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THE MICHIGAN SUPREME COURT DECLINED TO HEAR KWAME'S APPEAL.
MEANING, HE MUST TURN OVER THE TEXT MESSAGES
DETROIT -- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's journey through the appeals process ended Wednesday when the state's highest court denied his effort to keep sealed documents that detail an affair he carried on with his top aide in apparent contradiction to sworn testimony both gave during a whistle-blowers' trial.
The documents are related to embarrassing and sexually explicit text messages between Kilpatrick and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, but they do not include the actual messages.
The documents were to be released once the Supreme Court returned them to Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Robert Colombo Jr. That was expected to happen on Wednesday.
The Supreme Court's decision was unanimous. It concurred with an Appeals Court panel that said Colombo was correct in ordering the documents to be unsealed. They are part of an $8.4 million settlement the city made with former officers in last summer's whistle-blowers' suit.
The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News sued the city to get the sealed documents.
The city argued the documents should remain sealed because they involved communications between attorneys during court-ordered mediation, but the high court ruled "there is no FOIA exemption for settlement agreements," referring to the state's Freedom of Information Act.
City of Detroit Corporation counsel John Johnson said the city is disappointed by the ruling.
"Opening up settlement information to public view will most certainly put a chilling effect on parties trying to settle cases," Johnson said in a statement. "This ruling discourages the city from entering into the time honored and cost effective process of mediation."
The Free Press first reported last month on the embarrassing text messages between the married mayor and Beatty, who also was married at the time.
Both had denied under oath having a physical relationship in a lawsuit filed by two former police officers who claimed they were fired or forced to resign for investigating claims that Kilpatrick used his security unit to cover up extramarital affairs.
The documents could open the door to a perjury case against Kilpatrick. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is investigating and has said she expects to have a decision by mid-March.
"This is complete vindication for the idea that public officials cannot lie under oath and go behind closed doors in secrecy to make decisions with so much public money in the balance," Free Press Editor Paul Anger said in a story posted on the paper's Web site. "The public's right to know has been upheld."
"Finally, as a result of The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press, the public is about to have access to their own records," said James E. Stewart, attorney for the News. "These are public records involving the expenditure of millions of dollars of public money that the mayor has attempted to keep from the public and the City Council."
A jury ruled against the city in September, and despite vowing to appeal that decision, Kilpatrick agreed to pay $8.4 million to the plaintiffs and a third former officer who filed a separate lawsuit.
Other settlement agreement documents made public Feb. 8 reveal that Kilpatrick and Beatty authorized and signed a confidential agreement with the three officers and their attorney to keep the text messages secret.
The text messages are from Beatty's city-issued pager in 2002 and 2003.
The Free Press has not said how it obtained them.
City lawyers initially filed an appeal with the Court of Appeals to stop Colombo's order releasing documents from the whistle-blowers' agreement as well a Jan. 30 deposition of attorney Michael Stefani, who represented former Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown and officer Harold Nelthrope in the lawsuit.
A transcript of Stefani's five-hour deposition was among the documents the appeals panel ordered released Feb. 13.
Colombo had allowed both newspapers to question Stefani. The judge ordered Stefani to submit to the paper's deposition and to provide documents to the Free Press.
Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Kelly in Wednesday's ruling said certain parts of the Stefani deposition involved confidential communications protected by court rules. But the city did not argue to redact those parts of the testimony and instead asked that the entire transcript be exempt from disclosure.
"Because most of the deposition testimony does not fall within the parameters of (court rules), the trial judge properly decided not to exempt the entire transcript from disclosure," Kelly wrote.
The Detroit City Council, which signed off on the settlement without knowledge of the secret deal, has opened its own investigation.
"I believe that this vindicates the position of the Detroit City Council that enough is enough," Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel said. "It is time for a transparency, time for accountability and time to take responsibility for actions that individuals have taken."
Attorney General Mike Cox applauded the Supreme Court's decision. His office had filed a brief urging the court to allow the release of a document Kilpatrick signed showing he rejected an earlier settlement in the case. Cox said he did not have enough information on other documents the newspapers asked to be unsealed.
"The public's going to benefit from having this information opened up," Cox spokesman Rusty Hills said. "That's the whole point of open government."
MEANING, HE MUST TURN OVER THE TEXT MESSAGES
DETROIT -- Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's journey through the appeals process ended Wednesday when the state's highest court denied his effort to keep sealed documents that detail an affair he carried on with his top aide in apparent contradiction to sworn testimony both gave during a whistle-blowers' trial.
The documents are related to embarrassing and sexually explicit text messages between Kilpatrick and former Chief of Staff Christine Beatty, but they do not include the actual messages.
The documents were to be released once the Supreme Court returned them to Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Robert Colombo Jr. That was expected to happen on Wednesday.
The Supreme Court's decision was unanimous. It concurred with an Appeals Court panel that said Colombo was correct in ordering the documents to be unsealed. They are part of an $8.4 million settlement the city made with former officers in last summer's whistle-blowers' suit.
The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News sued the city to get the sealed documents.
The city argued the documents should remain sealed because they involved communications between attorneys during court-ordered mediation, but the high court ruled "there is no FOIA exemption for settlement agreements," referring to the state's Freedom of Information Act.
City of Detroit Corporation counsel John Johnson said the city is disappointed by the ruling.
"Opening up settlement information to public view will most certainly put a chilling effect on parties trying to settle cases," Johnson said in a statement. "This ruling discourages the city from entering into the time honored and cost effective process of mediation."
The Free Press first reported last month on the embarrassing text messages between the married mayor and Beatty, who also was married at the time.
Both had denied under oath having a physical relationship in a lawsuit filed by two former police officers who claimed they were fired or forced to resign for investigating claims that Kilpatrick used his security unit to cover up extramarital affairs.
The documents could open the door to a perjury case against Kilpatrick. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is investigating and has said she expects to have a decision by mid-March.
"This is complete vindication for the idea that public officials cannot lie under oath and go behind closed doors in secrecy to make decisions with so much public money in the balance," Free Press Editor Paul Anger said in a story posted on the paper's Web site. "The public's right to know has been upheld."
"Finally, as a result of The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press, the public is about to have access to their own records," said James E. Stewart, attorney for the News. "These are public records involving the expenditure of millions of dollars of public money that the mayor has attempted to keep from the public and the City Council."
A jury ruled against the city in September, and despite vowing to appeal that decision, Kilpatrick agreed to pay $8.4 million to the plaintiffs and a third former officer who filed a separate lawsuit.
Other settlement agreement documents made public Feb. 8 reveal that Kilpatrick and Beatty authorized and signed a confidential agreement with the three officers and their attorney to keep the text messages secret.
The text messages are from Beatty's city-issued pager in 2002 and 2003.
The Free Press has not said how it obtained them.
City lawyers initially filed an appeal with the Court of Appeals to stop Colombo's order releasing documents from the whistle-blowers' agreement as well a Jan. 30 deposition of attorney Michael Stefani, who represented former Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown and officer Harold Nelthrope in the lawsuit.
A transcript of Stefani's five-hour deposition was among the documents the appeals panel ordered released Feb. 13.
Colombo had allowed both newspapers to question Stefani. The judge ordered Stefani to submit to the paper's deposition and to provide documents to the Free Press.
Supreme Court Justice Marilyn Kelly in Wednesday's ruling said certain parts of the Stefani deposition involved confidential communications protected by court rules. But the city did not argue to redact those parts of the testimony and instead asked that the entire transcript be exempt from disclosure.
"Because most of the deposition testimony does not fall within the parameters of (court rules), the trial judge properly decided not to exempt the entire transcript from disclosure," Kelly wrote.
The Detroit City Council, which signed off on the settlement without knowledge of the secret deal, has opened its own investigation.
"I believe that this vindicates the position of the Detroit City Council that enough is enough," Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel said. "It is time for a transparency, time for accountability and time to take responsibility for actions that individuals have taken."
Attorney General Mike Cox applauded the Supreme Court's decision. His office had filed a brief urging the court to allow the release of a document Kilpatrick signed showing he rejected an earlier settlement in the case. Cox said he did not have enough information on other documents the newspapers asked to be unsealed.
"The public's going to benefit from having this information opened up," Cox spokesman Rusty Hills said. "That's the whole point of open government."
