Detroit Mayor Hooked Up friends, family with jobs in cash-strapped Detroit

AP Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has appointed more than two dozen relatives and friends to city jobs, a newspaper reported Sunday. City records examined by the Detroit Free Press showed that at least 29 people with close ties to Kilpatrick have been appointed since he took office in 2002. Kilpatrick has cut more than 4,000 city jobs since then, including firefighters and nearly 1,000 police officers, mayoral spokeswoman Denise Tolliver said.  Tolliver defended the appointees, saying they not only are well-qualified but also are part of a tradition in Detroit.

"The City of Detroit has a favorable reputation among local citizens of hiring relatives of employees," she wrote Friday in an e-mail to the Free Press. "Some city departments have third and fourth generations of city employees." Naming friends or relatives to city jobs is not illegal, and no evidence suggests that some mayoral appointees are not doing their jobs. City Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel acknowledged that some appointees have performed well, but added, "There's the issue of appearance. ... It is excessive and beyond acceptable boundaries, in my judgment."

Some Kilpatrick appointees have faced legal and ethical problems, including at least two relatives who remain on the city payroll despite falsifying their college credentials on their resumes, the Free Press said.

Other appointees include two relatives of Kilpatrick's former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, who with the mayor has been charged with perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office. They are accused of lying under oath during a whistle-blowers' trial last summer when they denied being romantically involved.

Excerpts of embarrassing and sexually explicit text messages left on Beatty's city-issued pager, and first published in January by the Detroit Free Press, contradict their testimony. Kilpatrick and Beatty have pleaded not guilty.