DETROIT AP – Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick has failed to stop Gov. Jennifer Granholm from moving ahead with an extraordinary public hearing that could cost him his job in a scandal over steamy text messages and millions of tax dollars.

Kilpatrick’s lawyers struck out with pleas to a Wayne County judge and the Michigan Court of Appeals, clearing the way for Granholm to begin hearing evidence Wednesday about the mayor’s role in a $8.4 million settlement with fired police officers who sued the city.