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By Ben Schmitt, Naomi R. Patton and Zachary Gorchow
The Detroit Free Press
 Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings announces her retirement during a news conference at police headquarters minutes after Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to two felonies and agreed to resign. (AP Photo) |
DETROIT — Detroit Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings and Sharon McPhail quickly answered the question swirling Thursday around City Hall: Who goes?
McPhail, general counsel to Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, and Bully-Cummings announced their resignations shortly after Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to two felony charges of obstruction of justice.
Now the question for many like interim Water Director Anthony Adams remains: Who stays?
Adams is one of about 125 political appointees who serve at the pleasure of the mayor.
Many declined to return phone calls or comment on whether they planned to resign or await their fate under incoming Mayor Ken Cockrel Jr.
Bully-Cummings, the city’s first female police chief, decided not to wait. She announced her resignation through a news release within minutes of Kilpatrick’s plea.
Later she told journalists that family reasons led to her resignation, which is effective today.
“I do have plans for the future, but right now my objective is to spend time with my husband who, for the past five years, probably only really saw me when I was asleep,” she said. “No looking back for me. It ends when I walk out of here. ...”
Bully-Cummings joined the department in 1977 at age 19. She left in 1999 to work as a lawyer and returned as an assistant under Chief Jerry Oliver. She replaced him Nov. 3, 2003, amid a scandal that ensued after Oliver left a gun in baggage as he tried to board a flight at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
Former Deputy Police Chief Gary Brown, whose lawsuit after he was fired in 2003 led to Kilpatrick’s undoing, said he wishes Bully-Cummings well.
“I think any chief would have retired under these circumstances,” Brown said. “Whenever a new mayor comes in, he brings a new police chief.”
Brown, who already has announced a run for city council in 2009, has been the source of speculation about whether he would be the next chief. He said he has not been contacted.
On Thursday, Kilpatrick met with his top staff in City Hall shortly after pleading guilty.
When the staff exited his 11th-floor office, they looked grim. Some hugged. Public Lighting Director Charles Beckham and Assessor Linda Bade walked arm in arm.
Amru Meah, director of the Buildings and Safety Engineering Department, said when asked for his reaction: “I’m too choked up.”
Kandia Milton, Kilpatrick’s chief of staff and childhood friend, declined to reveal plans.
“I’m committed to working with Mayor Kilpatrick in transitioning city government,” Milton said.
Late Thursday, Wisam Zeineh, an EMS union official, sent Detroit Fire Commissioner Tyrone Scott a letter asking Scott and all deputy fire commissioners who served under Kilpatrick to consider resignation.
As for Adams, the current interim director of the Water and Sewerage Department, he said he’s unsure of his future.
“I’m going to sit back and take some time and evaluate my options,” he said as he left the Clique Restaurant on Thursday morning.
McPhail said she does not know what she will do next. “I just feel so weighed down by the enormity of what happened here.”
Copyright 2008 The Detroit Free Press