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Sex, Lies, and Text Messages
On Thursday morning, Detroit’s Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (D) and his chief of staff, Christine Beatty -- and all of Detroit, courtesy of the Detroit Free Press -- woke up to find the irrefutable evidence of the love affair they had both denied under oath:
Beatty asked the mayor, on Sept. 12, 2002, if she could "come and lay down in your room until you get back?"The next morning Kilpatrick, referring to his bodyguards, wrote: "They were right outside the door. They had to have heard everything."
Beatty replied: "So we are officially busted!"
"Damn that," Kilpatrick responded. "Never busted. Busted is what you see!"
Worse than the humiliation and embarrassment at the very public disclosure of both their affair and the unraveled coverup, is, yes, the real possibility of getting "busted" on a perjury charge, a felony. If charged and convicted, Kilpatrick, a lawyer, could be disbarred, would be removed from office, and could even face up to 15 years of jail time. Beatty, a law student, would have to find a new career.
The other big loser in this tawdry affair is the city of Detroit.
The mayor has cost Detroit taxpayers more than $9 million to date, because he was sued as a public official. Many are calling for the resignation of “a mayor with so much potential squandered on the keyboard,” a “talented” and “charismatic ” politician - “so knowledgeable on policy, so lacking in discipline.”
It all started back in April 2003 when one of the mayor’s bodyguards, Harold Nelthrope, blew the whistle on two of the cops on the mayor’s security detail; they were fraudently padding their expenses, wrecking city cars and drinking and partying while on duty. Nelthrope also passed along rumors about a bash at the mayor's residence involving a stripper. Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown began to investigate. Two weeks later, he was out of a job.
Three weeks later, Brown and Nelthrope sued the mayor and the city, claiming they were fired in retaliation for investigating the mayor’s security team. Later that year, another bodyguard, Walt Harris, sued the city and the mayor, making the same charges as the other two. He also alleged that the mayor retaliated against him because he reported that the mayor was cheating on his wife with Beatty and several other women.
The mayor steadfastly denied all the allegations against him and refused to settle the case out of court: "I thought that the people of the city of Detroit needed to have an opportunity to hear the truth, they needed to see me sit in the chair," he said.
He had his day in court when the case finally went to trial last summer. He and Beatty flatly denied having a sexual relationship and firing Brown and Nelthorpe.
The ex-cops’ attorney asked the judge if he could present in evidence the cell phone records he had subpoenaed three years before. The judge had never seen them. Another subpoena was issued, but the jury never saw the records.
Nevertheless, the jury delivered a unanimous verdict. They awarded Brown $3.6 million and Nelthrope $2.9 million. Kilpatrick was “blown away.” He vowed to appeal.
Several city council members have expressed their reluctance to commit any more of the taxpayers’ money to the mayor’s legal expenses. Kilpatrick abruptly settled all three of the whistleblower cases for a total of $9 million last October.
But it all blew up again last week when the Free Press finally got a hold of those text messages and published its exposé, demonstrating that the mayor and his chief of staff had given false testimony. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Friday that she will open an investigation into the text message scandal.
Not only that, but the text messages have opened a whole other line of investigation. Matching city records with the messages, the Detroit Free Press has discovered that Kilpatrick charged his apparently personal travel expenses with his lover and tabs at fancy hotels and restaurants to his city-issued credit card. On at least one occasion, he and Beatty took off for a long weekend in Vail, Colorado. Kilpatrick wrote in his calendar "Hold for Mayor Gone Fishing!!!"
For now, Kilpatrick, who was 31 when he first took office in 2002, is lying low.
“I think we've gotten to the point in this country where there's been so much of this at so many levels of government – hell, going all the way up to the president of the United States – we've kind of gotten used to it," said Detroit Council President Ken Cockrel Jr.
Comments (22)
senilebiker wrote on January 27, 2008 3:04 PM:Only in America!
So the mayor was getting a little bit on the side - why not? Whose business is is anyway? But in the Christian talibanic states of America, you have to deny it - and this leads you into deep doodoo - in this case perjury.
And honestly, having seen excerpts from the "steamy" text messages, it seemed more like a Victorian romance than a bit of down and dirty.
get a life guys.
nathan wrote on January 27, 2008 3:24 PM:Senilebiker - you need to get a life. The issue is perjury. 1.) Fired the police officer. 2.) Did have an affair. That was all.
vidstudent wrote on January 27, 2008 5:03 PM:Three problems, actually.
One: he lied about it in court. This would be perjury.
Two: It was on the city's dime if he's using their credit card. That would be like having your mistress guarded with undercover cops while walking her dog.
Three: Firing the cops who blew the whistle on one and two. That's a whistleblower lawsuit, which is now a huge sum of money paid out by the city's insurers.
cjop wrote on January 27, 2008 5:39 PM:Maybe he could be Rudy's running mate.
terry hallinan wrote on January 27, 2008 6:32 PM:Maybe he could be Rudy's running mate.
The ideal running mate for Hrs. Bill.
Best, Terry
theo d wrote on January 27, 2008 7:23 PM:Bad news: More malfeasance from narcissitic, above-the-law politicans and staff.
Good news: More proof that racial equality has arrived in America.
Anonymous wrote on January 27, 2008 7:33 PM:I've been retired for 10 yrs, but I learned way back in the 60s -- and not the hard way either -- to never put anything in writing that you would not want to hear read out loud in court.
Qtip wrote on January 27, 2008 7:54 PM:Yes, I've seen other learn that the hard way.
The Dukies live on for another year (as if there was any doubt that there'd be less muck in 08).
The tECHIDNA wrote on January 27, 2008 7:58 PM:So that's how Señor Nuevo/Once knows that he will have a soft landing to a second job --
He's exporting the Shag Fund Secrets™ to willing buyers!
I for one can't wait for both of these guys to be hawking Shag Fund Secrets™ in between infomercials for Oxy Clean and that damn Ronco rotisserie with the early '80s Muzak...
detroiter wrote on January 27, 2008 9:48 PM:Remember the story's one-liner about the mayor's party with a "stripper"? Someone should follow that angle of the story since about a year later that woman ended up being shot and killed (along with a friend) while sitting in her car in front of her house at 2am in one of Detroit's quieter suburbs...
mardenhill wrote on January 27, 2008 10:28 PM:I am a metro Detroit resident but not one of the city and have lived thru it all. I believe Kwame needs to resign and do it now, he is a disgrace to the city has to go. I don't care that he had an affair, that is between him and his family. I do care when he uses city dollars to pay for it and take a losing battle to court. Everyone knew he did it but he is an egotistical and self centered man (must have learned from Bill Clinton) and decided to play the legal game. He ended up losing and costing the city over $9 million in the process. I believe he needs to be brought up on perjury charges as well as his license to practice law revoked.
What many people don't know is that his mother is a US House member and that Kwame was just biding time until he could take over the seat. If we are lucky, this scandal will keep him out of politics for good and away from the House of Representatives.
anon wrote on January 27, 2008 11:02 PM:Remind me again why this is worse that what Rudy did? Rudy fired people more or less randomly and lied all the time. I guess that's different. Okay, so Kilpatrick is more like Kerik. Okay, fine, Kilpatrick should resign. A shame. He seemed like an okay mayor.
Dusty wrote on January 28, 2008 12:18 AM:I will never get used to this crap. No one should. Detroit is far from a rich city..their unemployment is horrendous.
Yet this jackass partied with his lover (ala Rudy G) and the city paid for a lot of it?
Disgusting. I hope it's also criminal. Too bad a once bright star burned out so quickly.
MNPundit wrote on January 28, 2008 12:46 AM:Detroit just can't catch a break. I really feel for them right now.
Jano wrote on January 28, 2008 8:32 AM:Resignation seems most appropriate. The mayor should do so.
ROSSinDETROIT wrote on January 28, 2008 9:20 AM:We've been discussing this quite a bit since it hit the news. It's a source of amusement to most Detroiters, and nobody seems particularly surprised. The consensus of opinion is that nothing will happen to Kwame unless he gets caught on video smoking crack with a hooker. Oh, wait...
Noncooperator wrote on January 28, 2008 11:24 AM:I think that only Detroiter is on the right track. The big story here is not the sex, althought they would like it to be. The mayor and his assistant denied firing the cop who was investigating the party/murder. Their text messages indicated that clearly they did. The republican Attorney General had been called in to do an independent investigation. He met with the Mayor privately, then stripped his investigators of subpoena power. He cleared the mayor and claimed the allegations were an urban legend. After this, the AG held a tearful press conference confessing to marital infidelity and accused Geoffrey Fieger of blackmail. The AG was investigating Fieger at the time for campaign finance investigations. An independent prosecutor dropped charges against Fieger for the campaign finance issue. A fellow republican county prosecutor dropped his investigation on the blackmail charges but claimed he knew Fieger was guilty. A recent Detroit Freee Press story linked to by TPM today indicates that the state AG has been involved with the Federal campaign finance investigation.
David Sternfeld wrote on January 28, 2008 1:14 PM:Hizzoner Coleman Young is chuckling in heaven (not that there is such a place, mind you) as Feiger's brother's song (The Knack's lead man) repeats in an endless loop:
Ooh my little pretty one, pretty one.
When you gonna give me some time, Sharona?
Ooh you make my motor run, my motor run.
Gun it comin' off the line Sharona
Never gonna stop, give it up.
Such a dirty mind. Always get it up for the touch
of the younger kind. My my my i yi woo. M M M My Sharona...
Come a little closer huh, ah will ya huh.
Close enough to look in my eyes, Sharona.
Keeping it a mystery gets to me
Running down the length of my thighs, Sharona
Never gonna stop, give it up. Such a dirty mind.
Always get it up for the touch
of the younger kind. My my my i yi woo. M M M My Sharona...
When you gonna give it to me, give it to me.
It is just a matter of time Sharona
Is it just destiny, destiny?
Or is it just a game in my mind, Sharona?
Never gonna stop, give it up.
Such a dirty mind. Always get it up for the touch
of the younger kind. My my my i yi woo. M M M My Sharona...
Sigh...
I was born in Detroit and am still very happy to be from there... far from there...
parrot wrote on January 28, 2008 2:41 PM:And you thought that the 'mo' in Motown stood for 'moral'?
ROSSinDETROIT wrote on January 28, 2008 3:29 PM:FYI: Kwame's mother is U.S. Rep Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick.
scottyurb wrote on January 28, 2008 9:23 PM:Detroiter's need to get over the fact that us suburbanite's know what's good for the city when we say to them to oust this rat bastard. It's by no means a racial thing. How Detroit goes is how the surrounding area's go and no one will be willing to do any type of business deal with this corrupt fool as he has shown that he cannot be trusted. All's Kwame had to do was mind the store and oversee the business deals made by his predecessor, Mayor Archer. Instead, he's embroiled his family members and classmates into his corrupt ways. He's a hip-hop mayor allright, right down to his gansta ways!!
tbj wrote on January 29, 2008 11:04 AM:He lied in court...He's through! Bastard men always messing up abnd then want the wives to stand by their side. She needs to pack up and let him be out of work and and out of luck!