DETROIT -- Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has been hired as an account executive for Covisint, a subsidiary of software and technical services company Compuware Corp., Local 4 has learned.
Sources told Local 4 that Compuware chairman and Kilpatrick friend Peter Karmanos sent a letter to employees confirming Kilpatrick's employment.
However, a Compuware employee told Local 4 they are not to talk about the Kilpatrick appointment inside or outside the building, and if they don't comply, they will not be working there for much longer.
Details of Kilpatrick's job duties have not been disclosed, but with salary and bonus Kilpatrick's job is expected to pay upwards of $200,000 a year.
Kilpatrick's legal team filed a motion Thursday requesting that he be allowed to travel to Texas on Friday for job training. But a Wayne County Circuit Court Judge David Groner said because Kilpatrick is on probation in Michigan, a hearing must held before he would allow Kilpatrick to leave the state.
Download: Kilpatrick Emergency Motion To Leave State
Prosecutor's spokeswoman Maria Miller said her office also received the emergency motion to travel. She said a response will be argued in court.
Kilpatrick's attorneys wanted to have the hearing Friday, but Groner has tentatively scheduled the hearing for Feb. 24.
The 38-year-old Kilpatrick returned to Detroit on Monday following a job-hunting trip and a reunion with his wife and kids in Texas.
He spent 99 days in the Wayne County jail after pleading guilty to obstruction of justice for his role in a whistle-blower trial and no contest to assault. He was released Feb. 3 and traveled to the Dallas area that day.
Kilpatrick was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay the city of Detroit $1 million in restitution.
The Kilpatrick job announcement may incite harsh feelings, as 250 Compuware employees were laid off Tuesday.
Tell us what you think about Kilpatrick's job prospects below.
The Detroit-based software and technical company said it laid off 4 percent of its worldwide work force of 6,000 Tuesday.
Messages seeking comment were left Thursday for Compuware and Covisint.
The company cited the current economic environment for the current layoffs and the elimination of 300 workers in October.
An executive at an internationally recognized firm whose job is to fly all over the world and implement health care software platforms spoke with Local 4 about what the partnership may mean for Karmanos and the requirements Kilpatrick may have to meet in order to fulfill his new role.
The executive did not want to be identified.
He said the typical candidate for a job like Kilpatrick's would come from a competing firm in a similar position. The candidate would need a strong background in health care and a bachelor's degree.
In order to make bonus, he'll need to sell more than $10 million a year.
Another requirement for the job is to have many contacts. However, a firm such as the executive's said it would never consider a convicted felon for the position.
The same executive told Local 4 that every healthcare firm in the country wants a piece of the $789 billion stimulus package, which ahs millions earmarked for the health care industry.
Kilpatrick's contacts include his mother, Rep. Carolyn Cheecks Kilpatrick, who is on the appropriations committee.
University of Detroit Marketing Professor Mike Bernachi said the deal seems good for Karmanos.
"To use this man (Kilpatrick) with all of his various assets would be wonderful. But everyone's going to want to know if he's (Kilpatrick) earning a paycheck," he said.
Detroit residents were split on the news of Kilpatrick's new job.
"I'm happy for him, thank God," said Lucy Stackhouse. "Now he can go do what he's got to do."
Others said they felt his new paycheck should be used to pay back the city.
"He should pay it back," said Randy Rogers. "If he took it from the city, he should pay it back."
