My words are this…Detroit Mayor has bitten off more than he can chew. He’s in over his head, and his reputation is goin to be dirtier than mud/clay mixed. If you’re unawares Kwame, Detroit’s youngest mayor ever…had an affair w/his Chief of Staff Christine Beatty and his “sex texts” on his state given cell was revealed and publicized. Now suspicions has circled around him like vultures and a carcass when a stripper was killed at the Manoogian Mansion (Mayor’s residence). Believing evidence may lie on past texts, motions were filed to release the rest of past texts. Kwame filed to suppress. Well yesterday the Michigan State Supreme Court-denied Mayor Kwame Kilpatrice. It’s on now….

Release Of Secret Documents Not An End To Mayor’s Trouble

DETROIT — Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has lost one battle in an ongoing text-messaging sex scandal, but his next fight may be to stay out of legal jeopardy while saving his job as head of one of the nation’s largest cities.Download: Read Lawyer’s Deposition About Secret Documents

Exhibits Released
Statement: Statement From Mayor’s Office
SoundOff: Do you agree with the ruling?
Timeline Of Text Message Scandal A prosecutor is expected to rule by mid-March on whether she will pursue felony perjury charges against Kilpatrick and his former top aide for statements both made under oath in a whistle-blower’s trial that eventually cost Detroit taxpayers $8.4 million.

Records made public Wednesday also reveal a trail of deceit — signed off on by Kilpatrick and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty — detailing the cover-up of an affair between the two as a factor behind the huge settlement amount.The documents reveal how the mayor decided to quickly settle the whistleblower case.In a five-hour deposition, Mike Stefani, the fired officer’s attorney, recounted how on the last day in October he showed up to settlement negotiations with the city with an envelope detailing the text messages between the mayor and Christine Beatty, and proof they perjured themselves on the stand.The documents outline how Sam McCargo, the mayor’s attorney, opened the envelope and read it.Stefani continued, “Another 15 minutes went by. And the facilitator came back into the room and said, “He got ahold of the mayor at the airport, and the mayor has approved negotiating for a global resolution.”

Download: Read Entire Deposition About Secret Documents
Stefani said he subpoenaed the city’s communications carrier, SkyTel, for text messages from those periods because they appeared to coincide with a long-rumored wild party at the mayor’s official residence in 2002.”… the Manoogian Mansion party was supposed to have taken place in September. And I wanted to see if there were text messages about that,” Stefani said in the deposition.

And one of the exhibits released Wednesday, Exhibit 11, appeared to be proof the city wanted to cut a deal to protect the mayor’s alleged philandering. The city would not appeal an $8.4 million settlement for three police officers investigating the mayor, in exchange for the officer’s attorney to destroy thousands of text messages that exposed the mayor and his chief of staff as lovers.If the lawyer or police talked about it, they would fork over every penny of the $8.4 million the city paid them.And it wasn’t just love the mayor was hiding.

Exhibit 11 shows the mayor wanted all the banking documents showing special deals for Beatty’s current and former house turned over and destroyed.Detroit Free Press attorney Herschel Fink calls it the smoking gun in a monumental cover-up from the public and City Council.The documents were released Wednesday a few hours after the Supreme Court ruled.City lawyers initially filed an appeal with the Court of Appeals to stop Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Robert Colombo Jr.’s order releasing documents from the whistle-blowers’ agreement as well the Jan. 30 deposition of attorney Michael Stefani, who represented former Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown and officer Harold Nelthrope in the lawsuit.

A transcript of Stefani’s five-hour deposition was among the documents released Wednesday afternoon.The Supreme Court’s decision was unanimous. It concurred with an Appeals Court panel that said Colombo was correct in ordering the documents to be unsealed. They are part of an $8.4 million settlement the city made with former officers in last summer’s whistle-blowers’ suit.The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News sued the city to get the sealed documents. In addition to the deposition, the documents released Wednesday include the initial Oct. 17 settlement agreement, which included a clause keeping the text messages secret; Kilpatrick’s rejection of that agreement on Oct. 27; and a copy of an escrow agreement detailing how documents related to the settlement would be placed into a safe deposit box.

“There’s nothing new there,” Sharon McPhail, the mayor’s legal adviser, said of the documents. “It really was all about the principle of protecting the mediation process.”In Stefani’s deposition, he explained that he thought Kilpatrick rejected the Oct. 17 agreement because the Detroit Free Press had filed a Freedom of Information Act request asking for the settlement.”I’m presuming, but don’t know for a fact, that they — that is, Mayor Kilpatrick and perhaps Beatty, did not …. want the reference to the text messages in the Settlement Agreement,” Stefani said.

After the mayor rejected the Oct. 17 agreement, a separate confidentiality agreement detailing how the text messages would be kept secret was reached Nov. 1 between all parties.Stefani was deposed by lawyers for the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News after Colombo allowed the newspapers to question him.The city argued the documents and deposition should remain sealed because they involved communications between attorneys during court-ordered mediation, but the high court ruled “there is no FOIA exemption for settlement agreements.”City of Detroit Corporation counsel John Johnson said the city is disappointed by the ruling.”

Opening up settlement information to public view will most certainly put a chilling effect on parties trying to settle cases,” Johnson said in a statement. “This ruling discourages the city from entering into the time honored and cost effective process of mediation.”James Canning, deputy press secretary for the city of Detroit, further added to Johnson’s sentiment in a written statement released Wednesday night.” The purpose of our legal action from the beginning has been based on the principle of protecting the sanctity of the mediation process,” said Canning.” It is evident by today’s news reports that no new information has been revealed. This is just a re-hashing of information that has been published over and over during the past four weeks. We are thoroughly reviewing this document and will consider any and all appropriate legal action,” he said.

The Free Press first reported last month on the embarrassing text messages between the married mayor and Beatty, who also was married at the time. Beatty announced her resignation shortly thereafter and Kilpatrick made a televised speech apologizing to family and constituents but avoiding direct mention of the allegations.The Free Press has not said how it obtained the text messages. Kilpatrick and Beatty denied under oath having a physical relationship in the whistle-blowers’ lawsuit filed by Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown and Officer Harold Nelthrope.

Kwame and former lover, former Chief-of-Staff, Christine Beatty

They claimed they were fired or forced to resign for investigating claims that Kilpatrick used his security unit to cover up extramarital affairs.Nelthrope told Local 4 he does not hold a grudge against the city but he does have some harsh words for the mayor.”It there are things that are done inappropriately, maybe it’s better for the city that he resigns his position,” said Nelthrope.

The documents could open the door to a perjury case against Kilpatrick. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is investigating and has said she expects to have a decision by mid-March.Detroit City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. said he received a subpoena from the prosecutor’s office and appeared Wednesday for a deposition. He said the deposition took about 45 minutes but declined to offer any details.Cockrel said fellow City Council member Kwame Kenyatta also appeared for a deposition on Wednesday.”This is complete indication for the idea that public officials cannot lie under oath and go behind closed doors in secrecy to make decisions with so much public money in the balance,” Free Press Editor Paul Anger said in a story posted on the paper’s Web site. “The public’s right to know has been upheld.”"Finally, as a result of The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press, the public is about to have access to their own records,” said James E. Stewart, attorney for the News. “These are public records involving the expenditure of millions of dollars of public money that the mayor has attempted to keep from the public and the City Council.”A jury ruled against the city in September, and despite vowing to appeal that decision, Kilpatrick agreed to pay $8.4 million to the plaintiffs and a third former officer who filed a separate lawsuit.Other settlement agreement documents made public Feb. 8 reveal that Kilpatrick and Beatty authorized and signed the confidential agreement with the three officers and their attorney to keep the text messages secret.The text messages are from Beatty’s city-issued pager in 2002 and 2003.The Free Press has not said how it obtained them.

Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Kelly in Wednesday’s ruling said certain parts of the Stefani deposition involved confidential communications protected by court rules. But the city did not argue to redact those parts of the testimony and instead asked that the entire transcript be exempt from disclosure.”Because most of the deposition testimony does not fall within the parameters of (court rules), the trial judge properly decided not to exempt the entire transcript from disclosure,” Kelly wrote.

The Detroit City Council, which signed off on the settlement without knowledge of the secret deal, has opened its own investigation.”I believe that this vindicates the position of the Detroit City Council that enough is enough,” Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel said. “It is time for a transparency, time for accountability and time to take responsibility for actions that individuals have taken.”Attorney General Mike Cox applauded the Supreme Court’s decision. His office had filed a brief urging the court to allow the release of a document Kilpatrick signed showing he rejected an earlier settlement in the case. Cox said he did not have enough information on other documents the newspapers asked to be unsealed.

“The public’s going to benefit from having this information opened up,” Cox spokesman Rusty Hills said. “That’s the whole point of open government.”