Prosecutor Promises Full Investigation, Despite Personal Call From Kilpatrick
Seven hours after Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced she was wading into the text message scandal involving Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his chief of staff, the prosecutor confirmed Friday that the mayor called her this week to tell her he would remain neutral in her upcoming re-election bid. I don't know about you, but something tells me this sistah don't play!
And unfortunately for brotha Kwame, hooking with a high-yellow sister who probably wasn't giving him the time of day before his ascent will not bode well for his politcal career. As my queen pointed out, the wife may have gained some weight (see next post) and stopped taking care of herself, as many women do, in order to focus on the children and play the doting, supportive spouse role! Now Mayor, it's payback time!
Worthy's spokeswoman, Maria Miller, said the phone call came out of the blue Tuesday morning, several hours before the Free Press notified the mayor's office it wanted to interview him and Christine Beatty regarding what the newspaper published Thursday. The call was unusual because Worthy and Kilpatrick have had a distant political relationship.
Miller said Worthy doesn't know whether Kilpatrick was aware of the upcoming Free Press report when he made the call, or whether he was trying to head off an investigation. But Miller pointedly noted that Worthy has had no more than three conversations with the mayor in four years.
"She was very surprised by this because they know each other as public officials but she rarely speaks with him on the phone," Miller said.
Worthy, at her news conference Friday morning, said she would conduct a "fair, impartial and thorough" investigation in the wake of the Free Press report that Kilpatrick and Beatty lied under oath at a police whistle-blower's trial last summer when they denied having a sexual relationship.
The report, based on a series of text messages from Beatty's city-issued paging device, also indicated the mayor and Beatty misled jurors when they said they had not fired deputy police chief Gary Brown in 2003.
The outcome of the trial and related legal issues cost the city more than $9 million.
Worthy did not specify what, if any, possible criminal charges would be investigated and she declined to take questions from reporters.
Former Macomb County Prosecutor Carl Marlinga said Worthy could either conduct the investigation in-house or ask the State Police, the Wayne County Sheriff's Office or another law enforcement agency to conduct it. He said having an outside agency do the investigation would give it more credibility.
Marlinga, referring to Kilpatrick's phone call to Worthy, said the call is suspicious, but probably not improper.
Kilpatrick spokesman James Canning acknowledged Friday that the mayor made the call but said it was before Kilpatrick knew about the Free Press' upcoming articles. "It was well before we were aware you guys were doing a story," Canning said.
The mayor called Worthy sometime before noon Tuesday, Miller said. The Free Press first notified the mayor's office it wanted to speak with him and Beatty early Tuesday evening. That was followed by numerous attempts Wednesday.
The city's attorneys, however, have known since early January of a Free Press lawsuit against the city seeking documents relating to the whistle-blower settlement. As part of that suit, the paper had sent a subpoena to SkyTel seeking the text messages.
Worthy ran unopposed in 2004. Defense lawyer and former Wayne County assistant prosecutor Portia Roberson has announced that she plans to run against Worthy this year. Worthy did not endorse anyone in the 2005 mayoral race, when Kilpatrick won his second term.
Detroit City Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel said she's concerned about the phone call.
"Personally, I would not be comfortable," she said. "I would be concerned that it would create the appearance of a conflict."