Detroit Mayor's Troubles Test A City Short on Good Fortune

Kilpatrick, the son of Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), was known as the hip-hop mayor when elected in 2001, because of his age -- 31 -- and the diamond stud earring he favored.

About a year after he took office, rumors surfaced that Kilpatrick had hosted a wild party involving a stripper at his city-owned mansion. State and city investigators determined that the rumors were false, but the matter has dogged the mayor ever since.

A police officer who was to investigate the party was fired, as was a member of Kilpatrick's security detail who said his colleagues misbehaved by joining in. Both men filed a whistle-blower lawsuit against the city.

Kilpatrick and Beatty were called to testify in the trial last summer, and each was asked whether they were romantically or intimately involved. Beatty rolled her eyes and answered no. Kilpatrick emphatically said no, adding that the question was tantamount to calling Beatty a "whore."

The city lost the lawsuit, and a jury awarded the fired men $6.5 million. Kilpatrick vowed to appeal, calling it the "wrong verdict," but weeks later, he reversed course and agreed to settle the case for $8.4 million -- a figure swelled by legal costs.

Kilpatrick's change of heart came, the Detroit Free Press reported, after city attorneys learned that a lawyer for the fired men had obtained text messages between the mayor and Beatty.

The contents of those messages were explosive: steamy conversations about their sexual encounters and a comment from Beatty that they decided to fire one of the two men.

Now with a county prosecutor and an angry City Council looking hard at him, the mayor is soldiering on. "He's made it very clear that he's not going to resign," Cockrel said. "He has to recognize that his credibility has been severely damaged, not only in Detroit but . . . in the suburbs and throughout southeastern Michigan, as well."

Freman Hendrix, a former deputy mayor under Kilpatrick's predecessor, Dennis Archer, called Kilpatrick an "obvious embarrassment."

"When it's on 'Nightline,' with the city's leadership profiled the way it was, it's a national disgrace," said Hendrix, who challenged Kilpatrick's reelection bid. "It's almost impossible to calculate the damage. It does great harm to the city. And the city, in the best of circumstances, is fragile, in the way that any Midwest, Rust Belt city is fragile."

But Kilpatrick has support among the citizens. "I think he's done a hell of a job," said Bobby Edwards, 56. "He's made mistakes. He's not an angel. I'll call what he did an indiscretion."

Claire Nelson, 31, co-owner of the Bureau of Urban Living, was neutral. "There is so much energy in the city," she said. "To have this eclipse the good news is so sad. If Detroit could get its act together and prove that we have all this livable space, that would be its real selling point. I didn't vote for Kwame, but I have friends who work for him and believe in him."