A Sister's Dilemma: Gamble, Sit still, or Roll Over?

In this whole scandal that has enveloped Detroit, I feel for the women in this mess. We as women take on many roles as for example; wife, mother, mistress, cohort and ally. I feel and know that some roles we do willingly and some we do begrudgingly.

With the current news that a former police mail clerk has come forward indicating that she saw a police report indicating that Mrs. Kilpatrick assaulted dancer Tamera Green, the plot thickens. Sure the information has been out there for a long time, but this is the first time someone has personally attempted to come forward and make an actual claim that Tamara Greene was assaulted by Mrs. Kilpatrick at the rumored party held at the Manoogian Mansion. I really hope that Attorney Norman Yatooma can get his hands on those text messages for his case. I also hope that for the ex-clerk's sake, she has protection, and a clear background because after the father of Tamara Greene's son indicated that his house was broken in and vandalized, no telling what may come at her because of her statements.

Whether the accusation is true or not, remains to be seen. Since the Kilpatricks' January 30th broadcast from their church, Mrs. Kilpatrick has kept a low profile. I don't blame her because I would have done the same. Ms. Beatty has been seen around and about briefly when she visits her lawyers. The toil of the scandal must be stressful, and it can be seen on their faces. Ms. Beatty, in a recent Detroit News photo, appears like the situation is draining the life out of her.

Neal Rubin's column in today's Detroit News made a suggestion that may play out in Ms. Beatty's favor, but I doubt it will happen soon. He suggested in order for her to save herself and keep her life from going down the toilet, she needs to drop a dime on the mayor. After the rumored police hit on Tamara Greene, the rumored death of another Detroit dancer in Atlanta, and the upheaval of the lives of the police officers who filed the whistle blower suit in which she played a part, I believe that it will take a lot of convincing for Ms. Beatty to take that route. I think the Fed would have to offer a lot of protection, relocation and guarantees before she would even consider that option. It would also depend on how deep the emotional attachment and feelings that she may still have for Mayor Kilpatrick. I think once legal proceedings began including if and when they are indicted, the scenario will sharply change the loyalties and relationships between all the players in this drama.

'What ifs' float around as text scandal drags on'

Detnews.com
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Neal Rubin

A friend who used to get paid for prosecuting bad guys floats an interesting notion: What if Christine Beatty rolled over on the mayor?

Not rolled over, literally, like in the good old days when the taxpayers were sending them on romantic getaways. She means rolled over as in testified. Snitched. Finked. Sang. Turned state's evidence.

So far, Beatty is the only one who's paid a price for the widening text message scandal. A few months ago, she was Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's imperious chief of staff. Now she's an unemployed law student, working toward a degree she might never get a chance to use.

Even when she was earning $140,000 a year, she needed help buying a house: A sketchy $12,000 bank grant and a $237,000 mortgage approved despite her poor credit rating, after a bank official wrote a memo describing her as "a personal referral from the mayor."

Historically, being the mayor's friend has not been much of a character reference. Among his running buddies is Bobby Ferguson, whose heavy construction company has received tens of millions of dollars in city contracts. Ferguson's resumé includes whacking bouncers with a bat outside a sports bar, firing a gun into a crowd during a street fight, pleading guilty to a misdemeanor related to carrying a concealed weapon and serving time for pistol-whipping an employee.

In some jurisdictions, those things might disqualify a fella from cashing in on city work. But not in Detroit, where Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy says she's close to a decision on whether to prosecute Beatty and Kilpatrick for lying on the witness stand during a whistleblower lawsuit filed by two former police officers.

The jury didn't believe them, awarding the officers $6.5 million, and that might be what keeps them out of jail. Prosecutors tell me the stern hand of justice gives much larger wedgies when a lie affects the outcome of a trial.

Blame anyone else

Kilpatrick's response after the verdict was instructive: He blamed the racial makeup of the jury, which had only one black member. He's all about building bridges to the suburbs until it suits his purposes to dig a moat.

The latest company line is also illuminating. Frankie Darcell of WMXD-FM (92.3) floated it on Devin Scillian's "Flashpoint" on WDIV-TV (Channel 4), and it goes like this: "You don't right a wrong with a wrong."

Darcell landed the first interview with the mayor after the scandal broke. It was somewhere between soft-hitting and fawning. Now she and the other mayoral apologists are contending that since the Detroit Free Press obtained the text messages illegally, no one should be called to account for their contents.

It's a clumsy bit of sleight-of-hand, built on the unsupported assertion that the Free Press broke the law. But let's assume, for the sake of ridiculing a frivolous argument, that skulduggery was involved. The mayoral position is that a bank robber shouldn't have to return the money if the private party who tracked him down and made a citizen's arrest committed trespassing.

What's next?

My guess is that the mayor will plead out to a misdemeanor and get re-elected. When we're talking about voters who put municipal leech Alonzo Bates on the city council, a third term seems almost reasonable.

If Kilpatrick continues to paint himself as a victim, though, my friend the ex-prosecutor says to expect some heavy leaning on Beatty. A felony conviction would keep her from getting a license to practice law. A misdemeanor might not, a stern lecture wouldn't, and a friendly word to the bar association from Worthy's office could only help.

Right now, Kilpatrick has a job, a spouse and a future. Beatty no longer has any of those things, but she has information, and there may come a point where her only choice is to throw the mayor under a bus.

He's a large man, but it's a big Greyhound.

Reach Neal Rubin at (313) 222-1874 or nrubin@detnews.com.