The Detroit Free Press
DETROIT – Text messages obtained by the Free Press raise new questions about an old controversy: Lincoln Navigators police officials obtained for Carlita Kilpatrick, the wife of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
The text messages show that in the fall of 2002, Ella Bully-Cummings, then assistant police chief, was instrumental in acquiring a new Navigator for Detroit’s first lady, long before the infamous red Lincoln Navigator controversy of 2005, when reporters learned the city paid nearly $25,000 to lease a replacement Navigator for the mayor’s wife.
Jerry Oliver, Detroit’s police chief at the time, told the Free Press this month he was floored by the messages involving Bully-Cummings, then one of his top assistants, because he directly told the mayor it was inappropriate to obtain a Navigator for Carlita Kilpatrick out of the police budget.
“Clearly, they were intending to do it whether the chief thought it was a good idea or not,” he said after viewing the messages.
Bully-Cummings, who Kilpatrick appointed chief after Oliver resigned in October 2003, said in a statement Friday that Oliver is “totally dishonest” for saying he did not approve the lease.
“I was directed by Jerry Oliver to facilitate the processing of the paperwork related to this leased vehicle,” she wrote. “His failure to take responsibility for his actions after the fact is disappointing.”
On Sept. 11, 2002, Bully-Cummings, one of two assistant chiefs under Oliver, wrote a text message to Christine Beatty, the mayor’s chief of staff.
“When you get a free moment, can you call me regarding a vehicle for the First Lady, or direct me to the person, I need to have that discussion with,” she asked. “Thanks.”
Beatty replied: “I’ll call you in about 20min.”
Bully-Cummings followed up on Sept. 20, 2002: “Hi Christine, Any feedback on the First Lady’s vehicle? Just checking so that I can get the process moving on her currently identified vehicle of choice. Thanks.”
In early 2005, when Bully-Cummings admitted in a news conference that she had ordered the replacement Navigator for Kilpatrick’s family, the chief also revealed the earlier 2002 lease, which she said cost the city $14,100. But it was not known at that time that Oliver claimed no knowledge of the deal.
Kilpatrick told the media during that news conference that he and his family do not special-order vehicles from the Police Department. His spokesman, James Canning, said Sunday that the mayor was unavailable for comment.
Back in 2005, Kilpatrick said: “I need to be absolutely clear. When the deputy mayor (Anthony Adams) stands up and says there was never a vehicle ordered for my wife, that is absolutely true.”
Copyright 2008 The Detroit Free Press