worthy was busy working on rewording amended charges against him, including allegations of additional affairs and further misconduct in office.[6] Period. That may mean accepting some sort of plea on the mayor's part. (It seems unlikely, though, that she'd allow a plea to a misdemeanor, meaning Kilpatrick would still wind up with a felony on his record and, thankfully, have to leave office.) Or it may mean prosecuting the case to the bitter end, where a jury will decide Kilpatrick's (and possibly Worthy's) fate.[23] James Canning, Kilpatrick's deputy press secretary, said the brochure did not originate in the mayor's office and was not paid for with public money. He was unable to get answers Friday from Kilpatrick. “It is an accurate portrayal and we do like the piece.[41]
The investigation is part of a broader city government bribery probe that resulted in federal wiretaps of the mayor's father, Bernard Kilpatrick, a former county official who runs a consulting firm.[8] Unclear is why Granholm was interested in the federal investigation of the mayor's father, whose phones were wiretapped by the FBI from June 2007 to April 2008 as part of a far-reaching investigation into city contracts. Her inquiry has triggered a debate about the motivations for her call.[9] A waste contract approved last year by the Detroit City Council is under federal investigation.[7]
Council accuses Kilpatrick of not disclosing a confidentiality agreement linked to an $8.4 million whistle-blowers' settlement. [28] Some is not. Lansing attorney Alan Canady, who served as Kilpatrick's chief of staff when he was in the state House, is leading the legal fight against voter recall efforts. Canady said he is being paid from Kilpatrick's campaign fund.[7] Just last week the Mayor's legal defense fund reported having $20,000, after paying three attorneys $165,000.[38]
A media strategy team from Washington, DC is also helping the mayor. The Detroit News reports there is some debate as to whether the Mayor can pay for his legal defense.[38] The printer was Detroit-based Inland Press, part of Detroit Legal News Publishing L.L.C. Brad Thompson II, president and CEO, declined to discuss who ordered the brochures or how many were printed.[41]
Laurie Levenson, a legal ethicist at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and a former federal prosecutor, said Granholm could have been trying to avoid the difficult choice about ousting Kilpatrick: "Politicians, by definition, try to avoid the uncomfortable decision." [9] The allegations have led the prosecutor's office to amend current misconduct-in-office and perjury charges against the 38-year-old mayor. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.[40] Kilpatrick and Beatty were charged in March with perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice. Both deny the charges and face a preliminary examination in September.[31] Kilpatrick and Beatty are charged with perjury and related felonies in connection with the whistle-blower suit.[33]
Thursday's ruling means "we cannot and should not depose the reporters," Kilpatrick attorney James Thomas said following the hearing. Thomas and Mayer Morganroth, Beatty's attorney, had argued the newspapers opened the door to being questioned when they sued for the information.[18] Granholm's spokesman, Liz Boyd, said late Friday: "The governor has not had discussions with anyone about Bernard Kilpatrick, not the FBI, not the U.S. Attorney's Office. "The suggestion that she has is wrong."[9] The council also has asked Gov. Jennifer Granholm to remove Kilpatrick from office for misconduct.[4]
Bill Goodman, the council's lawyer in the removal proceedings, said Granholm's call shouldn't affect the governor's proceedings to oust the mayor. He said he did not think she was trying to dodge her obligations.[9] Either way, Worthy's actions won't likely be diverted by the mayor's jabbering. He and his lawyers, who are increasingly making their points in the same, public way they accuse Worthy of plying her case, are really just a distraction at this point.[23] Fine. That's their job. The mayor's gift of gab (no one in this town can buffalo a crowd as well as he can) made it all seem so confident, so pointed. Worthy has a job, too ' to ensure that the crimes she believes were committed (eight of them, in the mayor's case) are met with some measure of justice.[23]
Detroiters need to march down to City Hall and drag the rascals out. It's maddening that six months into this unnatural disaster there's still no credible recall drive underway to get rid of the mayor quickly and cleanly.[37] With all of the money being squandered by what appears to be an inept school board and a superintendent in over her head, it is no wonder why more charter schools want to educate the kids in Detroit. There needs to be some accountability for the injustice of the undereducating and underachieving of Detroit's young minds. Parents should not have to speak with their feet by moving out of the city or seeking alternative educational options for their kids when the Detroit Public Schools is obligated to serve them.[30]
The possibility that so many major figures will run is exciting, but emphasis on personalities cannot be allowed to overwhelm the major issues facing the city, said Frank Nemecek, president of the Warrendale Community Organization on the city's west side. "Hopefully, there will be a very candid discussion about police response time and core city services," he said. Napoleon, who ran against Kilpatrick in 2005 but didn't make it out of the primary, said Nemecek's concerns, particularly those about public safety, are foremost on his agenda. Napoleon said he has spent time listening to residents, community activists and business leaders who want concrete solutions to the city's crime issues.[12] On the witness stand during the civil lawsuit trial last summer Stefani asked Kilpatrick, "You said you don't whore around on your wife?" Kilpatrick answered, "Yes."[16] "Kilpatrick's other legal battles are enormously complicated by the criminal charges."[7] At the news conference, Kilpatrick accused Worthy of trying to 'poison the jury pool' through the media. 'Her hopes is that the racism of this region will convict me instead of the issues of the law and justice,' he said.[13] City: Orange County, N.C. The big news this past weekend was an interview Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki gave to Der Spiegel in which he effectively endorsed Barack Obama's plan to pull out the troops within 16 months. He said: "So far the Americans have had trouble agreeing to a concrete timetable for withdrawal, because they feel it would appear tantamount to an admission of defeat. That isn't the case at all.[30] The mayor also said and that Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano has been meeting with the governor and state legislators regarding state funding for the project.[26]
Giles told defense lawyers there was no reason to keep secret messages that the public has already read. The judge also said special privacy privileges apply to some -- like conversations between spouses or discussions with lawyers -- and he agreed to hold them under seal after next week's hearing. [2] Colombo agreed to set another hearing on Aug. 8, where the judge will consider more evidence that shows city workers have suffered because of the settlement.[10]
Webb, a former U.S. attorney who locked up corrupt Chicago-area judges, is best known for defending former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, convicted in 2006 of corruption charges.[7] Webb also has represented Microsoft Corp. and General Electric Co. Parkman was called in late to help defend an Alabama millionaire, Richard Scrushy, against corporate fraud charges. Millions were spent on East Coast attorneys before Parkman joined the case, and in 2005 he helped get Scrushy acquitted and hand the U.S. Justice Department a rare defeat in its prosecution of alleged corporate fraud.[7]
Giles will deal with the broader issue of whether any of the text messages can be used as evidence at a hearing Sept. 2. [2]
SOURCES
1. Lawsuit against mayor rejected
2. Judge given lists that identify text messages
3. Prosecutor Seeks Changes To Mayor Charges || WXYZ.com | WXYZ-TV / Detroit | Detroit News, Weather, Sports and More
4. Prosecutor amends charges against Detroit mayor -- chicagotribune.com
5. Charges Against Mayor Amended | My TV20 Detroit Detroit, MI | My News
6. Kilpatrick Says Case Is Now Prosecutor's 'Personal Vendetta' - Detroit News Story - WDIV Detroit
7. Mayor Kilpatrick builds huge defense team
8. Granholm's call in scandal debated | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
9. Sources say Gov. asked feds about mayor's dad | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
10. Judge Tosses Lawyer's Lawsuit Against Kilpatrick - Detroit News Story - WDIV Detroit
11. Lawyer seeks to add Detroit mayor as plaintiff in forfeiture case
12. Already, many potential mayors for 2009 race | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
13. With case 'going to hell quickly,' Kilpatrick accuses Worthy of using area's racism against him | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
14. Dismissal of Mayor Goes Before Judge Today | My TV20 Detroit Detroit, MI | My News
15. Legal Technology - Detroit Mayor Seeks Refuge in 'Texting' Case
16. Worthy expands Kilpatrick charges
17. Untitled
18. Judge blocks questioning of Detroit reporters - NewsFlash - mlive.com
19. Judge: It's 'irrelevant' to question reporters about obtaining Kilpatrick texts
20. WOODTV.com & WOOD TV8: Grand Rapids news, weather, sports and video | Prosecutor amends charges against Detroit mayor
21. Worthy Amends Charges Against Mayor || WXYZ.com | WXYZ-TV / Detroit | Detroit News, Weather, Sports and More
22. Worthy: Kilpatrick lied about other affairs | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
23. FreepOpinion: Hizzoner speaks on honor | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
24. Judge to rule on Kilpatrick's role in lawsuit - NewsFlash - mlive.com
25. firstamendmentcenter.org: news
26. Kilpatrick to meet with Granholm on Cobo expansion | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
27. Decision due Wednesday in tangled mayoral lawyer case | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
28. Lawyers Banter Over Council Forfeiture Lawsuit Name - Detroit News Story - WDIV Detroit
29. Kilpatrick friend gets partial bid for Troy demolitions | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
30. Blogs hit schools, Iraq, reform
31. The Associated Press: Detroit mayor accused of texting additional women
32. Mayor: Worthy's Case "Going To Hell' || WXYZ.com | WXYZ-TV / Detroit | Detroit News, Weather, Sports and More
33. Suit claiming fraud by mayor, Beatty dismissed | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
34. Kilpatrick will meet with Granholm on Cobo expansion
35. NBA Great Could Take Over Detroit, Kwame's Job - Black Voices Blogs
36. Is Detroit dying? (And other questions on a Sunday) - Capitol Chronicles - Susan Demas - MLive.com
37. Don't let Detroit die without a fight
38. Heavy Hitters Defend Mayor || WXYZ.com | WXYZ-TV / Detroit | Detroit News, Weather, Sports and More
39. WEEK IN REVIEW: Federal grand jury to probe Synagro deal - Crain's Detroit Business
40. Detroit mayor accused of texting additional women - California Central Coast News KCOY CBS Channel 12 Santa Maria San Luis Obispo Santa Barbara
41. Nice brochure on Kwame . who wrote it? - Crain's Detroit Business
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