VICKSBURG, MS (WLBT) -
WLBT has obtained information about suggestive text messages from the mayor of Vicksburg to his former Chief of Staff, Kenya Burks. Burks is no longer on the job and has filed a federal lawsuit against her former boss.
Mayor Paul Winfield has been slapped with a sexual harassment suit. Burks claims her consensual sexual relationship with the mayor lasted over a year. She says when she broke it off, Winfield became abusive and she was eventually fired.
The mayor denies everything and maintains it was a professional relationship only. But her attorney, Louis Watson, Jr. says text messages prove otherwise.
"And some of them say 'I want to see you in a sexy pair of heels', 'I will come up the back way' and so part of the allegations that we have asserted is that he would go to her apartment there in Vicksburg after hours."
Text messages from 2009 such as 'I love and miss you' were revealed by Burks' attorney. He claims this establishes an on-going affair.
"What's so hard to prove in a sexual harassment or retaliation case is did it really occur? It's kinda the Clarence Thomas Anita Hill situation. It's his word versus her word," said Watson.
The mayor's office referred WLBT to the city attorney. Our call was not returned. In an earlier interview the mayor vehemently denied the accusations.
The mayor said, "All those allegations are untrue. Again Ms Burks is a disgruntled former employee who had a number of issues that didn't work out for her here in Vicksburg. Unfortunately, she's chosen to take a negative tone against both me and my administration."
Mayor Winfield says Burks position was terminated by his board and she wasn't fired as some sort of payback.
Kenya Burks left Vicksburg last year. Her profile on Bebo says she's working in Dallas, Texas with a software company.
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