From The Hotline Latest Edition for Thursday, May 8,2008

KILPATRICK

Has A Spokesperson With Too Much Time On Her Hands

Thu. May 8, 2008


"In the quirkiest mayoral flap in recent months," aides to Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (D) are attacking The Hill "for publishing a grainy, color photo" of an '84 performance of "Little Annie" at Dwight Rich Middle School in Lansing, MI. "It shows eight boys wearing wigs and dresses, including one wearing a red dress with a plunging neckline identified as" Kilpatrick.

Kilpatrick's "name is in the playbill. He attended the school that year. Several classmates and the director remember him in the play." But Kilpatrick's office "denies he was in the show." Kilpatrick spokesperson Denise Tolliver: "The mayor says he did not participate."

"Within hours of the photo's publication" on 4/1, The Hill reporter Betsy Rothstein "said she received numerous angry phone calls from Tolliver." Rothstein: "She threatened to sue the paper." However, Tolliver "denies threatening to sue -- she says she just wanted attorneys to look at the playbill 'to authenticate it.'"

This is "the second time in a month that Tolliver has scolded out-of-town media for their coverage of Kilpatrick." After a TV station in Cape Coral, FL, "ran a 20-second clip in a national news roundup about the mayor's troubles, Tolliver called to complain." Tolliver: "It's my job. I did fact-checking when I was a reporter and I still am" (French, Detroit News, 5/8).

Fought The Wrong Law And The Law Won

The first request to MI Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) "urging her to invoke rarely used powers and dump" Kilpatrick from office "seems destined for failure because the petitioner cited the wrong law in his complaint."

Paralegal Doug Johnson, "who also unsuccessfully attempted to recall Kilpatrick, acknowledged the goof" on 5/7, one day after filing a four-page request excoriating Kilpatrick for "betray[ing] the trust of millions of people throughout Michigan" and urging Granholm to act. Johnson "said he'll fix the mistake and re-file his bid this week" (Wilkinson, Detroit News, 5/8).