Mayors balk on scandal-ridden Detroit as annual meeting place

The nation’s African-American mayors say they’re taking their annual meeting to New Orleans instead of Detroit because of the sex-text scandal involving the Motor City’s hip-hop honcho. “We just did not want that environment to interfere with our objectives,” said St. Gabriel (La.) Mayor George Grace, who also serves as the mayors association president. “It’s not that we’re against Detroit, or the people of Detroit or even Mayor Kilpatrick. We just want to keep focus on our issues.” The mayors chose New Orleans over Las Vegas for the June 4-8 gathering. It was originally planned for Detroit in April. But Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been embroiled in a steamy sex scandal, uncovered by The Detroit Free Press. In January, the newspaper has been hammering a story on an alleged affair between Kilpatrick and his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty. The duo had shared thousands of text-messages on city-issued cell phones but lied, under oath, about the lurid exchanges during court proceedings involving a former police officer who had been fired. Kilpatrick and Beatty could be facing perjury charges in the near future, and several members of the City Council are urging the so-called “Hip-hop Mayor” to step down.