Ex-spokesperson: Lie strained my relationship with Kilpatrick - KMSP-TV

Ex-spokesperson: Lie strained my relationship with Kilpatrick

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DETROIT -- A former spokesman for Kwame Kilpatrick testified Thursday that his efforts to rebuild the mayor's relationship with the media was sabotaged by one lie too many.

Matt Allen left his job at FOX 2 with high hopes of making a difference in city hall.  However, he testified that his dream became a casualty of the crossfire between Kilpatrick and the media.
    
Things came to a head when Steve Wilson reported that the mayor paid for a family trip to the posh La Costa Resort and Spa in California with $8,000 from his nonprofit civic fund.

Allen testified that Kilpatrick told him he used his personal credit card for the trip and that lie strained his relationship with the mayor.    

However, Allen blamed Wilson, too, and recommended having the reporter investigated.  He told Kilpatrick this would be a good chance to "pull Steve Wilson's pants down in public".

Now that doesn't sound very appealing to me, but it seems the reason prosecutors put Allen on the stand was to undermine Kilpatrick's credibility and show how the mayor abused a nonprofit that was supposed to improve the life of Detroiters, including those not named Kilpatrick.

As you may have guessed by now, Kilpatrick's attorney had a good explanation for why he took the trip and stuck his nonprofit with the tab.  They say he was out raising money from folks with deep pockets.

However, Allen also testified that when he advised Kilpatrick to release the names of those people, the mayor didn't like that idea too much.

What do I think the jury made of Matt Allen's testimony?  It was kind of a mixed bag.  What you heard from Allen was that he didn't trust the mayor, that the truthfulness of the mayor was questionable in his mind after that.  However, you also heard from Allen the mayor was a victim, the media was bullying him and maybe we should feel sorry for this guy.

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