Mike Cox: Kwame Kilpatrick had nothing on me; I will not quit campaign for Michigan governor

Jonathan Oosting | By Jonathan Oosting |
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on November 10, 2009 at 2:46 PM, updated November 11, 2009 at 7:05 AM
Attorney General Mike CoxAttorney General Mike Cox, candidate for governor

Attorney General Mike Cox is trying to look to the future in his run for Michigan governor, but the past keeps getting in the way.

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is back in the headlines, and Cox is in the center of the storm, accused by a state police trooper of hindering a murder investigation by helping bury tapes that may have contained evidence of a long-rumored party thrown by Kilpatrick at the Manoogian Mansion in 2002.

According to the rumors, stripper Tamara "Strawberry" Greene danced at the party and was attacked by Kilpatrick's wife, Carlita.  Greene was murdered in 2003, and her family has filed a civil suit against Kilpatrick and other city leaders, alleging a cover-up and bringing the story back into the spotlight.

Cox has referred to the Manoogian rumors as "gum on his shoe" and in a column this morning the Detroit Free Press asked him to explain how it got there.  Cox appeared on WJR AM-760 today and essentially spoke to each of the questions openly posed by the Freep (in bold).

Did the AG's office condone DPD's refusal to provide evidence sought by state police investigators, as Krebs asserts -- and if so, why?

In his testimony, Krebs alleged that senior city police officials barred him from taking a box of 36 tapes from Detroit police headquarters shortly after Greene was shot on April 30, 2003.

Listen to Cox explain his role in the investigation:

Related: Lawyer for family of Tamara Greene on case against Kwame Kilpatrick, missing 911 tapes: 'This is the stuff conspiracies are made of'

Cox told Frank Beckmann he was not personally involved in the decision ("I would just get briefings every day, every other day..."), but explained how he remembered events unfolding. 

"There was a subpoena for backup computer tapes from Gary Brown and others because there were some allegations there may have been some tampering with the computers, or to see if someone went in and tried to look at Gary Brown's computer.  There was not 911 calls at all. Those were never subpoenaed.  I think Mr. Krebs was a little bit confused about that.

"The subpoenas went through lawyers. ...We got six tapes and one CD which we gave to the state police to look at. They never complained about, 'Hey, this isn't what we got.'

Cox did say, "I could have issued a subpoena if it was relevant to our investigation," but quickly pointed out "...State police concluded their investigation after Kym Worthy was the Wayne County prosecutor.  They could of went to her any time for subpoenas or search warrants.  I never stopped them from interviewing the mayor.  I never stopped them from interviewing Carlita Kilpatrick. We just ended our investigation."

Was the state police attempt to subpoena hospital records investigators hoped would identify the alleged Manoogian assault victim a fishing expedition involving the records of "thousands of African-American women at Detroit Receiving," as Cox has previously asserted, or a narrowly focused inquiry into one three-hour period, as Krebs testified? And if Krebs' version is correct, why did the AG's office refuse to authorize the subpoena?
Cox essentially confirmed the "fishing expedition" characterization.

They were "asking for a broad based search warrant," Cox said, explaining state police asked for the emergency room or admittance records of all black females at Detroit Receiving Hospital in October of 2002.  

"They get about 80,000 a year in their emergency room. ...Literally, thousands of black females would have had their records gone through by cops," he said, later referring to 4th Amendment privacy rights.

Cox said his office worked with state police to narrow down the subpoenas, but weren't successful.

Why did Cox close down his investigation and pressure the state police to conclude its own before Krebs and his colleagues were satisfied with its thoroughness?
According to Cox, his team was focused on whether illegal overtime was paid to security guards and whether Gary Brown was fired unjustly.  In both cases, there wasn't enough evidence to proceed with felony obstruction of justice charges, he said.

"We just concluded our investigation after 130 witnesses -- none of whom could point a finger at anyone.  We said there was no criminal evidence, where somebody could raise their right hand and we could use them in a courtroom.  Because we are America after all.  As much as everyone like to kick the mayor in the behind right now, we have to remember that I can't charge -- then or now -- someone if we don't have evidence that we can use in a courtroom."

Cox also said state police continued their investigation and his office assisted when requested.

What did Cox hope to achieve by interviewing Kilpatrick himself, without placing the mayor under oath or making a record of the interview?
Cox confirmed he did meet with Kilpatrick, but lead prosecutor Tom Furtaw and Detroit Corporation Counsel Ruth Carter were also present.

The meeting wasn't productive, Cox said, because they had very little to confront him with regarding the Manoogian Mansion.

"You gather all this evidence, and when you question this person you want to have evidence.  We had nothing to confront him with, but we called him in and we questioned him.  

"...At the end, we asked about the Manoogian and whether it happened.  He denied it.  We didn't ask a lot of questions about the Manoogian because we had no one to confront him with.  No EMS guy.  No one."

According to Cox, if the interview had been conducted under oath, the discussion would have been sealed and never available to the public or other interested parties.

"If you read the blogsphere, there's people out there who say 'Kwame Kilpatrick had something on Cox for being unfaithful to his wife.'  I'd told her about that before and we were in counseling. He had nothing over me."

As for civil suit filed by Tamara Greene's family, Cox said he predicted it. "I also said there was ham-handed management and bad behavior."

Norman Yatooma, the family's attorney, also appeared on WJR this morning and offered a more suggestive view of the meeting with Kilpatrick: "The meeting somehow persuaded Mike Cox to drop this investigation and call it all urban legend, because that's exactly what he did four days following."

Regardless of his role, it seems the talk may already be hurting his run for governor.  Organizers recently canceled a fundraiser for Cox in West Michigan, and area GOP leader Chuck Yob told the Grand Rapids Press the Manoogian Mansion flap may have been to blame.

Cox yesterday told the Macomb Daily he'll fight on.

"I don't know when or if the story will go away but I will not quit the campaign," he told the Daily, adding: "If this hurts me politically, so be it."

Listen to the full interview with Cox in the embedded player.