City Council Silences an Embattled Kilpatrick

By: Corey Williams, Associated Press

DETROIT - (AP) The City Council rebuffed embattled Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's attempts to propose a budget on Monday, the latest sign of increasingly frosty relations between the mayor and city leaders.

Kilpatrick, who is fighting perjury and other criminal charges, walked in to the Council chambers and greeted each member with handshakes or hugs before he prepared to speak.

Council President Ken Cockrel then informed him that he and the other members had agreed not to hear from the mayor. He swiftly called for an end to the meeting, leaving Kilpatrick shocked and seemingly embarrassed.

"This could have been done in my office," Kilpatrick told the Council before heading out into the hallway, where he called the council's actions "childish."

The relationship between Kilpatrick and the council has deteriorated for months. The panel voted 7-1 in March to ask Kilpatrick to resign.

Kilpatrick and former chief of staff Christine Beatty are awaiting a June 9 preliminary examination on perjury, misconduct and obstruction of justice charges.

Not guilty pleas have been entered for each, and Kilpatrick has said he will be exonerated.

The charges stem from a lawsuit filed by two former police officers who won a jury verdict last summer. They said they were fired for investigating claims that the mayor used his security unit to cover up extramarital affairs.

Kilpatrick and Beatty denied having a romantic relationship in 2002 and 2003, but excerpts of text messages published by the Detroit Free Press contradict their testimony. Prosecutors allege that the multimillion-dollar settlement was reached after the officers' attorney showed the mayor's lawyers references to the text messages.

The newspaper published excerpts of the messages in January, prompting an investigation that led to the charges.

Kilpatrick ridiculed the Council last week for holding hearings on the $8.4 million settlement. Council members have said they were duped into approving it because they were not told of a confidentiality agreement referring to the text messages.

KATRINA CREATES CHANGES IN NEW ORLEANS POLITICS

Whites to take control of city council.

As a result of the recent local elections, the New Orleans City Council will soon have a white majority for the first time in over 20 years.

The election results are a clear and dramatic indication of the displacement of the city's predominantly Black population by Hurricane Katrina which struck the city in 2005.

Estimates vary but it is believed by most experts that as many as half of the Blacks displaced by Hurricane Katrina have been unable to return to the city and establish new residences.

The election results also confirm initial fears that powerful political and economic forces would take advantage of the displacements to turn New Orleans into a smaller, higher income and whiter city. For example, virtually none of the reconstruction projects planned by the city to benefit lower income Blacks has gotten off the drawing board. In addition, those African Americans who have managed to re-establish themselves in the city may have lost faith in the political process.

In the Nov. 17 elections, for example, the 52,614 people casting ballots was down sharply from the 113,000 who voted during the 2006 elections for mayor. In addition, 29,700 whites voted compared to only 22,900 Blacks casting ballots.

As a result, veteran white politician Jacquelyn Clarkson was able to defeat Black candidate Cynthia Willard-Lewis in the contest for an at-large seat on the city council.

The Council now has four white and three Black members.