Aide to Detroit Mayor Resigns

Jan 28, 09:00 PM

On Monday, Christine Beatty also became the first casualty of the text-message scandal swamping the Kilpatrick administration.

In a five-paragraph letter, Beatty resigned from her $142,813-a-year position as Kilpatrick's chief of staff. She said she regretted the damage from "recent reports" _ but did not apologize for or directly address Detroit Free Press revelations that she and the mayor had an affair, despite their denials under oath in a police whistle-blower suit last year that cost the city more than $9 million.

Beatty surfaced publicly Monday morning after four days in seclusion. She walked from her Rosedale Park home to a rented SUV.

Her wide-brimmed hat was pulled low and a muffler covered the rest of her face except for her eyes. It was not known where she went.

Kilpatrick, too, has largely remained out of public view since the Free Press published text messages between the two about their intimate interludes and their discussion about firing a deputy police chief.

Last week, she was one of Detroit's most powerful figures. But Monday, she cut a different image.

Now an unemployed law school student with two children from a marriage that ended in divorce, Beatty is facing a criminal investigation by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's office and a possible City Council probe.

Beatty's attorney, Elliott Hall, did not return calls Monday seeking comment. Hall said last week that his initial focus was the prosecutor's investigation.

Beatty, a Detroit native, said in her letter that her work serving the city as chief of staff _ where she oversaw several departments, led labor negotiations and kept track of day to day operations _ was a childhood dream. She said she hoped that her work will someday "show through above all else."

Beatty said in the letter she intends to stay on the job until Feb. 8 "to allow for an orderly transition."

Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel said Beatty deserves credit for her role in winning needed concessions from the city's employee unions, but added that resigning was the right move.

"I salute Ms. Beatty's courage, her conviction to take this step," Cockrel said.

Two other council members, President Pro Tem Monica Conyers and JoAnn Watson, declined to comment on the resignation. Others could not be reached for comment.

Beatty was there at the creation of Kilpatrick's political career, when her Cass Tech classmate decided he wanted to run for his mother's seat in the state Legislature in 1996.

After his election, she was his aide in Lansing, gaining nods as a smart, young professional.

"She was competent and she seemed to get along with everybody," said Oak Park District Court Judge David Gubow, who served in the House with Kilpatrick. "Some folks try to push their way around. She was never like that."

"She was very bright, good to work with," said Assistant House Clerk Gary Randall. "The reports I heard about her later were very perplexing."

Municipal union leaders said Beatty could be rude and demeaning.

John Riehl, president of AFSCME Local 207, spent about a year across the negotiation table from Beatty. He said Beatty was "professional and had clear positions during the public stuff. But in sidebar discussions she would cuss and swear a lot, and be demeaning of some of the union officials."

But Mary Springfield, a former steward for the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 26, said that Beatty wasn't "rude or arrogant, she was just strictly about business."

When Kilpatrick gave his farewell speech to the House in December 2001 as he prepared to take office as mayor, he credited Beatty with believing in him when no one else gave him a chance.

Until Kilpatrick named Anthony Adams as his first deputy mayor in 2004, Beatty unofficially filled that role as well.

She ran the departments of Human Resources, Labor Relations, Human Services, Health & Wellness Promotion and Senior Citizens in addition to the mayor's office, neighborhood city halls, the 311 call center and communications. She also had a major role in Kilpatrick's Next Detroit Neighborhood Initiative.

But Beatty also ran into trouble. She was accused of pulling rank and making an obscene remark when Detroit police officers pulled her over in 2004 for a traffic violation, resulting in a civil suit by the officers that is still pending.

___

(c) 2008, Detroit Free Press.

Visit the Freep, the World Wide Web site of the Detroit Free Press, at http://www.freep.com.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. Aide to Detroit Mayor Resigns
Back to Current Headlines