Detroi Mayor Seeks Arbitrator on Jail Time

United Press International

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is ready to plead guilty and resign, but wants prosecutors to submit the issue of jail time to arbitration, sources say.

A refusal by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy to drop her insistence that Kilpatrick do jail time on corruption charges, however, is holding up the mayor's proposed resignation, The Detroit News reported Monday.

The newspaper said Kilpatrick's attorneys hope to persuade Worthy to submit to an arbitration hearing headed by a prominent retired law enforcement official, who might convince her Kilpatrick's offer to plead guilty to two felony counts in exchange for fines and community service is "politically palatable."

Meanwhile, a Kilpatrick resignation would trigger many personnel changes in Detroit as City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. would take over as interim mayor, the Detroit Free Press reported. Cockrel said he wouldn't fire every Kilpatrick appointee, "but there's also some people that probably have to go," he said.

One would probably be Police Chief Ella Bully-Cummings, the newspaper said.