Privacy Maven

More documents in the Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick text-message scandal must be released to the two Detroit newspapers whose investigations originally unearthed the scandal. According to the AP.

Documents related to a whistle-blower lawsuit that led to a text-messaging sex scandal involving the mayor must be turned over to the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News, a judge ruled Tuesday.

Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Robert Colombo Jr. said the city has three days to appeal his decision.

The newspapers are suing Detroit to determine if there was a secret settlement in the whistle-blower lawsuit, in which a jury ruled against the city. The case eventually cost the city more than $8.5 million.

The whistle-blower lawsuit was filed by two police officers who alleged they were fired for investigating claims that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick used his security unit to cover up extramarital affairs.

During testimony in the civil trial, Kilpatrick and his chief of staff, Christine Beatty, denied having an affair during 2002-03 and conspiring to have one of the officers fired.

However, the Free Press two weeks ago published sexually explicit text messages between the pair in 2002 and 2003 that appear to contradict what they said on the stand.

Kilpatrick wrote Beatty in 2002: “I’ve been dreaming all day about having you all to myself for 3 days. Relaxing, laughing, talking, sleeping and making love.”

Beatty announced her resignation Jan. 28. Two days later, Kilpatrick made a televised speech apologizing to family and constituents but avoiding direct mention of the allegations. His wife, Carlita, sat by his side.

Recently, Mayor Kilpatrick made a televised apology, as reported by Detroit Channel 7.

As the Detroit Free Press reports today, the story is unfolding, literally by the minute.

Circuit Judge Robert Colombo Jr. gave the city until 8:30 a.m. Friday to decide whether to appeal his decision. But he urged the city to release them immediately.

The Free Press sued the city in Wayne County Circuit Court to obtain the confidential agreements, which city lawyers repeatedly insisted did not exist.

Colombo rejected city arguments that some of the documents are private and exempt from disclosure under the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.

“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said.

“He gave us everything,” Free Press lawyer Herschel Fink said after the hearing. “It’s a home run. It’s an absolute home run.”

Colombo’s decision came nearly two weeks after the Free Press reported it had obtained nearly 14,000 text messages that Kilpatrick and Beatty had exchanged on her city-issued pager in 2002 and 2003.

The messages showed that Kilpatrick and Beatty had lied under oath at the whistle-blower trial last August when they denied that they had been involved romantically. The messages also showed that they tried to fire Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown even though the testified that they only intended to demote him.

The Free Press report set off a storm of controversy, demands for Kilpatrick and Beatty to resign, a perjury investigation by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, calls for a City Council investigation and a public apology from the mayor. Beatty resigned last week.

The article continues.

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick with President George W. Bush in 2005.

The Free Press also speculates as to whether Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will be able rebound from this sex scandal, as other politicians have.

It seemed that Kwame Kilpatrick could do anything he wanted in 2000.

A Democratic state lawmaker with a proven political pedigree, Kilpatrick was seen as a rising star in a party eager to showcase its African-American leaders.

He was given a prime-time speaking spot at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles and quickly became a front-runner for his dream job: mayor of Detroit.

But today, any national ambitions Kilpatrick may have harbored could be in tatters as a result of the sex, lies and text messages scandal that has engulfed the mayor, several experts said.

“I’m hesitant to say that this by itself rules out any ambitions,” said Duke University political science professor David Rohde. “But it sure makes it more difficult.”

Kilpatrick has been widely expected to run for the congressional seat occupied by his mother, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich. But on Friday, Detroit’s youngest elected mayor said he doesn’t have political aspirations beyond Detroit.

“This is the biggest national job you can have. Detroit is the most important, pivotal city in America,” he told the Free Press.

During the past week, the hundreds of mentions of Kilpatrick in the media, including on “Good Morning America,” “Inside Edition” and CNN, had nothing to do with new hotels in the city, the North American International Auto Show or the riverfront’s transformation. Instead, the focus was the text message scandal.

While acknowledging that the national exposure has been damaging, Kilpatrick said, “It cuts two ways: If they’re not saying anything about us, it’s bad.

The privacy of text messaging continues to be debated and discussed.

Text messaging privacy is a hot topic once again thanks to the latest text messaging sex scandal involving Detroit’s Mayor Kwame Kilpatrik and his chief of staff Christine Beatty. The Detroit Free Press examined over 14,000 text messages obtained from Beatty’s pager, publishing those that confirmed the two were having an affair and lied under oath about it.

We’re reminded time and time again to refrain from sending personal emails using the office computer. Maybe they should’ve taken a few precautions with the office pager too. David Chamberlain, a wireless analyst for In-Stat, reminds us that users of any technology issued by an employer shouldn’t expect to have any privacy. It’s obvious the mayor’s mistake was using a city-issued pager to exchange personal messages with his aide, but what about the rest of us? Should we have to worry about old texts resurfacing even when using our private lines?

According to a report by the Associated Press, Beatty’s text messaging service was provided by SkyTel who has contracts exclusively with corporations and government agencies, and not surprisingly, stores all communication for legal reasons. It’s not exactly clear how many years these text messages are archived for, but the Detroit Free Press says the messages obtained cover two months in 2002 and 2003.

As for the rest of us, AT&T says they keep messages for up to 72 hours, Sprint PCS for two weeks, and Verizon says texts don’t stay on the network for a long period, adding “people can feel comfortable we’re not storing information that can later be used against them.” Oh, really? Then how is it that in many cases the police and even hackers have been able to obtain old text messages archived somewhere in a carrier’s server?