Detroit Mayor Charged In Sex Scandal

Kwame Kilpatrick, Accused Of Lying About Affair With Aide, Says He Expects "Complete Exoneration"

(CBS/AP)  Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, a one-time rising star and Detroit's youngest elected leader, was charged Monday with perjury and other counts after sexually explicit text messages contradicted his sworn denials of an affair with a top aide.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy also charged the popular yet polarizing 37-year-old mayor with obstruction of justice and misconduct in office. Kilpatrick could face up to 15 years in prison and be expelled from office if convicted.

Speaking several hours later, Kilpatrick said he expects to be cleared.

"I look forward to complete exoneration once all the facts have been brought forth," he said. "I will remain focused on moving this city forward."

Former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, 37, who also denied under oath that she and Kilpatrick had a romantic relationship in 2002 and 2003, was charged with perjury and obstruction of justice. A message seeking comment from Beatty's attorney, Jeffrey Morganroth, was not returned.

"Some have suggested that the issues in this case are personal or private," Worthy said. "Our investigation has clearly shown that public dollars were used, people's lives were ruined, the justice system severely mocked and the public trust trampled on. ... This case is about as far from being a private matter as one can get."

The charges could signal the end of Kilpatrick's six-year career as mayor of one of America's largest cities. Calls for his resignation have surfaced since late January and the Detroit City Council asked him to step down last week.

Worthy began her investigation the day after the Free Press published excerpts of the embarrassing text messages in late January. The messages called into question testimony Kilpatrick and Beatty gave in a lawsuit filed by two police officers who alleged they were fired for investigating claims that the mayor used his security unit to cover up extramarital affairs.

In court, Kilpatrick and Beatty denied having an intimate relationship, but the text messages reveal that they carried on a flirty, sometimes sexually explicit dialogue about where to meet and how to conceal their trysts.

Kilpatrick is married with three children. Beatty was married at the time and has two children.

The city agreed to pay $8.4 million to the two officers and a third former officer who filed a separate lawsuit. Documents released last month showed Kilpatrick agreed to the settlement in an effort to keep the text messages from becoming public.

The text messages published by the Free Press revealed a romantic discourse.

"I'm madly in love with you," Kilpatrick wrote on Oct. 3, 2002.

"I hope you feel that way for a long time," Beatty replied. "In case you haven't noticed, I am madly in love with you, too!"

Worthy filed eight counts against Kilpatrick and seven against Beatty.

Perjury is a felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison. A felony conviction would mean Kilpatrick's immediate expulsion from office under the Detroit City Charter.

Kilpatrick faces charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, misconduct in office, perjury in a court proceeding and two counts of perjury other than in a court proceeding.

Beatty is charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, obstruction of justice, two counts of perjury in a court proceeding and two counts of perjury other than in a court proceeding.

For Beatty, who attended high school with Kilpatrick and managed his campaigns for Michigan's state House and the mayor's office, the scandal forced her to resign.

City lawyers and Kilpatrick's attorneys waged a futile legal battle to keep documents related to the lawsuit settlement and text messages from public eyes.

Calls for his resignation surfaced in late January from some city union leaders and Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox repeated that call.

Earlier this month, Kilpatrick lashed out at his opponents and the news media, accusing them of showing a "lynch mob mentality" in the aftermath of the scandal.

It happened as he finished reading the written text released before his State of the City address, which had only a brief allusion to the text-message controversy.

Kilpatrick, who is black, said he and his family have been subjected to racial slurs, as well as threats.

"In the past three days, I've received more death threats than I have in my entire administration," he said. "I've heard these words before, but I've never heard them said about my wife and children," he continued, his voice rising as he wagged his fingers and gestured with his arms.

"I don't believe that a Nielsen rating is worth the life of my children or your children. This unethical, illegal, lynch mob mentality has to stop."

[mommajommah]

and heres something CBS forgot to tell you... HE''S A DEMOCRAT

[skidee27]

As for the question about why the political party of this mayor wasn''t mentioned in the article? Are you kidding? CBS is THE single most biased news (and I use that term LOOSELY) organization in the U.S. They despise any conservative group and will support the liberal political machine at any cost. Any story they are forced to print that is negative about a Dem. will be minimized and spun (including the omission of the party name) to protect the Democrats to the point of absurdity. On the flip side, they will print any rumor or allegation without any verification or proof as long as it might hurt a Republican. Great "journalism". Jo

[skidee27]

The thing that puzzles me is why/how Bill Clinton got away with committing perjury when he testified falsely about the Monica Lewinsky affair. Anyone else wonder how that happened? Jo

[skidee27]

"A Governor does the honorable and courageous thing and resigns. "
PUH-LEASE!! Gov. Spitzer only resigned b/c his state legislature gave him no option. He went out kicking and screaming just like this guy. When some people (of any party) become so arrogant that they put themselves above everyone else, above the laws of this country AND above the laws of our Creator, they really do believe they will not have to pay the consequences. They are SHOCKED and CONFUSED when they are caught and forced to face the truth about who they are and what they have done. I''m sad to say there are way too many examples on both sides of the aisle in both state and national politics. I do agree with someone who pointed out that the only reason this is being perused is b/c of the spending of state money to cover it up and then the perjury to cover that up. I did not read the original story about snipers....just saw a reference to it in comments here. But I think this is a great example of WHY illicit affairs are NOT appropriate for our elected officials. It is an indication of severe lack of judgement and provides motivation and temptation for even more severely stupid and dangerously bad choices.
Jo

[excoachken]

Hey Kwame, even Johnny Cochran can''t win this one. When in doubt, maybe you can try the, "If the condom fits....." defense.

[formrusmcsgt]

If th tryst occured, Kilpatrick has proven that he is another who is governed by his phallus rather than his honor.

At the very least, he is cavalier in exchanging messages of this type with someone other than his wife.....

[xlib]

joyous88=just what are you joyous about?? You seem full of hate. How do you stand yourself??
As for Bush, sweetie, my poor deranged person, this stoyr is not about Bush. This story is about another arrogant democrat.
You know, I usually don''t do this but, valoum might help with your derangement.

[zootallures2]

Fear not, America is still open to all morons of all races, religions, nationalities....

[zootallures2]

This is to assure the public and the world the US is still the beacon of light to morons all over.

[grammawhamma]

Black vs white. Deomcrat vs republican. Christian vs athiest. Straight vs homosexual.

Does this never end? People are people...there are good and bad of every kind. The only labels we should use is good vs bad or right vs wrong.
--------
God "BLESS" America

[apprxam]

Who''s writing this guy''s speeches, Christine Beatty? What a fre*kin'' loser! "I have full faith in the system", the very system that was "lynching" him last week? Without a stutter, he infers that the facts of the case to be seen soon is that the evidence against him were illegally obtained. Public communications units, clearly able to be traced and retrieved, and, in fact, retrieved by court ordered subpoena in a civil case, jack*ssedly used by him and Mrs. Beatty, without thought that they were being stored and could be obtained later. What law school did this guy go to? There they are, on camera, under oath, lying through their teeth. WHAT MISJUSTICE MR. KILPATRICK? DID RACISM MAKE YOU LIE IN A COURT OF LAW? Please quit ASAP.

The biggest problem isn''t that he''s corrupt but that he''s stupid. And that''s a shame for the people of Detroit. A down-on-their-luck city, with a dumb-*ss mayor.

[arealist]

FYI : As the story goes it is not about *** between the mayor and his chief of staff. It is about their efforts to hide the fact that he had a party at the mayor mansion in which strippers were hired.The wife walks in and the stripper gets roughed up.The stripper filed charges against the mayors wife. The police department refused to investigate. The stripper attempted to blackmail the mayor and wound up the victim of a drive by shootings.
Three police officers who were either at the party as security or were part of the investigation of the strippers death (and party) spoke out to their superiors. They were fired or demoted. They then filed a lawsuit against the mayor and the city under the whistle-blowers act.
During the depositions and questioning on the witness stand the mayor and his chief of staff lied about firing the police officers and their affair, which was uncovered while the three officers investigated the strippers death. After the trial text messages were obtained by the local newspaper proving they lied about the officers firings and their affair.

Had their sexual relations been just that, no one would be charged and all this wouldn''t be going on in Detroit. Who cares? But they lied in connection of a lawsuit. They lied about firing the three officers, and their lies/coverup cost the city approx. 8.5 million.

[joyous88]

some more of the bush agenda at work
wiait till the election to see more of this BS

bush is the criminal;

and anyone who voted for him

[Latrocinor]

I don''''t see the political party mentioned anywhere in the article....

Posted by Prelgovisk at 10:54 PM : Mar 24, 200

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(CBS/AP) Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, a one-time rising star and Detroit''s youngest elected leader, was charged Monday with perjury and other counts after

[ioweign]

''Course, we have precedent about committing perjury over s3x......

Posted by donbl1 at 07:39 PM : Mar 24, 2008
+ report abuse
Quite a day we got going here......

Fibbing about snipers and committing perjury over s3x.

Posted by donbl1 at 07:38 PM : Mar 24, 2008


All we need is to invade another country based on fraud and lies...

[prelgovisk]

I don''t see the political party mentioned anywhere in the article. It is amazing that so many word were written about a politician without his party ever being mentioned, or a tie in how this may affect voters during an election year. Maybe the news reporter has softened up the story a bit to mitigate any damage it might cause to his own party.

[nikid2]

yeah!
They should never have invented female journalism.because tape is now posted online for all to view at the ***www.40plusconnnect.com****

[rafterman1]

===For who controls the media look at the political affilliations of all the news anchors.===
Posted by jowand

The "news anchors" aren''t the policy makers. The only news anchors that are policy makers are the managing directors of the evening news, but really, who cares what they say any more. The days of Cronkite are gone, its cable news that sets the mark now.

[blackshaft-2009]

AAHHHHHHH go slow

[blackshaft-2009]

Alright!!!!