Council calls for Detroit mayor to resign

MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS

DETROIT — The Detroit City Council voted to call for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s resignation, an extraordinary rebuke as Kilpatrick seeks to survive the text-message scandal.

The vote was 7-1.

Voting yes were Council President Ken Cockrel Jr., Sheila Cockrel, Barbara-Rose Collins, Brenda Jones, Kwame Kenyatta, Alberta Tinsley-Talabi and JoAnn Watson. Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers voted no. Martha Reeves was absent.

The resolution is nonbinding, and Kilpatrick has dismissed it as irrelevant and vowed not to resign. A last-minute change to the resolution struck language calling for the council’s independent attorney, Bill Goodman to “explore the proceedings by which the mayor may be removed from office” if Kilpatrick stands by his promise to stay in office.

Kenyatta, the resolution’s sponsor, said he agreed to that change to satisfy other council members’ requests.

The resolution cites 33 reasons for Kilpatrick to quit, including failing to inform the council of a secret deal the mayor made to settle a whistle-blower lawsuit and an accusation that he “repeatedly obfuscates the truth.”