Once More The Heart Gets In The Way

Once again a love affair is on the verge of
toppling the career of a young and promising
black politician. Why is it that we always seem
to let the affairs of heart beat out the affairs
of business we were elected to perform? Feel
free to offer up your thoughts on this latest
political scandal.



Five months ago, Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick and chief of staff Christine Beatty testified that they did not have a romantic relationship. They continued to deny a relationship out of court as well, as they had for several years.

But that was before the Detroit Free Press published a cache of text messages between the two, many of them flirtatious or sexual, and others referring to meetings in hotels.

On Monday, Beatty resigned her post, saying she could "no longer effectively carry out the duties of chief of staff."

The resignation came days after a county prosecutor opened an investigation into whether Kilpatrick and Beatty committed perjury when they concealed their affair during testimony last summer.

Two City Council members demanded an internal investigation into the pair's relationship, which has outraged voters and led to calls for Kilpatrick's resignation. The council is also looking at the city charter to determine whether he could be forced from office.

One of their chief concerns: whether the 37-year-old mayor intentionally misled the City Council into approving an $8.4-million settlement between the city and three former police officers. The men said they unfairly lost their jobs because they were looking into potential wrongdoing by the mayor's security team, which could have exposed the intimate relationship.

The political scandal has stunned Motor City, which has lost more population in the last half-century than any other city in the country, has a poverty rate that hovers around 30%, and is routinely ranked by the U.S. Census Bureau as one of America's most impoverished urban centers.

"This is a city whose resources are already limited," said John Riehl, who heads up the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 207, one of the groups calling for the mayor to step down. "Is it really any surprise that people are furious?"

Kilpatrick, who is married and has three children, issued a brief statement to reporters. "These 5- and 6-year-old text messages reflect a very difficult period in my personal life," he said. "It is profoundly embarrassing to have these extremely private messages now displayed in such a public manner. My wife and I worked our way through these intensely personal issues years ago."




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