Another Sexting Scandal in Detroit?

I wonder if the extent, scope and breadth of the casual culture of corruption that existed among the black elite during the Kilpatrick years will ever be completely known to the public. Kwame Kilpatrick's text messages appear to be offering another window on the kinds of shenanigans he was getting up to. The Detroit News is reporting today on the revelation of a relationship of a personal nature between Kwame Kilpatrick and Sheryl Robinson Wood, a partner in Venable LLP, a business law firm based in Baltimore and with offices in D.C. and elsewhere. Wood was the monitor of a consent decree entered into between the City of Detroit and the Justice Department regarding problems with the Detroit criminal justice system's handling of prisoners. Reportedly paid $287.00/hr, Wood was paid $10 million dollars through 2006 for her work as monitor of the consent decree.

Kilpatrick lobbied hard for the appointment of Wood to the monitor position, according to City Council members. The text messages, which have not been released to the public, reportedly indicate an inappropriate personal relationship between Wood and Kilpatrick and some exchange of information regarding the litigation surrounding the consent decree. References to going to dinner are apparently included in the texts.

The text messages are in the possession of the U.S. Dept. of Justice and confirm that there is an ongoing federal investigation into Kilpatrick and corruption and I'm willing to bet right now that this is not going to be the only shady set of circumstances to emerge from that investigation. The texts and apparently statements and admissions from Wood herself appear to be pretty damning. According to the Maryland Monitor;

"In an order filed Friday, Judge Julian Abele Cook Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan wrote that he had learned through “certain documents” and a subsequent conversation with Robinson Wood that she “had engaged in conduct which was totally inconsistent with the terms and conditions of the two Consent Judgments in this litigation.”

“Specifically, it has now become readily apparent to the Court that the Monitor had engaged in undisclosed communications, as well as meetings of a personal nature, with the former City of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick during the term of the Consent Judgments, which included inappropriate discussions with him about this lawsuit,” Cook wrote. “Under these circumstances, the Court finds that it is absolutely necessary to suspend all monitoring of this case immediately.”

This looks as though it may be another scandal replete with the same sort of tawdry elements that were present in the relationship of Christine Beatty and Kilpatrick. If so, it will be another cautionary tale for professional black women about the decisions they make and could become a story every bit as tragic in terms of its impact on a family. Ms. Wood is married to Wesley Wood, a business owner and candidate for the State House in the 44th District of Maryland. They have two young children. Like Beatty, this may end up another case where we are left wondering, "what was she thinking" and "what the heck was Kilpatrick doing to make educated, intelligent, married, professional black women with young children behave so foolishly?".

However, those questions are really only the titillating eye candy on the surface of this mess. The real question that should be raised is how black electorates in Detroit and elsewhere seem unable to muster the will to hold accountable in any way elected officials they know are dirty.

What Fate Beatty?

Whats your your opinion on Beatty?

This is the portrait of a woman staring up at the world from the bottom of a very deep, dark place. Kwame Kilpatrick cut a deal this past Thursday, negotiating a plea agreement that lands him in jail for four months, on probation thereafter, and requires a million in restitution. He's made his deal. Christine Beatty, his former lover and co-defendant, has nothing. No deal, and quite possibly no remaining cards to play. We have urged Ms. Beatty repeatedely to run, not walk, run, to Kim Worthy's office and cut a deal for immunity while she still had time and bargaining chips. Alas, she never took our advice, and now she is paying the price, mega big time. I look at this picture and I think almost anyone feels some degree of compassion for Beatty. Then I think about it a little and my heart hardens. Foolish woman! What have you been thinking? Were you really so blinded with love for this thug that you could not act in your own self interest? Linking your criminal case to his, being defended by the same firm. Right from the very get go, you lost your job while he kept his. He made it abundantly clear that however much he may have liked you, he was not letting go of his wife or his family. Were you so enamored of him that you could not see the momentum building towards his eventual defeat? Were you so hopeful that your continued silence that helped shield him would someday be rewarded with his love that you could not recognize the erosion of your own position? Your marriage is over, his stands intact, for what its worth. A commenter at the Free Press, ricky234 put it well;

"He [Kwame] didn't throw her under the bus. She is lying down in the street waiting for it to run her over. She could have cut a great deal by turning on Kwami but NO, her love for him prevented that. But now that Kwami's love for his wife is stronger than ever (at least that is what he says) she is left hung out to dry. She put herself in this position, she put Kwami before her children. She put Kwami before her freedom."

According to the Freep, Beatty has another week to strike a possible deal to settle the perjury, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office charges that could put her in prison for up to 15 years. At this point, I don't know that she has much to bargain with. Assuming her lawyer is of any real use, there may perhaps be some compelling reason why they did not seek to cut a separate deal for themselves before Kwame cut his own and removed a great deal of any leverage she may have had. When Granholm announced she was proceeding with the hearings, that should have been a wake up call. Maybe Prosecutor Worthy has more than enough evidence to have her way in court with all of them and therefore Beatty's info was not all that valuable anyway, if she could not give them anything they did not already have.

Beatty is on the short end of the stick in a sex and corruption scandal in which as a woman, many can argue, she got the very worst of it all while the man who used her suffered much less. I met Beatty during my years in Detroit back in the heady early years of the Kilpatrick reign. She and the rest of them were always a bit drunk with the wine of power and influence, but for all that, she was human enough. She has and is paying a high and painful price for years of truly bad decisions that have cost a marriage, her finanancial security, her reputation and quite possibly her freedom and time with her two children. Her crimes seem borne more of utter foolishness over a man who is a master manipulater than malice, so in the end, I'll hope for her sake that she can yet find a soft landing. I'd say she should find a ghostwriter and start working on the memoir now. She's going to need the money.

Whats your your opinion on Beatty? Do you feel sorry for her a little, or is it all just desserts? Unfair, or to be expected?

Kwame's Out - Top Staff Bailing

Kwame Kilpatrick entered pleaded guilty to felony charges in his perjury case and no contest in his assault case. His plea requires his resignation, which he has tendered effective Sept. 18th. He has to pay a million dollars restitution, probation for five years and he will be disbarred. With this plea deal, at least one portion of this sad saga comes to an end.

Now comes the fallout. Within hours of the announcement of his plea deal and resignation, Police Chief Ella Bully Cummings announced her resignation. I always liked Ella and she was easy to look at. I was dissapointed by the fact that she lied for Kwame on command as well, most notably in the Navigator scandal. With Kwame's exit, she bails, presumably before Cockrel gives her the axe. Also announcing her departure is Sharon McPhail. This woman is a real piece of work. Kwame lied with dispatch, and this woman made an Olympic sport out of spinning his BS to the public. Kwame would tell an absurd lie, and McPhail was the closer, arguing his case with vigor and even conviction. Early on, watching her lie with such fervor to the citizens of Detroit was almost amusing, because it was such an absurd production every time she opened her mouth. After a while though, it just became a disgusting spectacle to watch this woman purposefully set out to decieve the citizens of Detroit on Kwame's behalf. If there is anyone who I will enjoy watching shuffle off the stage as much as Kwame, its McPhail. Her role in this mess has been truly disgraceful. These are only the first to cut and run now that Kilpatrick has gone done in flames. Over 100 of his appointees are facing the axe. Some of them might not be deserving of it, but no one could blame Cockrel if he took office and made a complete sweep of any Kilpatrickite remaining in the administration, a deBathication of Detroit if you will. Well, however it goes forward, let the cleanup of Detroit politics begin.

Detroit's Long Nightmare Is Over

Kilpatrick now expected to plead guilty Thursday morning

Detroit's Mayor, with Governor Granholm's hearings underway, has apparently cut a deal to leave office and accept a negotiated sanction in the text message scandal. At the same time Kwame is negotiating his exit, Christine Beatty is busy taking the fifth amendment in depositions. With Kwame exiting stage left, and a continuing investigation into the death of Tamara Greene ongoing, she may still be in for a rough ride. When the Freep gets those text messages sent in the 48 hours after Greene's death, this story may have another chapter still, with a bigger cast of characters.

Penetrating the Kilpatrick Shield

The Kilpatrick machine loses another round and its possible that yet another layer will be peeled off the multi-layered wall of protection that is the Kwame Kilpatrick friends and family shield. Clearly, the Kilpatrick narrative is corruption, but could it be deeper than that? Could it be thuggery, even murder?

Kwame's current woes stem from his firing of police officers who reported and then investigated misconduct on the part of his security detail. Those allegations included claims of abuse of overtime, but also included the story of the rumoored but never proven Manoogian Mansion party. That rumor, known and believed to be true by every citizen of Detroit, tells the tale of a wild party at the Mayor's mansion that included at least 3 strippers, one of whom was reportedly Tamara Greene. Denounced as urban legend by Kilpatrick, the story goes that wife Carlita walked in on this party in progress to find Ms. Greene giving her husband a lap dance and clocked her. She had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance. No evidence of the ambulance run or the police report from the response have been unearthed, though tantalizing bits of evidence and testimony have surfaced that may become the initial chinks in the armor. Of the three strippers thought to be there, all are now believed to be dead. In Tamara's case, she died in in a hail of bullets fired by assassins from a moving vehicle.

I myself, via the unique grapevine of urban communities, have acquaintances in Detroit who told me that the party happened for sure and they knew because their cousin catered it and told them about it. Stories of that sort are all over the Detroit community and everyone knows that party happened, just like everybody knew Kilpatrick was having an affair with Beatty. Credit Kwame's network of friends and family with top notch operational security that rivals Al Queda. Not one shred of proof nor a single person has been produced who will attest that this party ever occurred.

But as the pressure piles on, and real investigation begans to put regular folks on the spot who have lots to lose if they can be shown to be part of a conspiracy to obstruct justice in a murder case, the incentives to turn on the Kilpatrick machine will grow. The release of text messages from officials in the Kilpatrick administration in the period immediately following Greene's murder ratchets up that pressure another notch.

Beatty Looking for Immunity - But That Ship May Have Sailed

Christine Beatty, through her lawyers, has begun fishing for an immunity deal, but that ship may have sailed, because prosecutors don't appear to be biting. We advised Ms. Beatty some time ago that she should run, not walk, but run down to Prosecutor Kim Worthy's office and cut herself a deal. At the time, the Prosecutor Worthy was sending signals that she was prepared to listen. Alas, she did not follow our advice and the prosecutor seems rather disinterested now.

As her legal expenses mount and the pressure on Playa increases, perhaps she is now beginning to catch a clue that unless she gets her get out of jail free card stamped now, there won't be any passes left when the hammer gets dropped on Playa, and that day is coming. Maybe the sight of photo after photo of Carlita and Kilpatrick in touching photos in the paper, showcasing their love and support of each other through this ordeal has served up a much needed reality check.

Playa still got a gig and a wife and will be using his ticket to the Democratic Convention. She's got a divorce, a pink slip and a slow motion ride to the pokey, unless she starts thinking about unhitching her fate from his.

Bold Faced Lying as Olympic Sport in Detroit

You know, just when I think that the absurdity quotient cannot possibly get any higher in Detroit, I am proved wrong. Bold faced lying is being raised to the level of an art form and Olympic sport in Detroit by both Christine Beatty and Kwame Kilpatrick. Their latest and greatest attempt for the gold as liars extraordinare, courtesy of their lawyers? The text messages aren't theirs. Thats right. Their lawyers are signaling their intention to aggressively attack the authenticity of the text messages and challenge the prosecutor to prove that those messages were sent by the Mayor or Beatty.

We have previously encouraged Ms. Beatty to run, not walk, to Prosecutor Kim Worthy's office and spill her guts in return for a good plea deal that might keep her out of jail, preserve her financial resources and prevent her from potentially being removed from her children's lives for an extended period. Ms. Worthy herself last week issued an invitation to Ms. Beatty to do exactly that, saying "I'll say this on the record. I will say that if, at any time, she wishes to come to this office and talk with us, we'll certainly listen,". Beatty's lawyer has scoffed at the notion. The legal strategy appears to be to fight every point and not concede on anything by both the Mayor and Beatty.

We had some level of sympathy for Ms. Beatty to this point, but given the high stakes legal strategy she is pursuing of denying and lying about any and all wrongdoing, her sympathy has now run out. She is taking the same blatant, arrogant path of defiance as the Mayor. If she is willing to gamble her freedom, her time with her children and the financial impact of all this on a defense that she is innocent, such sympathy is wasted. At this point, one can only conclude that while Ms. Beatty is an intelligent woman of some accomplishment, she is also equally if not moreso the incredibly foolish woman with appallingly bad judgment revealed in the most recent text messages.

She was used by Kwame for his own enjoyment, and strung along with pillow talk and vague assurances that she would always be his girl and the wispy almost promise that perhaps one day she might even be his publicly acknowledged woman. He has happily cut ties with her, but she is banking her future on a legal strategy and defense integrated with his? Because trust me, at some point, there will come a time when he will throw her under the bus to save his own skin.

It is all part and parcel of the continuing and sad epic of failed black accountability in this chocolate city, as black citizens and white CEO's share complicity in perpetuating the tolerance of utter foolishness and shameless corruption in public office.

The Double Standard of Black Accountability Applied

The meltdown occuring in Detroit City government has now entered what can only be viewed as an embarrassingly painful slow motion train wreck phase. Kwame Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty have been charged with 12 and 7 felony counts respectively. They were required to surrender to police, they were booked and mug shotted.

As we watch this mess unfold, we stand in jaw dropped awe of the denial and disregard of Kwame's corruption being exercised by a large portion of the voting populace, many members of the clergy and the corporate leadership of the city. It is absolutely distressing to watch people you might otherwise believe to be reasonable make excuse after excuse for the behavior of Kwame and his administrative minions. It is a failure of black accountability that the majority of the city's citizens and corporate leadership are not leading the charge for regime change at city hall. In fact, Kwame actually has a legal defense fund with a variety of committee members who have signed their names in support of it. I considered it shocking some of the nationally known people supporting this foolishness, specifically Willie Brown- Former Mayor of San Francisco and Michael Eric Dyson. How either of them could bring themselves to lend their credibility to a manifest crook, liar and thug masquerading as a mayor, I simply don't understand. But I digress from my main point.

Though the focus has been quite clearly on Kwame, we have kept an eye on how Christine Beatty is faring . As many know, she resigned her position as chief of staff shortly after the scandal broke. We identified Beatty as Kwame's mystery guest for his massage at a NC resort via the Detroit cousin's friend network. While Beatty is out of a job and facing serious legal consequences, many in the city and notables like Willie Brown are rallying to the mayor's side. The corporate fat cats who bailed out the mayor's re-election effort that Beatty helped engineer are aiding Kwame with their silence support. The citizenry continue to support him, but little love seems to be flowing Beatty's way at all. He's got a legal defense fund, and it only seems fair to us that Beatty should be included in it as well. The citizens of Detroit and the legal fund committee should be demanding she be added as a beneficiary, especially given their repeated assertions that Kwame will be fully vindicated. So the unemployed Beatty is getting no help to pay her legal expenses and her lawyer is not cheap. She suffered another setback in court as well when the magistrate refused her request to leave the state to seek work and required her to wear a tether which reports her whereabouts, though it does not restrict her to her home.

So Beatty is out of a job, facing massive criminal liabilities with custody of two children and is now restricted to the state and cannot go elsewhere to seek work without the court's leave. At the same time, she certainly is not going to get work in Michigan. Meanwhile, her ex, Da Mayor, has got a legal defense fund, vocal supporters and can leave the state to carry out his official duties (prior notice to the court of course).

We repeat our advice to Ms. Beatty. Have your attorney run to Ms. Worthy's office, cut a deal for immunity and spill your guts.

Black Accountability Applied: Kwame Kilpatrick Faces 12 Felony C ounts

A blow for Black Accountability was struck this morning when Prosecutor Kim Worthy announced in Detroit the filing of 12 felony charges against Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty.

Beatty has issued no comments since the charges were handed down. Kwame on the other hand is trumpeting his innocence, accusing the prosecutor of bias and continuing his brazen lying with no letup. If convicted on all counts, Kwame could face 30 years in prison. Worthy threw the book at him and considering that the Kilpatrick machine may even be deadly by some accounts, clearly she determined that if she were going to charge him, to put him down. Worthy has stepped up to the plate where Detroit's corporate elite and top CEO's have not. The CEO's and fat cats that bankrolled Kwame's re-election and bailed it out when it was on the skids have had little to nothing to say as this debacle unfolded. Gov. Granholm is too busy helping Hillary defeat Obama to exercise her power as Governor to remove Kwame for the same reasons as the fat cats, namely that Kwame is a necessary ingredient to their development plans in Detroit.

We note with interest that Worthy mentioned discussions with federal authorities and we suspect that a wider investigation by federal authorities could be on the way as well, in which case the Kilpatrick family and friends plan for contracting, hiring and nepotism may get a more public look. Few, including us have sympathy for Kwame, whatever he gets, he'll deserve. Beatty however enjoys some sympathy from us, so we issue this bit of unsolicited advice. RUN, do not walk, to Prosecutor Worthy's office and spill your guts. Sell Kwame down the river now in exchange for immunity from federal and state prosecution. Beatty knows where every body is buried and with two minor children she would likely lose custody of if she gets jail time, she has a lot to lose. She can either save herself or go down with the ship. Given that Kwame still has a job while she is out and her affair with him has cost her nothing but money, loss of reputation and public humiliation for her whole family, selling him out should be pretty easy.

Now that the Prosecutor has gotten the ball rolling, we expect events to move more swiftly.

Granholm: Sabotaging Good Black Leadership, Enabling Bad

In addition to watching the democratic nomination fight, we've been keeping an eye on the Kwame Kilpatrick scandal in Detroit, highlighting the failure of Black Accountability in that city to call the Mayor to account for his behavior. In this wild political year, the two actually come together. We note with irony that Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm has joined FL governor Crisp in calling for do over contests in MI and FL to settle the dispute over seating the delegates from those states. Granholm is a Hillary supporter and is clearly seeking to aid her candidate to defeat Barack Obama, currently leading in the delegate and popular vote.

At the same time that Granholm is actively working to defeat the strong, principled leadership of the African American Senator from Illinois, she is enabling the thuggish behavior of African American Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in Detroit. Kwame has now been proven to be a pathological liar, using his position as Mayor to engage in a torrid affair with his former chief of staff, then destroying the careers of two DPD cops and shelling out $10 million and counting of Detroit taxpayer money to cover it up. Kwame's now documented lying on this issue has brought an older scandal back to the fore, that of the infamous Manoogian Mansion party and its linkage to what appears to be a contract hit on a stripper, Tamara Greene, who reportedly danced at that party.

Detroit City Council has put forward a resolution, tabled for now, calling for Kilpatrick's resignation. The council, under the city charter does not have the power to remove Kilpatrick, but state law allows them to request the Governor do so, and clearly gives her the power to remove Kilpatrick from office on a showing of neglect of his duties, already amply demonstrated in this case.

The Council has failed to pull the trigger on the resolution, tabling the matter until March 18th in order to make some fuller review of the ramifications of this non binding no confidence vote, also known as dithering while the city burns.

Should such request be made, its a certainty Granholm won't remove Kwame, as she is too concerned with keeping Kwame in place to facilitate various economic development projects of the corporate community for which Kwame is greasing the skids. To date she has had only muted criticism of Kwame's actions in office. She certainly has leeway to take independent action of her own to bring some pressure to bear, but is content to let Kwame hold onto his job if he can. In this she is complicit in his dereliction of duty, as is the Detroit corporate community that saved Kwame's re-election campaign with 11th hour contributions, but now is silent on the misdeeds of their bought and paid for Mayor.

Granholm is gladly assisting Clinton to take down a strong black leader like Obama , while enabling the thuggish behavior of Kilpatrick in her own backyard, no matter how badly he abuses the taxpayers of Detroit, who by the way, are her constituents too.

Detroit, your choice is clear. Do you have the courage to make it?

Pressure seems to be mounting for Kwame Kilpatrick to resign as Mayor of Detroit. The Detroit City Council will vote next week on a resolution calling for his resignation. Under the city charter, the council cannot oust the mayor. However, the council can request that the governor remove him based on a showing of neglect of duties or abuse of power, all amply demonstrated in this case.

The momentum is not overwhelming at this point for two primary reasons. One, the people of Detroit are not demanding Kwame's ouster. More specifically, the black citizens of Detroit are not demanding accountability for this man's actions. It does not seem to matter to black Detroiters that Kwame and his staff have repeatedly lied in the most outlandish, brazen way imaginable at every turn, as though if they told the same lie enough, it would magically become true. Its an extreme insult and it tells you volumes about Kwame's arrogance and his contempt for Detroit's citizens, an arrogance and contempt which it appears his entire staff are infected with as well. He pees in your face and tells you its rain. Literally. His lying is that bold, and black Detroiters are lying down for it. This is not the first time either. He's a serial offender in this regard.

Secondly, the corporate community of Detroit has not turned on him. They are keeping silent. Why is that? Because they bought and paid for Kwame when the corporate community got together and coughed up over $100,000 to prop up his re-election campaign when it was in deep doo doo. Their investment has been paying off well in the form of projects in the pipeline and real estate and development deals in downtown and elsewhere that Kwame is greasing the skids for, in return for their continued support politically and their patronage and contributions to his campaign war chest and his pet foundations employing his friends and family. Now these business leaders are keeping mum, and its outrageous. For the sake of their business deals, they are willing to maintain this liar in office and perpetuate the pathetic and unaccountable manner in which Detroit city government is being run into the ground. It tells you plenty about the integrity of these corporate honchos. They care nothing for the people of this city and their indifference is manifest.

The corporate community's silence highlights a nasty little fact for Detroit citizens as well. Kwame is little more than a corporate puppet. Why else would they keep silent? Kwame is bought and paid for. He is in the pockets of Detroit's corporate leadership and from deals like Watermark to the Cobo revitalization, they want him around to keep the people in line, keep the money flowing. As long as he does that, they appear willing to give him cover. But the reality here is that Detroit's citizens have been betrayed by Kwame. He is selling out Detroit in the name of influence peddling.

This debacle of failed accountability has cost the city $10 million in the settlement and legal fees. The legal bills continue to pile up, since as long as Kwame is mayor, the city foots the bills and with Council running their own investigation with their own lawyer and "advisers" to him, the expenses keep coming in. Now, word comes that the National Conference of Black Mayors convention set to meet in Detroit in April is planning to go to New Orleans instead due to the scandal.

Detroiters, the choice is clear. And if Detroiters are unwilling to make it, then you will have no basis for complaint and you will have earned the inept and corrupt city government you deserve.

Kwame's NC Massage Partner Revealed: Survey Says....

Christine Beatty - Yes good people, thats right and you heard it here first. The Mayor shared his $504 dollar massage package with his now former Chief of Staff Ms. Beatty. How does the Season know? The same way everybody in Detroit knows about the dirt getting done in the Mayor's inner circle. Somebody we know, who knows somebody else we know, who's relative shared a flight with Ms. Beatty on a plane headed down to Asheville the weekend of Jan. 19th and ID'd her. Kwame was there Jan. 19th to the 21st. We will stipulate to the fact that her lawyer has publicly denied that it was Beatty;

"Absolutely not," Morganroth said. Beatty bought gas for her vehicle in Detroit on Jan. 19, had lunch at a downtown restaurant and made at least one other Metro Detroit purchase on her credit cards that weekend, Morganroth said. "I have the receipts to prove it," he said.

Its not hard to have someone use your credit card to produce receipts for you and help you cover your tracks. Someone who could corroborate her presence at the gas station, or the lunch or at the store where she made this purchase would be more convincing. Bear in mind that this assignation occurred before the text message scandal broke in the papers. Political Season makes a call for corroboration from any one that can confirm our friend's friends's relatives' report of Beatty on a plane to Asheville from Detroit that weekend. Probably not hard to track it down. If you've got the goods, send us an email here at Political Season.

And because the Detroit Mayor's office scandal is the gift that just keeps on giving, or really in this case, taking from the citizens of Detroit, the Detroit Free Press reports that Detroit city council today approved a $25,000 settlement to the two police officers who pulled Beatty over for a traffic stop.

The officers said they pulled Beatty over for speeding June 21, 2004 and she told them: “Do you know who the (expletive) I am?”

The officers sued after Bully-Cummings publicly said they harassed Beatty, and Kilpatrick told a radio station: “It sounds like a setup to me.”

Because the Mayor has zero credibility due to this scandal, city council had little choice but to pay $25,000 to bring another of the Mayor's messes to a close. This may not be the last of such episodes either. How many other lawsuits may materialize based on retaliation or slander by the Mayor or his surrogates? Those that do will have a lower bar to overcome when it comes to pitting their credibility against the Mayor's, because what he has is gone. It is yet more confirmation for the premise that Black America must practice accountability when it comes to its elected political leadership. Detroit is a city in desperate need of revival and restoration and it requires leadership. This is not it. Detroiters will only get the leadership they demand and if not some will say that they deserve. If Black Americans are unwilling to call to account a Mayor who has been so contemptuous of the taxpaying voters who put him in office, it is will be another public example of the self destructive tendency of blacks to ask for accountability from every other quarter but our own.

Person Christine Beatty

Right click for SmartMenu shortcuts

An Accomplished and Facile Liar

Detroit Free Press February 9, 2008

During a Friday radio appearance on WMXD-FM (92.3), Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick spoke with host Frankie Darcell about the text message scandal that has rocked his administration. The following are excerpts of his comments versus what court records show or what people had to say in response to the mayor.

What the mayor said: "This case was about a wrongful termination and neither person was fired. It was about me, Kwame Kilpatrick, and the relationship that that jury and this region has with me."

What the records show: Former Deputy Chief Gary Brown, who filed a whistle-blower lawsuit against the mayor and city, claimed he was forced out of his job -- and the jury unanimously found he was telling the truth. The jury delivered a $6.5-million verdict last September for Brown and former officer Harold Nelthrope, who also sued.

What the mayor said: "We had a private engagement to exchange private information [a reference to a confidentiality agreement that he and former chief of staff Christine Beatty signed with the cops' attorney after settling the case for $8.4 million]. They were never city documents."

What the records show: The settlement agreement and the confidential agreement were linked and negotiated by lawyers paid with city funds. Wayne County Circuit Judge Robert Colombo Jr., who is presiding over the Free Press' Freedom of Information Act lawsuit to obtain the secret documents, rejected arguments the documents are private, saying, "Nothing could be further from the truth."

What the mayor said: "I mean, you name them -- Roger Penske, Dan Gilbert, Doug Rothwell, you know, the GM family -- everybody has contacted me and told me we're with you, let's continue to move forward, let's keep doing projects. They're all trying to think of things to change the conversation as well."

What the business leaders had to say: Rothwell, president of the Detroit Renaissance group of CEOs, said Friday afternoon he has not spoken with Kilpatrick since the controversy erupted but has spoken with Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams. Rothwell said, as he did last week, that Detroit Renaissance "will continue to stay engaged in the redevelopment of the city." A spokesman for Penske, who led the Super Bowl XL host committee, said Penske had no comment. A General Motors Corp. spokesman declined to comment. A spokeswoman for Quicken Loans Chairman Gilbert wouldn't comment on whether Gilbert has talked to the mayor.

What the mayor said: "The recent things is the text messages, which were, you know, illegally obtained [by] the Free Press and, you know, now the whole paper now is covering up their illegal act with a lot of criminal activity and collusion in writing these reports."

What the Free Press said: Executive Editor Caesar Andrews said the Free Press did not obtain the records illegally.

What the mayor said: "I didn't know this was coming out, I've never seen these messages."

What the records show: He wrote and received the messages, literally hundreds exchanged between the mayor and Beatty and reviewed by the Free Press. The newspaper sued for their release on Jan. 3, subpoenaed them and -- after obtaining the records outside of the lawsuit efforts -- asked Kilpatrick for an interview more than 24 hours in advance of publishing a report about them.

What the mayor said: "There was a trial. You know, first of all, all of the things that you're hearing about now were never a part of the trial, never discussed."

What the records show: Wayne County Circuit Judge Michael Callahan, who presided over the whistle-blower trial, ruled that Kilpatrick's alleged philandering was relevant and admissible in court because the former cops claimed the mayor retaliated against them for an investigation that might have uncovered affairs with Beatty and other women. Mike Stefani, the former cops' lawyer, mentioned the text messages several times at trial and asked Beatty extensively about them. The messages, which were the basis of the Free Press report last month, showed the mayor and Beatty lied under oath about their affair.

What the mayor said: "Confidentiality happens in divorce cases, lawsuits, where at the end of the case there's an exchange of documents between one party and another. At the end of this case, because the documents were never obtained by the city, because they weren't city documents, we had a private engagement to exchange private information."

What the records show: The Free Press sought the confidentiality agreement through its Freedom of Information Act lawsuit after the city refused to turn over records that the paper believed were being withheld with the settlement documents. The act was created to allow public access to government business and records. The paging devices used by the mayor and Beatty were paid for with city funds, and the $8.4-million settlement came from city tax dollars.

What the mayor said: "The council voted on the settlement. ... We presented all that information to them. They voted on the number. They knew what the number was. They had all that information."

What the records show: Several council members have said they had no clue there was a confidential agreement connected to the settlement, and that the confidential deal was aimed at concealing the text messages and other matters.

What the mayor said: "Those [settlement] checks were sent before the Dec. 5 date of the confidentiality agreement signing, so let me just tell you why that's so interesting. That means that they already had their money when we signed the confidentiality agreement."

What the records show: The confidentiality agreement was signed Nov. 1. Stefani and his clients didn't begin receiving checks until Nov. 16. They received their last payments Dec. 4.

What the mayor said: The mayor's office was "audited in '04, '05 and '06. I stand behind all the hard numbers. The way we managed our finances is good."

What the records show: Joseph Harris, the city's auditor general at the time, found Kilpatrick had spent more than $50,000 on personal items on the city's credit card. Kilpatrick eventually paid back nearly $9,000 for what he described as disputed charges, but did not detail what the check covered. Harris also said there were missing receipts and purchases that circumvented city spending limits. In 2004, three former aides to Kilpatrick -- including two of his former high school classmates -- agreed to repay about $46,000 they embezzled from the mayor's petty cash account.

What the mayor said: "There was no secret deal. As indicated in the lawsuit. The only other thing was the confidentiality agreement. Which we say was confidential. Because this is what we did, Frankie, we volunteered to release the confidentiality agreement."

What the records show: Judge Colombo ordered the release of the confidentiality agreement as a result of the Free Press suit. Kilpatrick's lawyers argued to keep all the settlement-related records secret until deciding, on appeal, to release the confidentiality agreement.

Other Shoe Dropping on Kwame's Hot Mess

Further proof that Mayor Kilpatrick considers the coffers and resources of Detroit to be synonymous with his own is on display in the Detroit Free Press today. The Freep reports

On Tuesday, Wayne County Circuit Judge Robert Colombo Jr. granted a Free Press request to release secret settlement documents under the Freedom of Information Act. City officials initially claimed no such records existed, and now argue they should remain private.

The judge also unsealed the transcript of a five-hour deposition Stefani gave to newspaper lawyers last week in which he detailed negotiations between him and the mayor's lawyers last October and November.

The judge said the records in question were clearly public property.

Now you know that last statement means nothing to this corrupt administration. Kwame has directed city attorneys to appeal the unsealing of the documents. Reached for comment by reporters in Washington, Kwame "Playa" Kilpatrick responded

"We want the public to have all the information the public wants to have,"

We also want to make sure that we understand what the FOIA is all about -- that it's about private issues that go on in a lawsuit,"

Is that priceless or what? What private issues? Oh, you mean like you screwing your chief of staff, the wife of a personal friend you went to high school with? Or the $9.5 million the city has paid to cover it up? One of those was private, I'll give you that much. But it ceased to be so when you paid out $9.5 million in Detroit taxpayer money to hush it up. Now, the citizens of Detroit own the rights to that story Pla--, er I mean Mayor.

Its just another data point proving the corruptness of this administration in Detroit and the foolishness of black folks if its tolerated. It ain't just Kwame. He has partners in foolishness. Apologist in chief for this sorry mess is Detroit Corporate Counsel Sharon McPhail. She was busy on the radio today accusing the Free Press of a vendetta and the attorney for the cops, Mike Stefani, of extortion. Well, now the shoes are dropping. Tommorow Judge Columbo releases the documents but the Freep is already reporting their content: the mayor signed the $9 million settlement to cover up his affair. But the BS train is coming to a stop. Whats in the secret agreement? The key record is a Nov. 1 document, marked “Confidential Agreement,” which Kilpatrick and Beatty personally signed, along with the cops’ lawyer, Mike Stefani, to conceal the text messages. The messages remained secret until January, when the Free Press published excerpts from nearly 14,000 texts received and sent from Beatty’s pager. The agreement requires Stefani, and his clients, former police officers Gary Brown, Harold Nelthrope and Walter Harris, to never speak of the messages again.
A violation of the confidential agreement required that the former cops would pay back the money. This document, which city officials repeatedly said did not exist, was withheld from the Free Press and perhaps as well from City Council when they gave their approval to the settlement. McPhail insists "No secret deals exist or have ever existed. The possibility that personal documents...might become public would have a chilling affect on any mediation," she said" Personal documents? Because you see, Kwame has given up fighting the release of the confidential agreement, but he is fighting release of other docs, so clearly there is some more mess thats being hidden.

The plots getting thicker too. Council President Ken Cockrel, the new mayor if Kwame is turned out of office, may have decided that he'd like to have the job. Today, he introduced a resolution calling on City Council to hire a special counsel to represent the city’s interest in any potential appeal of the judge’s order to release secret settlement documents in the whistle-blower lawsuit. "Our attorney would more or less be filing a court pleading on council's behalf saying we do not believe an appeal is in the best interest of the city of Detroit and that an appeal should not be granted,” Cockrel said of the special counsel. “It gives us a certain legal standing." "I think the law department has a clear conflict of interest," he said. "On paper, they represent the city of Detroit, which means council and the mayor. But on this issue, I don't believe the law department can serve two masters."

So its dropping like its hot in Detroit. Ken Cockrel is making his move, the settlement papers will be released soon, and we have not yet heard anything further from prosecutor Kim Worthy about perjury or other matters. As more of Kwame's outrageous behavior and that of his corrupt cronies surfaces, lets hope that the citizens of Detroit will turn him out of office.

Kwame Kilpatrick: Poster Child for the Failure of Black Accountability

I lived in Metro Detroit for eight years, a time span that included Mayor Archer's second term and Kwame Kilpatrick's first. Detroit has been the nightmare scenario of white flight, ineffective black political rule, racial polarization and urban decay for better than 20 years. The city has a history and well known status as the most segregated city in America. Sadly, that racial legacy and present day context has been the excuse for a low standard of accountability when it comes to Detroit's black political leadership. The latest embarrassment is the now publicly outed sordid extramarital affair between Mayor Kilpatrick and Chief of Staff Christine Beatty.

It was an affair those in the know and among Kwame's security detail knew about and one of those open secrets the rest of the city suspected. It became public knowledge for sure when text messages were revealed which confirmed the affair. The seeds of Kwame's undoing began with a pair of police officers that sued him and the city for alleged violations of the state’s Whistleblower Protection Act. The suits were brought by Officer Harold Nelthrope, a former mayoral bodyguard, and Gary Brown, a former deputy chief who previously headed the Police Department’s Internal Affairs Unit. Brown says he was fired for letting members of his unit investigate Nelthrope’s allegations and Nelthrope said that Kwame violated whistle blower laws by outing him and slandering him in retaliation.

Nelthrope approached Internal Affairs, known as the Professional Accountability Bureau, with allegations that some members of the mayor’s security team were getting paid for overtime hours they didn’t work, as well as other alleged transgressions. He also reported rumors of a wild party at the mayoral mansion involving strippers, one of whom was allegedly assaulted by the mayor’s wife, Carlita Kilpatrick who supposedly walked in on a lap dance Kwame was enjoying. Deputy Chief Gary Brown pursued an investigation into Nelthrope's claims about the overtime as well as the party rumors, a path certain to bring him into direct conflict with the Mayor. In responding to the allegations, Kwame identified Nelthrope publicly, even though his identity by law should have been confidential. The mayor called his allegations false and publicly said he was a liar and that he hoped Nelthrope's family was listening.

Kwame's counterattack was hard core and revealing of his character. He told the then Police Chief, Jerry Oliver, ( a man universally hated by rank and file DPD) to fire Deputy Chief Brown and to say publicly that it was his decision and not the Mayor's. The hilarity of that lie was brought home to me one morning during my morning commute listening to AM760 as the scandal unfolded. On a morning show, the Mayor was interviewed and when asked who's decision was it to fire Deputy Chief Brown, he confidently stated it was Chief Oliver's call. Not more than an hour or so later, Chief Oliver, interviewed on a different show, same station, said the opposite, that the Mayor instructed him to fire Deputy Chief Brown. They clearly had not gotten their stories straight. Later that same day, Chief Oliver was interviewed again and it was clear that the Chief had been given a thorough review of the talking points memo by Kwame and now he was taking the hit and stating that it was his call to fire the Deputy Chief.

In the course of giving testimony in the case, the plaintiffs lawyers asked Kwame and Beatty both if they were romantically involved, clearly prompted by the plaintiffs inside knowledge of what was going on. Christine simply responded no. Kwame gave an indignant speech in his answer, saying angrily that it was wrong to brand Beatty as a whore. All the time, the both of them flagrantly involved in a torrid liaison that was carried on in the presence of administration insiders and was certainly known to their police detail. The case was eventually settled for about $6 million with another $3 million paid in legal fees, and the plaintiffs committed to a secrecy agreement about the deal.

Political Season's take on this sordid mess? Kwame should lose his job for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, he's a married man doing his at the time also married chief of staff employee, opening the city to potential sexual harassment liabilities from her or other men and women in the administration. That is stupendous bad judgment. Everybody in town in the know knew it was going on, and the rest of the city pretty much assumed it.

Secondly, they fired people to cover the affair up and other foolishness he was doing. They made the police chief fire the deputy police chief that initiated an investigation into goings on with Kwame's security detail and those people sued. So they axed people to cover up their mess.

Lastly, the jacked up, stone broke City of Detroit forked over $9.4 million in a settlement plus legal fees to settle the case and keep the plaintiffs quiet about what they knew, mainly his affair with Beatty, perhaps others and likely the real story about the big stripper party that supposedly never happened.

Detroit is the poster child for urban decay. Michigan's economy has been in the toilet for several years now which is why I live in Indy and not Detroit. Here in Indy, they talk about not becoming "Detroit". Detroit, a city with so many things wrong that is so badly in need of leadership and good stewardship, and they pay out $9.4 million plus legal fees to hush the Mayor's sordid affair with his chief of staff, who was also married and was cool with his wife? The man should resign. If this brother worked for you or if you or I cost our company $9.4 million because of an affair with a subordinate, would we have a job? Hell no.

Don't feel sorry for him and don't cut him an inch of slack. Black people in Detroit and in general are too often all too willing to tolerate any mess to keep "black" leadership, even if that means no accountability. And with no accountability, the city will continue to be a dump because black people are not taking responsibility for ourselves. Already the hit parade of excuses is beginning. According to the Detroit Free Press, Sharon McPhail, one of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s top aides, said today that she believes Kilpatrick will not be charged with perjury despite contradictions between his testimony in court in a whistleblower case and text messages sent between him and his chief of staff.

McPhail, speaking with reporters as she entered the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, said she doesn’t believe enough evidence exists to charge Kilpatrick, although she also said she had not read the text messages.

“When the facts are known this is just going to be a blip on the screen of all the wonderful things he’s done for the city,” she said.

McPhail said calls for the mayor to repay the city for paying his legal bills in the whistleblower suit and the $9 million judgment in that case are misplaced. The case resulted because of Kilpatrick’s official decision, justifying a taxpayer-funded legal defense, she said.

The text messages exposure of his affair with chief of staff Christine Beatty was not why three former police officers sued the city, she said. The case originated because former Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown continued to investigate a never-proven wild party at the Manoogian Mansion.

And lets not forget about the rather sexist nature of our substandard community accountability on display here with the resignation of Christine Beatty. As my wife pointed out, her career is effectively destroyed. She is now out of a job, divorced, and branded as a whore and certified home wrecker. Who is going to be willing to employ her in any position of public trust or responsibility again? What will be the quality of her professional relationships with other women and men in the future? She is out of her job right now, but Kwame's staff is going on the defense of him and I'm sure the drumbeat from the community may already have begun that he should not have to resign, that if he is, he's being held to a different standard than white politicians. I don't see anyone coming to Beatty's defense. Why shouldn't the excuses being advanced on Kwame's behalf apply to her as well? How that plays is even more interesting considering the number of other high profile black women in the orbit of this mess. The prosecutor is a Black woman. Christine Beatty is a Black woman. Carlita Kilpatrick is a Black woman, as is Kwame's mother, Carolyn Kilpatricke head of the Congressional Black Caucus. Don't be surprised if Beatty is vilified by the same black community that wants to excuse Kwame.

This is the accountability issue front and center for black people and the kind of stuff that makes us look like total jackasses. We are on a hair trigger when a white person makes a comment rightly or wrongly and will DEMAND folk be fired and punished, but we will make every excuse for black people in positions of responsibility who are guilty of egregious behavior, from taking a crack hit on camera to banking $90,000 in bribe money in the freezer. The result: underperformance in nearly every aspect of the community when it comes to implementation of effective strategies that address the interests of black people. Black Americans must call check on the poor performance of black leadership and demonstrate more maturity as a community by refusing to any longer tolerate the exercise of extremely poor judgment in positions of responsibility in order to have "black" leadership. If we effectively demand accountability and responsible leadership irrespective of the race of the person in a leadership position, we would be far better off.