Jul 28, 2009
Updates on Sheryl Robinson Wood
We’ve got some updates to share on the Sheryl Robinson Wood story, courtesy of the two major Detroit newspapers. If you haven’t seen the story, Robinson Wood is a Baltimore Venable lawyer who had been working as an independent monitor overseeing the Detroit police department’s effort to comply with a consent decree. She resigned last week at the behest of the judge overseeing the case after he confronted her over text messages given to the judge by the Department of Justice showing Robinson Wood had inappropriate conversations and meetings with former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.
The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press report that city officials there are hopping mad and may pursue legal action to recoup some of the $10 million they’ve paid to Robinson Wood and her team over the years.
The Free Press says that, according to unnamed sources, the texts were “discreet” and “did not clearly show the pair were romantically involved.” The paper reports that “Hours before submitting a letter of resignation last week, Wood began making calls — to the department she had been monitoring for six years and to about a dozen staff members. She told them she was tired, burned out from the job and ready to move on to a new phase of her life, according to a source familiar with her last days at the post.”
The News quotes a law professor as saying that Robinson Wood “could face legal disciplinary action or criminal charges, which may lead to the city recouping some of the fees.” The News also has a city councilwoman saying that Kilpatrick lobbied heavily for Robinson Wood — then known as just Robinson — to get the monitor job.
Another councilwoman “likened Kilpatrick to Superman’s archenemy, Lex Luthor, repeatedly causing trouble for Detroit long after he left.”
According to Venable’s website, Ms. Wood is actually a partner at the firm. What are Venable’s ethics policies? In Detroit, a Free Press columnist is writing, “Kilpatrick women, come out now or be found out later”. Current Detroit Mayor David Bing says, it’s “really unfortunate” that Kilpatrick keeps coming up months after he has left office. “Every time you turn around it’s another life (to the scandal). “It’s something that you constantly have to deal with. It’s unfortunate because a lot of times it takes you off of your focus in terms of what you really want to do.”
According to the Detroit news:
“The messages between 2003 and 2005 indicate Wood and Kilpatrick met in Washington, D.C., and ’several other cities’ for meetings unrelated to a consent decree implemented to curb police abuses, said Saul Green, a city executive who oversees public safety. The city paid the monitor at least $10 million through 2006.
“‘They showed contacts between the monitor and the former mayor that were inappropriate and also an exchange of information related to the litigation,’ said Green, who declined to say whether the encounters were intimate.
“‘It was a personal relationship in which they met, in which they went to dinner.’
“U.S. Attorney Terry Berg said Monday that he couldn’t say if the Justice Department would open an investigation into Wood. He declined to discuss the texts or how the department obtained them.
“‘This is a serious situation,’ Berg said.
“Green, the former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, briefed the City Council for about two hours Monday about the messages with the city’s corporation counsel, Krystal A. Crittendon. Some members say they are considering legal action to recoup some of the money they have paid to the federal monitor since 2003.
“‘Every penny,’ said Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins, who missed the meeting with Green. ‘I think they should both go to jail for this.’”
Mrs Wood is one of a long list of the Kwame Kilpatrick women who have no shame. She through integrity out the window and destroyed her career and family. I don’t feel sorry for her. All I want from her is the 10 million dollars she stole from the citizens of Detroit.