Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick Indicted for Perjury and Obstruction (Wizbang Politics)

CNN has the scoop on the deep trouble that Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is in:

Kilpatrick, who is married, has been snarled in a well-publicized sex scandal since January after The Detroit Free Press reported he exchanged romantic text messages with his then-chief of staff, Christine Beatty.
The paper reported in January that in an analysis of nearly 14,000 text messages on Beatty's city-issued pager, it found some from 2002 and 2003 that indicated the two were having a romantic affair.

The newspaper report contradicted testimony Kilpatrick gave last August in a court case brought by police officers against the mayor and the city of Detroit alleging the mayor retaliated against the officers for their role in investigating his office. Critics alleged that Kilpatrick committed perjury in the case and called for his resignation.

In testimony during that case, Kilpatrick and Beatty both denied having a romantic relationship. Beatty resigned as Kilpatrick's chief of staff on January 28.

Prosecutor Kym Worthy said she charged Kilpatrick and Beatty with multiple counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office in a 12-count indictment. The most serious charges carry a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

The Detroit Free Press has details on the whistleblower lawsuit that started Kilpatrick's problems. The mayor claims his privacy has been violated:

He said the text messages and the settlement agreement that concealed them should never have been made public.
He also said the text messages were private even though he signed a policy directive in June 2000 advising city employees that all electronic communications should be considered public.

If Kilpatrick doesn't undertstand that the text messages he was sending on his city-issued device on the taxpayer's dime would be recorded and considered public, then I would maintain that he's not qualified to be the mayor of anything much less a major city in the United States.

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Comments (5)

I thought perjury and obstr... (Below threshold)

1. Posted by Jayemay | March 24, 2008 1:34 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)

Jayemay:

I thought perjury and obstruction of justice didn't apply to Democrat executive office holders if it pertained to lying about sex.

Posted on March 24, 2008 13:34

I thought perjury and ob... (Below threshold)

2. Posted by Larkin | March 24, 2008 1:49 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)

Larkin

That crossed my mind too but apparently the prosecutors aren't applying this well-known exemption to Kilpatrick for some reason.

Posted on March 24, 2008 13:49

what keeps coming to my min... (Below threshold)

3. Posted by ke_future | March 24, 2008 2:44 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)

ke_future:

what keeps coming to my mind is that some people are going to have to start updating those stupid lists that they spam out listing all of the republicans getting caught in sex and corruption scandals, and never listing any democrats.

the way things are going for the democrats, this year has the potential to turn into a reverse of 2006 if the republicans could actually get off their asses and do something. pallin in alaska is a great example of what republicans *should* be doing about corrupt members of their own party.

Posted on March 24, 2008 14:44

I'm still waiting on the in... (Below threshold)

4. Posted by Jim Addison | March 24, 2008 3:19 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)

Jim Addison:

I'm still waiting on the investigation into the stripper found dead in a car. She had performed at a party of the Mayor's . . . some coincidence.

Posted on March 24, 2008 15:19

all i know is that I am goi... (Below threshold)

5. Posted by 323 East | March 25, 2008 2:39 AM | Score: -1 (1 votes cast)

323 East

all i know is that I am going to join the Free Kwame campaign... why not? www.kwamemugshot.com

Posted on March 25, 2008 02:39