The Kilpatrick and Beatty text-messaging scandal was a

political Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

sex scandal A sex scandal is a public scandal involving allegations or information about possibly immoral sexual activities, often associated with the sexual affairs of film stars, politicians, famous athletes, or others in the public eye. Sex scandals r ...

in the United States emerging from a

whistleblower Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...

lawsuit involving former

Detroit Police The Detroit Police Department (DPD) is the primary law enforcement agency of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1865, it has nearly 2,630 officers, making it the largest law enforcement organization in the state. In additio ...

chief Gary Brown,

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

mayor

Kwame Kilpatrick Kwame Malik Kilpatrick (born June 8, 1970) is an American former politician who served as the 72nd mayor of Detroit from 2002 to 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously represented the 9th district in the Michigan House of Repre ...

and his former

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supportin ...

and paramour

Christine Beatty Christine Rowland Beatty (born May 1970) served as the Chief of Staff from 2002 to 2008 to Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. In January 2008, Beatty resigned amid an emerging political sex scandal and criminal charges of perjury related to a whist ...

Background

In 2003, a civil lawsuit was filed against Kilpatrick by ex-bodyguard Harold Nelthrope and former Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown, who claimed they were fired in retaliation for an internal-affairs investigation. Brown had led the investigation, and Nelthrope had told investigators about rumors of a party that occurred at the Mayor's mansion. Both claimed that Kilpatrick was motivated, in part, by his concern that the probe would uncover his extramarital affairs. The trial began in August 2007. Kilpatrick and his chief of staff, Christine Beatty, both testified under oath that they were not involved in an

extramarital affair An affair is a relationship typically between two people, one or both of whom are either married or in a long-term monogamous or emotionally-exclusive relationship with someone else. The affair can be solely sexual, solely physical or solely em ...

. In September 2007, after three hours of deliberation, the jury found in favor of Nelthrope and Brown, awarding $6.5 million in damages. After the verdict was read, Kilpatrick said that the racial composition of the jury—which was mostly white and suburban—had played a role in the outcome and vowed an appeal. Michigan Hall of Justice Daytime

In October, plaintiffs' attorney Mike Stefani received thousands of text messages he had been endeavoring to obtain via subpoena—the messages indicated an affair between Kilpatrick and Beatty. A day after he presented the files to the city's attorneys, Kilpatrick announced that he had agreed to settle the case, and the city counsel approved the $8.4 million deal, which included a proviso that Stefani would turn the files over to the mayor. After the ''Detroit Free Press'' filed a Michigan Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, the proviso was removed from the main settlement document and put into a confidential supplement.

Discovery of confidential settlement terms and text messages

The ''Detroit Free Press'' and ''The Detroit News'' filed a FOIA suit, seeking all settlement-related documents, and, in February 2008, the Michigan Supreme Court ordered the settlement documents be turned over to the plaintiffs. The bulk of the text messages were released in late October 2008 by Circuit Court Judge Timothy Kenny, who instructed that some portions be redacted.

Repercussions

Beatty resigned from her position as Kilpatrick's chief of staff. The City Council requested that Kilpatrick resign as mayor and that Governor Granholm use her authority to remove him from office. Granholm said the inquiry was like a trial and that her role would be "functioning in a manner similar to that of a judicial officer." Kilpatrick said he had paid back the $8.4 million through "hard work for the city" and dismissed any intentions of removing himself from office as "political rhetoric". Kilpatrick and Beatty were ultimately charged with several criminal counts, including perjury, and, as part of a plea agreement, Kilpatrick resigned as mayor.

Citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kilpatrick And Beatty Text-Messaging Scandal State and local political sex scandals in the United States Political scandals in Michigan Text messaging Detroit Free Press Sexting