Kilpatrick takes plea

Detroit mayor agrees to leave office, serve 4 months in jail and pay restitution for perjury in scandal involving ex-aide

By Tim Jones | Chicago Tribune

September 5, 2008

DETROIT - Mired in a sex scandal that crippled the governance of Detroit all year, the city's troubled mayor chose yesterday to walk out of office, rather than run the increasing risk of being heaved out.

The tawdry drama of Kwame Kilpatrick, the once-promising 38-year-old mayor of the nation's 11th largest city, ended in a wood-paneled courtroom when a subdued Kilpatrick, after months of defiant claims of innocence, meekly pleaded guilty to reduced felony charges and agreed to serve four months in jail and pay up to $1 million in restitution.

"I lied under oath," Kilpatrick told the court, conceding what growing numbers of Detroiters have suspected for months: He covered up an affair with his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, as part of a lawsuit settlement that cost the city $8.4 million.

Kilpatrick, first elected amid great fanfare in 2001, is scheduled to leave office no later than Sept. 18. But in a city whose residents are well aware of the steamy details of text messages between Kilpatrick and Beatty, widely reported in the news media, the mayor is already history.

"I think there is a giant sense of relief in the city and the entire state over the events of today," said Larry Dubin, a professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. "This is like opening up an artery and permitting the blood to flow again for the city."

Kilpatrick will be succeeded by Ken Cockrel Jr., 42, the City Council president and one of five council members who voted in May to begin ouster proceedings. Cockrel will serve until a special election is held.

Cockrel said it was "a very sad day for the city of Detroit, but I think we also have to recognize it's also a day of hope and renewal." At a Detroit news conference, he declared, "Today we may be grieving, but tomorrow we must come together."

In recent weeks it became clear that time was running out for Kilpatrick. Business and religious leaders and the city's African-American newspaper said Kilpatrick should quit. The prurient interest of the scandal made Detroit the butt of late-night talk show jokes. Sales transactions aimed at balancing the city's budget were stalled. And on Wednesday, Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm began expulsion hearings, fanning a flurry of activity aimed at a plea bargain.

Granholm, who halted yesterday's scheduled hearing after Kilpatrick's plea, called the events of the day "a sad but historic story" that is coming to an end.

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, attending the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., called Kilpatrick's exit "a great day for the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan."

Such a scenario did not seem likely seven years ago, when the charismatic 31-year-old state legislator, the son of a powerful congresswoman, took over the reins of the shrinking city and seemed to energize it by force of will. Spending irregularities began to multiply and reports circulated of a wild party at the mayor's mansion, involving strippers and members of the mayor's security detail. While Kilpatrick was re-elected in 2005, he had earned a reputation for political immaturity.

When the Detroit Free Press published texts of salacious messages between Kilpatrick, married and the father of two children, and Beatty, a divorced single mother, contradicting courtroom claims that there was no romantic relationship, the reservoir of good will toward the mayor began to dry up.

The scandal stems from a whistle-blower lawsuit filed by two former police officers who accused Kilpatrick of retaliating against them for trying to investigate misconduct by the mayor and his security detail. Questioned under oath in 2004 and 2007, Kilpatrick repeatedly denied having an affair with his chief of staff.

After the excerpts were published, Kilpatrick and Beatty were charged.

In addition to perjury, Kilpatrick was accused of misleading the City Council when he secured its approval of an $8.4 million settlement with three former police officers. Prosecutors said he settled to keep the text messages from becoming public.

Beatty is expected to enter a plea bargain Thursday at her next court appearance.

Yesterday, Kilpatrick also pleaded no contest to assault, for allegedly shoving a detective who was trying to serve a subpoena in the text-message case. His sentence in that case will be served at the same time as the one for obstruction.

Kilpatrick's sentence will be officially imposed Oct. 28, and he will immediately report to jail, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said.

Under the city charter, any mayor guilty of a felony is automatically expelled from office.

Although his mother, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, chairs the influential Congressional Black Caucus, Kilpatrick became a political pariah. Assault charges last month resulted in his being fitted with a court-ordered electronic tether. He was prevented from leaving the city, much to the relief of Democrats uncomfortable with the prospect of Kilpatrick attending last month's Democratic National Convention in Denver.

His political capital spent and his electoral promise squandered, Kilpatrick struck the plea deal as Granholm was preparing the second day of expulsion hearings.

"This has been a great distraction. Now we can begin to rebuild the image of the city," said John Mogk, who ran for mayor of Detroit in the 1970s and now teaches law at Wayne State University. "Everyone at all levels is relieved that the mayor has resigned."

The Associated Press contributed to this article.