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Council trio to gov: Drop mayor action Letter to Granholm says Kilpatrick didn't deceive them on whistle-blower case. Christine MacDonald and David Josar / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- A faction of the City Council opposed to ousting Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is urging Gov. Jennifer Granholm not to remove him, saying they weren't deceived into an $8.4 million whistle-blower settlement at the heart of the mayoral scandal.

Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers sent a letter May 27 that asks Granholm to refrain from using state powers that allow governors to unseat elected officials for misconduct. The letter disputes the council's claim that Kilpatrick violated the city charter, claiming there is "no factual basis whatsoever" that members were duped into the deal.

That claim is "self-serving for some," an apparent dig at Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr., who backs Kilpatrick's removal and would temporarily become mayor.

Conyers said she didn't send the letter to support Kilpatrick, but wants the criminal process and panel's in-house forfeiture process to remove him to play out.

"I just want her to proceed with caution," Conyers said. "We just feel that the process should stay at home."

The letter was signed by two other members, Barbara-Rose Collins and Martha Reeves. All three cast votes last month against asking Granholm to remove Kilpatrick or beginning an impeachment-like process. The measures passed 5-4.

The letter included the name of a fourth member, Alberta Tinsley-Talabi, but not her signature. She said she didn't sign on because she didn't think it was warranted, adding "the strongest statement was made (with the vote)."

Another member who signed on, Collins, said she disagreed with much of the "legalese or reasons" included in the 10-page letter, but signed it anyway.

"I don't want the governor getting involved. That's how I feel," said Collins.

Granholm spokeswoman Liz Boyd confirmed the letter's receipt but declined further comment. Cockrel couldn't be reached for comment, but Councilman Kwame Kenyatta called the letter a "disgrace," saying the city can't wait for Kilpatrick's court case to unfold over the next year or so.

"This is clearly something that was written by the Mayor's Office to defend himself," Kenyatta said. "These (council members) have done nothing to protect the interest of the people."

Kilpatrick's office didn't immediately respond to calls for comment.

Granholm has said little about the flap or pending felonies against Kilpatrick alleging he and former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, lied during a police whistle-blower trial last year, then crafted the settlement to keep secret embarrassing text messages that contradicted their denials of an affair and firing of police officers.

Granholm has initiated a review of the council's request, but political observers have said the governor may be reluctant to wade into the dispute. Both Kilpatrick and Granholm are Democrats and she may be wary of taking action involving a city whose residents still harbor lingering resentments about state actions involving Detroit, the reasoning goes."She doesn't want to get involved, and this (letter) might make it easier for her to proceed more slowly," said Bill Ballenger, editor of Inside Michigan Politics.

But William Rustem, president of Public Sector Consultants, said he doubted the plea would have much difference since it is "only three members."

The letter claims Granholm's intervention is unnecessary because the city is best served by the council "taking care of city business." But it also criticizes the panel's forfeiture process.

It claimed the council has "established a dangerous precedent" that "a simple majority, not even a super majority, is all that is necessary to initiate removal and forfeiture of office proceedings against an elected official in Detroit." It's a view Kilpatrick also has voiced.

The letter is highly critical of William Goodman, the lawyer the council has paid $160,000 to investigate the scandal.

Goodman oversaw three days of hearings that ended in a report claiming the mayor violated three sections of the charter.

The letter claimed the report is "highly selective, predetermined and biased" and could generate "millions in free publicity for (Goodman) and his firm."

Goodman called the letter "inaccurate and incoherent" and said his report is based on the record. Conyers originally suggested the City Council hire Goodman.

"There was no conspiracy to keep the information from City Council," the letter reads. "There was simply no need in the view of the persons directly involved, to disclose embarrassing information, which was discovered after the trial and after the jury verdict. Nor was there any duty to do so, in light of the City Council's established past practice."

The letter claims the city was on the hook for $11.3 million to settle the three whistle-blower cops' lawsuit and the messages weren't the reason the city settled.

Lawyer: Texts not behind deal

A lawyer who represented Kilpatrick at the 2007 trial, Samuel McCargo, also said during a deposition Monday that the messages didn't prompt a settlement.

But McCargo also testified he would not have approved the whistle-blower settlement without a confidentiality agreement to keep them under wraps.

McCargo, paid by the city to represent Kilpatrick in a lawsuit brought by former Detroit police officers Gary Brown and Harold Nelthrope, answered questions under oath for more than eight hours Monday in connection with a Michigan Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press.

McCargo also said during the deposition he decided he could no longer be an effective advocate for Kilpatrick in connection with the text messages because he had been told the messages were not of a personal nature, said James E. Stewart, an attorney for The News who questioned McCargo.

The newspapers are suing the city for release of all records related to the controversial settlement.

Wayne Circuit Judge Robert Colombo Jr.has said a legal motion drafted by police lawyer Michael Stefani that was shown to McCargo on Oct. 17, 2007, was the document that broke a negotiating impasse and triggered a settlement, reached the same day.

But McCargo testified Monday he had already sought approval to negotiate a global settlement when he saw the Stefani motion, said Stewart.

McCargo said in the deposition that he was suspicious of the authenticity of the messages. But even if they weren't real, he said they would embarrass the mayor.McCargo also testified the Stefani motion he looked at was different from the one that was made public after a computer forensic expert removed it from Stefani's computer earlier this year.