Gov. offers plan for Detroit mayor hearing

DETROIT, June 4 (UPI) -- A lawyer for the governor of Michigan offered up a two-stage plan to handle a formal request to remove embattled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

The Detroit City Council voted last month to ask Gov. Jennifer Granholm to step in and oust Kilpatrick, who has resisted calls for his resignation amid a high-profile corruption scandal that erupted in January.

Kelly Keenan, legal counsel for Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Tuesday proposed accepting legal briefs from both the mayor and the council and then deciding if there was sufficient evidence to hold a hearing.

The Detroit News said Wednesday legal analysts expect Kilpatrick to challenge the law that gives Granholm the authority to remove mayors for misconduct.

In a related development, a judge Tuesday rejected a motion by the News and the Detroit Free Press to release a transcript of a closed-door hearing in the so-called text-message scandal. The Free Press said the judge decided to keep the proceedings, in which potentially incriminating evidence was discussed, sealed to protect Kilpatrick's right to a fair trial.