Detroit Mayor Kilpatrick to break silence on text messaging scandal

David Josar / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will break his silence on the unfolding text messaging scandal, in a 7:30 Wednesday speech from his church, Greater Emanuel Institutional Church of God at Seven Mile and Schaefer.

Detroit public radio, WDET, will carry the address live, the station said.

According to James Canning, the mayor's spokesman, "There will be no audience. There will be no reporters allowed inside. There will be no still photography allowed inside. The mayor will not do any interviews."

Outside the Manoogian Mansion Tuesday, Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams talked to reporters. He said the mood inside Kilpatrick's home was positive.

"He's anxious to speak," Adams said from his car. "He is very upbeat."

The city police chief, fire chief and the counsel to the mayor arrived at the mansion around 8 a.m. this morning, as pressure continued to build for Kilpatrick to emerge from the executive residence and return to city hall for the first time since the text message scandal erupted last week. Kilpatrick has not been seen publicly for more than a week. He has been holed up in the mansion since Sunday. Police Chief Ella Bully Cummings, Fire Commissioner Tyrone Scott and mayor's counsel Sharon McPhail were among those at the mansion today.

As Adams left, he said Kilpatrick remains in charge: "He is running the city. He is the mayor," Adams said.

Adams brushed off reporters who asked if Kilpatrick would step down.

"Come on," Adams said, dismissing the suggestion.

When McPhail left at 12:44 p.m., she said: "I think we are all going to be just fine."

Asked why the police and fire chiefs and McPhail all showed up at the Manoogian Mansion, Canning said Kilpatrick had a regularly scheduled meeting with them, and said it was not unusual for them to meet at the mansion.

Several of the mayor's staff members wore green varsity-style jackets that read "Team Kilpatrick" on the back.

Earlier in the day, Kilpatrick announced through a statement that Kandia Milton, formerly his liaison to city council, will replace Christine Beatty, who resigned effective Feb. 8, as his chief staff. The text messages between Kilpatrick and Beatty revealed a romance that they denied, under oath, during a whistleblowers trial last summer. The city has paid three ex-cops $8.4 million as a result of their claims that they were victimized by the city and mayor because they were probing reports of bad behavior by the mayor and his staff.

"Kandia Milton has proved his skills as my deputy chief of staff and as my liaison with the City Council and I know he will do an exceptional job in this new assignment," the mayor said in his prepared statement. "He has worked effectively with council on a number of initiatives and has shown an ability to develop cooperative, productive relationships that will be valuable in this new assignment."

"I am grateful to the mayor for giving me the opportunity to serve the people of Detroit in this capacity," Milton said in a prepared statement. "I know that under Mayor Kilpatrick's leadership, Detroit's best days are yet to come."

Milton and the mayor have been longtime friends and his brother, DeDan Milton, also is on the mayor's staff.

Prior to this appointment, Milton was deputy chief of staff and liaison council and has been responsible for all divisions within the mayor's office including managing all inter-governmental and international affairs, as well as local policy-making that impacts the city.

On Monday, Beatty, Kilpatrick's longtime confidante and friend, resigned effective Feb. 8. Their sworn testimony at last summer's whistleblower case, denied a romantic affair, or having discussions about sacking the police officers, but those assertions are contrary to the text messages Beatty and Kilpatrick exchanged.

In recent days, his staff confirmed Kilpatrick added Southfield defense attorney William Mitchell, who represented now-deceased University of Michigan booster Eddie Martin in money laundering conspiracy charges in relation to former Michigan basketball players.

On Friday, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said she was investigating the mayor and Beatty.

Reporters Robert Snell and Santiago Esparza contributed to this story. You can reach David Josar at (313) 222-22073or djosar@detnews.com.