Detroit mayor's lawyer arranged secret agreement

An attorney testified during a city council inquiry today that embattled Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s lawyer acted to evade a public records request from the Detroit Free Press.

Mike Stefani, who represented three defendants in a whistle-blower case against the city, testified that Samuel McCargo, the mayor’s city-paid lawyer, requested a new deal days after the Freedom of Information Act request into the mayor’s controversial text messages.

The new agreement had two parts; one for the public and another secret provision that, for $8.4 million, continued to hide the mayor’s text messages, which revealed misconduct. The city council was not given any information about this “confidential” agreement.