DETROIT - Mired in a sex scandal that crippled the governance of Detroit all year, the city's troubled mayor chose yesterday to walk out of office, rather than run the increasing risk of being heaved out.
The tawdry drama of Kwame Kilpatrick, the once-promising 38-year-old mayor of the nation's 11th largest city, ended in a wood-paneled courtroom when a subdued Kilpatrick, after months of defiant claims of innocence, meekly pleaded guilty to reduced felony charges and agreed to serve four months in jail and pay up to $1 million in restitution.
"I lied under oath," Kilpatrick told the court, conceding what growing numbers of Detroiters have suspected for months: He covered up an affair with his former chief of staff, Christine Beatty, as part of a lawsuit settlement that cost the city $8.4 million.
Kilpatrick, first elected amid great fanfare in 2001, is scheduled to leave office no later than Sept. 18. But in a city whose residents are well aware of the steamy details of text messages between Kilpatrick and Beatty, widely reported in the news media, the mayor is already history.
"I think there is a giant sense of relief in the city and the entire state over the events of today," said Larry Dubin, a professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. "This is like opening up an artery and permitting the blood to flow again for the city."
Kilpatrick will be succeeded by Ken Cockrel Jr., 42, the City Council president and one of five council members who voted in May to begin ouster proceedings. Cockrel will serve until a special election is held.
Cockrel said it was "a very sad day for the city of Detroit, but I think we also have to recognize it's also a day of hope and renewal." At a Detroit news conference, he declared, "Today we may be grieving, but tomorrow we must come together."
In recent weeks it became clear that time was running out for Kilpatrick. Business and religious leaders and the city's African-American newspaper said Kilpatrick should quit. The prurient interest of the scandal made Detroit the butt of late-night talk show jokes. Sales transactions aimed at balancing the city's budget were stalled. And on Wednesday, Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm began expulsion hearings, fanning a flurry of activity aimed at a plea bargain.
Granholm, who halted yesterday's scheduled hearing after Kilpatrick's plea, called the events of the day "a sad but historic story" that is coming to an end.
