Mayor Kilpatrick brushes off City Council's call for him to resign

Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- The City Council voted 7-1 on Tuesday afternoon in favor of a resolution asking Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick to resign.

Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers was the only dissenting vote and Councilwoman Martha Reeves was absent due to illness.

Kilpatrick dismissed the resolution Tuesday afternoon.

"It's not a binding resolution ... they spent a whole day on it," Kilpatrick said. "There are more important things."

Kilpatrick also suggested text messages that appear to contradict his sworn testimony that he did not have an affair with his former chief of staff may not be authentic.

"There will be a time when we can comment about the texting the authenticity of all of it," Kilpatrick said. "A lot of things on public display are not facts ... are not true."

He said he is "more focused" than ever as he awaits Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's decision on whether to charge him for perjury. "There is incredible pressure on everyone," he said, including the City Council.

Asking Kilpatrick to resign in the nonbinding resolution were Council President Kenneth V. Cockrel and council members Kwame Kenyatta, Brenda Jones, Alberta Tinsley-Talabi, Barbara Rose Collins and Sheila Cockrel.

The council resolution is nonbinding, but it represents a no-confidence vote.

In a statement, Sheila Cockrel said "the mayor's personal, legal and political situation cannot take precedence over what is the best interest of the city."

The council put off voting on the resolution earlier this month in anticipation of a decision from Worthy on perjury charges against the mayor.

Worthy is expected to make an announcement next week, said her spokeswoman, Maria Miller.

Conyers said she voted against the measure because she wanted to get more information before she made her decision on the mayor's status.

"Let's stop playing symbolic games with symbolic resolutions," Conyers said.

This resolution was slightly different from an earlier version the council refused to act on two weeks ago, with the biggest difference being the removal of wording that asked the council's special counsel, William Goodman, to investigate what steps the governor could take in getting Kilpatrick out of office.

The council chambers were packed Tuesday morning and a long line of people waited outside. Lorenzo Houston, 57, of Detroit said residents elected Kilpatrick and he should stay as mayor because he has done good things for the city.

"I am standing behind him 100 percent," Houston said.

Aisha Bowen of Detroit agreed, saying, it's up to the people of the city, not the council, to remove Kilpatrick.

"I think you are stepping away from the city when you do this," Bowen said.

But Valerie Burris, 48, of Detroit said she doesn't want a mayor in office who she said has lied to the people. She said a recall effort is expensive and the council needs to act.

"I want you to do this," Burris said. "The mayor has disgraced us. He has lied to the council. You are the voice of the voiceless. Do your job."

The mayor is awaiting word from Worthy on whether he will be charged with any crime stemming from a whistle-blower case against the city in which three ex-Detroit police officers were awarded $8.4 million. Documents released by the Wayne County Circuit Court earlier this month reveal that Kilpatrick cut a side deal to settle the whistle-blowers' suits in exchange for the text messages between him and Christine Beatty, his then-chief of staff. The text messages between Kilpatrick and Beatty contradicted sworn testimony that they did not have an affair or discuss the firing of Deputy Chief Gary Brown. Those details were withheld from the council, which signed off on the $8.4 million payout.

The mayor's staff has called the resolution empty and said the council was just seeking the spotlight.

Meanwhile Goodman, the attorney hired by the City Council, said some people whom the council wants to hear from in order to understand the confidential settlement are willing to cooperate.

Others the council wishes to speak to have either not responded or said they had conflicts with proposed hearings on March 26-27, he said.

Goodman, who did not identify who did and did not respond, said it makes more sense to have the hearings in mid-April.

Also Tuesday, the city's Board of Ethics was expected to discuss what to do with at least two complaints filed against Kilpatrick.

Detroit News Staff Writer David Josar contributed to this report. You can reach Christine MacDonald at (313) 222-2396 or cmacdonald@detnews.com.