On April 9th, the Detroit Free Press reported that one of Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's attorneys in the whistle-blower lawsuit filed by two former police officers told the City Council he saw no obligation to inform the City Council of a confidential agreement to settle a whistle-blower lawsuit. Apparently, when the Council approved an $8.4 million settlement with three former police officers, it was not told of a secret deal between Kilpatrick and the officers to keep secret text messages exchanged between Kilpatrick and former chief of staff Christine Beatty showing they lied under oath at trial when they testified that they were not having an affair.
"I did not believe that this agreement, which is a tentative agreement, necessitated my proactive advice to the council," said attorney Wilson Copeland II during a Council hearing into the scandal.
Another candidate for an Ethics 101 class. In fact, if one reads the whole sorry mess, it appears that there were quite a few candidates for an Ethics 101 class.
My favorite part of this circus was one of the posted comments, which read in part:
“Look at all these pinhead lawyers: one signed an agreement he didn't read (Johnson), one forgot about negotiating a secret agreement which she signed (Colbert-Ossamuede), one conspired not to report Part II of a secret agreement to his client, City Council, (McCargo) and now this fool Copeland II testifies under oath that in his humble opinion divulging any of this was unnecessary.”
I could not have said it better. The Mayor, who you might think would have some interest in explaining himself to Council, has declined to appear. I’ll bet he knows – now - a great deal more about the long, tenacious life of electronic evidence.
Relevant articles may be found at http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080408/NEWS01/80408083 and http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/news-52/120783715513900.xml&storylist=newsmichigan
E-mail: snelson@senseient.com Phone: 703-359-0700
