When is Enough - Enough?

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is facing perjury and other criminal charges involving a whistle-blower's suit that was settled for $8.4 million dollars in September of 2007. Kilpatrick has eight felony charges filed against him.

Last May, the City Council submitted a petition, with ten pages of supporting documentation, asking Governor Jennifer Granholm to remove Mayor Kilpatrick from office.

Michigan state law allows a governor to remove an elected official from office when an office holder has been found guilty of official misconduct. The law does not require the Governor to act within a specific period of time, so she has opted to allow the criminal process to move forward before she takes action on the petition.

In the petition, City Council members claim that they were mislead in approving a $8.4 million dollar whistle-blowers settlement because the Mayor did not inform them that he had signed a confidentiality agreement that referenced sexually explicit text messages between himself and his top aide, Christine Beatty.

Beatty and Kilpatrick swore under oath at the trial that they did not have a romantic relationship - but the text messages seem to contradict the testimony.

Both Beatty and Kilpatrick now face perjury charges, misconduct and obstruction of justice charges regarding their testimony at the trial. They were booked on March 24, 2008.

Kilpatrick's mother, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, issued a statement saying she was “disappointed with the Wayne County prosecutor’s decision.”

“We must allow the process to run its course,” she said. "I hope all involved will allow this case to be tried in a court of law.”http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/NEWS01/303250001

Brian Dickerson, a staff journalist for Free Press, tells city residents that there is only one way to stop the bleeding.

"first the mayor and his chief of staff must do their part to close the book on this bizarre chapter in the city's history. For starters, they ought to start churning out apologies the way Detroit used to churn out cars and trucks.

Then they need to accept the criminal consequences of their lies, as gracefully and expeditiously as they can.

Then they should make at least a symbolic effort to reimburse the taxpayers whose millions they squandered on their spectacularly unsuccessful cover-up.

Finally -- there is, in the end, no honorable alternative -- they must resign their public offices.

Once the items on this to-do list have been checked off, I promise you, nobody in this town will give Kilpatrick, Beatty or their adolescent romance a second thought."

Christine Beatty has resigned from her position as the Mayor's Aide.

Article By DAVID ASHENFELTER, JOE SWICKARD and ZACHARY GORCHOW • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS • March 24, 2008: http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/NEWS01/303250001

Article By BRIAN DICKERSON *FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER * March 24, 2008: http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080324/NEWS01/303250001