Detroit thread. Post Kwame, Monica, and $1 houses here.

[Caliga]

I don't know why, but this time of year we usually see the shoot-outs in the city.  A couple years ago we had someone open fire in the crowd at the fireworks.

Crazy from the heat

[Savonarola]

Riddle: FBI probed $50K deal with Dems
He, state Dem boss differ over why he got paid

Paul Egan / The Detroit News

Detroit -- Political consultant Sam Riddle says federal investigators have questioned $50,000 he received in 2006 from the Michigan Democratic Party-- payments he described as election year "hush money."

In a recent interview with a Detroit News editor, Riddle said the Democrats paid him not to say negative things about Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who faced a challenge from Republican businessman Dick DeVos in the November election that year.

FBI agents also questioned Riddle about connections between Granholm and business consultant Bernard N. Kilpatrick, the father of then-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, said Riddle, the former chief of staff to Councilwoman Monica Conyers.

Granholm and Bernard Kilpatrick worked together in the administration of the late Wayne County Executive Edward H. McNamara in the 1990s. Federal agents have been investigating payments made to Bernard Kilpatrick's consulting firm, Maestro Associates LLC, by companies seeking contracts with the city of Detroit while his son was mayor.

Mark Brewer, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, said the $50,000 contract with Riddle's Meridian Management Systems of Flint was for media consulting and was not specifically related to the gubernatorial campaign.

"I can't be responsible for what Sam now says about the contract," Brewer said. "The contract was for media consulting services, and we did in fact consult him about appropriate messages and people to talk to for the fall campaign.

"We have had absolutely no inquiries from law enforcement about this contract," Brewer said.

Liz Boyd, a spokeswoman for Granholm, said the governor had no comment on what Riddle said.

"Clearly, that is a matter between Mr. Riddle and the Michigan Democratic Party," Boyd said of the contract. "I have nothing to add."

As for the FBI asking questions about ties between Granholm and Bernard Kilpatrick, "it is not unreasonable to assume that if the FBI is investigating someone, they might ask questions about someone they might have once worked with or known," Boyd said.

Federal Election Commission records show the Democrats paid Riddle's company the money in five $10,000 installments on July 15, July 29, Sept. 6, Oct. 10 and Nov. 5. The election was Nov. 7.

Granholm's links to Bernard Kilpatrick were also an issue last July, when The News reported that Granholm spoke to a top official in the U.S. Attorney's Office about whether it was possible to have a joint resolution of the ongoing federal investigation of Detroit City Hall-- in which Bernard Kilpatrick was a major focus-- and her review of then-Mayor Kilpatrick's conduct in office, which was then pending.

A day after that article appeared, the Detroit Free Press reported that Granholm also asked then-First Assistant U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg about the strength of the government's case against Bernard Kilpatrick-- an allegation her office denied.

In a related development Tuesday, Detroit businessman Jim Papas said Conyers approached him about hiring Riddle in 2006 because "she felt her budget was too limited."

But Papas denied any wrongdoing or connection between a $20,000 contract with Riddle and a letter that Conyers' husband, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, wrote to federal agents in support of Papas' controversial deep injection well. John Conyers' staffers had opposed the project.

Papas, who issued a statement saying he is not a target of investigators, said he asked a staffer for John Conyers to write the letter. Riddle had nothing to do with it, Papas said. Conyers issued a statement early Tuesday denying any wrongdoing and saying he reconsidered his position "in the context of the congressman's representational duties to his constituents."

Federal agents said Conyers had no knowledge of his wife's crimes and didn't attempt to influence the investigation. Monica Conyers pleaded guilty Friday to conspiracy to bribery for accepting at least $6,000 to switch her position on a $1.2 billion sludge-hauling contract, allowing it to pass in 2007.

On the one hand it's hard to believe Riddle's story; why would a Democrat governor have to buy off a Democrat power broker to keep him quiet?  He would have been on the down and out if a Grand Rapids based Rebublican like DeVos had won.  On the other hand it is Detroit and it seems that everyone in city government gets their cut.

[Savonarola]

Conyers speaks out on TV show
Councilwoman apologizes, regrets hiring former aide
David Josar and Christine Macdonald / The Detroit News
Detroit --Outgoing City Councilwoman Monica Conyers took to the airwaves one day after announcing her resignation, lashing out at the media, apologizing to supporters and distancing herself from onetime chief of staff Sam Riddle.

"If I was smart, I would have listened to my husband (U.S. Rep. John Conyers) and (Riddle) never would have worked for me," Conyers said Tuesday during the broadcast of a 60-minute television show "Ask the Councilwoman with Monica Conyers" on WHPR-TV 33 in Highland Park.

"But sometimes, we as women don't listen to our husbands."

Conyers pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to accepting bribe money to influence her vote on a city sludge contract. Riddle had been her longtime consultant and now, too, is ensnarled in the City Hall corruption scandal.

Her comments follow Riddle's claims that Conyers set up a $20,000 contract between him and Greektown mogul Jim Papas related to his deal with the city's pension system to operate a controversial waste well in Romulus.

The TV show was the first time Conyers had spoken publicly since her plea, and it was vintage Conyers. She smiled throughout most of the hour, but at one point wiped away a tear. She closed by blowing a kiss to the camera and apologizing to voters.

"To all the residents of Detroit, if I disappointed you, I apologize," said Conyers, who drove herself to the Highland Park broadcast studio. Conyers prefaced her remarks by saying she wouldn't talk about her guilty plea. "I don't want to get my judge mad at me, and I don't want to go to jail," she said, then proceeded to light into the media for camping outside her house. She entered the studios asking reporters, "You think I'm afraid of y'all?"

After the taping, Conyers said she hopes to be back next week for another segment.

"I shall too see all you later," she said.

Conyers said she resigned -- this is her last week on council -- because she didn't want to drag the city through a crisis, but called out City Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr. for threatening to begin forfeiture of office proceedings. She said it would have failed.

Conyers said the only two council members running for re-election worthy of endorsing are JoAnn Watson and Martha Reeves, and the only other candidate she would recommend voters select is Fred Hall.

Conyers also reiterated her love of God and thanked pastors for praying for her, saying "God doesn't give you more than you can handle," but added, "if you blast me, God, you better hope nothing happens to you."

Also Tuesday, Cockrel fired Conyers' aunt, Sunceria Garrett, from the council's administrative offices and didn't renew four of her staffers' contracts. Cockrel said Garrett -- whom Conyers hired while she served as council president -- was let go for budget reasons.

I'm not a resident of Detroit, but you didn't disappoint me Monica   

...though you did confirm a number of my views about Detroit City Government.

[DontSayBanana]

So of the two people she named as "worthy of re-election," one can't even be arsed to show up for sessions if she's got a gig. That's a fantastic grasp of politics Monica has. I wonder how often during the week John reads accounts of his wife and just facepalms.

[Savonarola]

So of the two people she named as "worthy of re-election," one can't even be arsed to show up for sessions if she's got a gig. That's a fantastic grasp of politics Monica has. I wonder how often during the week John reads accounts of his wife and just facepalms.

The other one dodges property taxes.  Plus Monica would have endorsed Singin' Barbara Rose Collins if she was running for re-election.

[charliebear]

"I shall too see all you later," she said.

Is Monica a product of the Detroit Public Schools?  I don't think normal people speak this way.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Racist.

So of the two people she named as "worthy of re-election," one can't even be arsed to show up for sessions if she's got a gig. That's a fantastic grasp of politics Monica has. I wonder how often during the week John reads accounts of his wife and just facepalms.

[Savonarola]

Once again the city council gets right on the real problem:

Detroit council takes aim at Billy Dee Williams malt liquor ads
David Josar / The Detroit News
Detroit -- Put off by a recent spate of billboards around the city that feature actor Billy Dee Williams touting malt liquor with the phrase "works every time," the City Council on Tuesday began looking at ways to regulate billboard advertising.

"This is killing our community," Councilwoman JoAnn Watson said after a local minister, Mayowa Lisa Reynolds, appeared before council asking for help.

Reynolds said she conducted a survey and found the billboards, which feature a cartoon representation of Williams trying to sell Colt 45, located in every square mile of the city.

"This is just wrong for our city," said Reynolds, who then questioned what the slogan, "works every time," means.he Col

"That if women drink it, ladies will lose their virginity?" she asked. "Or a man will do things out of character?"

She added that she did not find the billboards in nearby communities such as Royal Oak and Plymouth.

"It's an issue of racism and perversity," Watson said.

Council directed its Research and Analysis Division to see what action council could take and whether council could halt the erection of new billboards.

City planning director Marcel Todd said that "regulating content is a very scary grounds" because of freedom of speech issues.

However, the city can regulate "time, place and manner" of advertising in the city, he said.

Other cities have taken action against the billboards.

In St. Louis, for example, city officials have criticized the advertisements because they don't include the drinking age or identify the product as being alcoholic.

Councilwoman Alberta Tinsley-Talabi, who got elected to council after launching a "Denounce the 40 ounce" campaign two decades ago to cut down on alcohol sales, was especially upset.

"Every 20 years we have to start this fight again," she said.

Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr. said he too had problems with the billboards but tempered his criticism by suggesting that the ads wouldn't go up if people didn't buy the products.

"We also have to check ourselves," he said. "I see a lot of people buying 40 ounces."

Shame on you, Lando.

[The Minsky Moment]

It still has the look and feel of a 30s Jazz Club (just like the Village Vanguard, in fact.)

the VV has the look and feel of a dark, cramped NYC basement, which is what it is.

[Barrister]

I'm surprised Billy Dee Williams would still be an effective spokesman for any product.  Do young urban blacks even know who he is?

[Darth Wagtaros]

Nobody fucks with Lando Calrissian Griffin.

[Savonarola]

All she wanted to do was help people   

Monica Conyers returns to airwaves, says helping folks got her in trouble
The Detroit News / The Detroit News
Highland Park -- Former City Councilwoman Monica Conyers today blamed her desire to help neighbors on her current troubles.

"My biggest problem is helping people," Conyers told viewers on WHPR-TV (Channel 33.) "This whole situation has gotten to the point where I don't want to help people. That's a sad situation. ... If they're going to turn around and lie about people, if they're going to lie on me, I don't want to help people."

The comments on her live show, "Ask the Councilwoman," were the first in public since Conyers resigned Monday after pleading guilty to a five-year felony on claims she accepted two payments of $3,000 to switch her vote in 2007 on a $1.2 billion sludge-hauling contract.

Conyers addressed a lawsuit filed last week from a former staffer, Shanise Robinson, who claims she quit because Conyers did nothing to stop sexual harassment from another employee, Dale Foster, who is now a council candidate. Robinson worked for Conyers for a month in 2008 and alleged Conyers used profanity and threatened to fire her for using the wrong coffee cup and how she answered the phone.

Conyers denied that Robinson ever told her about the situation and said she hired the longtime worker because she had two young children. She said Robinson just left the office one day and never explained her whereabouts. Foster also has denied the claims.

"I felt bad for her," Conyers said. "To say I said those curse words and to not tell me that someone in my office was sexually harassing her and to sue the city ... I just find that disingenuous."

"No one ever ran personal errands for me under any circumstances ... ," Conyers said. "People think I'm down now, so they're going to make up the whole kitchen sink just to make a quick penny."

Conyers, who apologized to viewers for wearing a baseball cap and a T-shirt with the words "100% Back," also touched on the media's treatment of deceased pop star Michael Jackson, threw her support behind new Police Chief Warren Evans and announced the show would still be called "Ask the Councilwoman" even though she resigned.

"I love this show," Conyers said. "A lot of people don't want me to do my show, but I enjoy it. ... Who knows? Maybe I'll get a national sitcom."

Conyers spoke at length about her love of Jackson and the media's treatment of him before and since his death. She said she once got his autograph at the Hotel St. Regis and has listened to his CDs nonstop since his death.

"If I dig into their backgrounds, I could find some bad things, but vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord," Conyers said.

She also exchanged words with a reporter outside the Highland Park station, asking if he wanted her to go to jail and telling viewers, "I don't know why they are here." At one point, a caller accused Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel of bringing about Conyers' downfall.

"Absolutely, we know that," Conyers said. "But I can't talk about that now. Everything will come out in its own time."

Conyers also told viewers the city still got a raw deal with a compromise to expand Cobo Center. Legislation passed recently in Lansing would allow the city to maintain ownership, but lease it to a regional authority that would oversee an expansion and improvements for the North American International Auto Show.

Conyers said she pressed for the lease-back deal, but the city was "hoodwinked" because there are no guarantees that Detroiters would receive 25 percent of jobs at the center or $15 million to pay the debt on the parking structure.

Conyers pleaded guilty last month to conspiracy to commit bribery in connection to the City Hall corruption probe.

She turned in her city-owned Crown Victoria on Monday, said her spokeswoman, Denise Tolliver.

[Savonarola]

In the past week a councilman in the Detroit suburb of Southfield was accused of taking bribes (from the same jeweler that Monica Conyers also allegedly accepted bribes):

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090706/METRO/907060389/-1/ARCHIVE/Southfield-councilman-charged-with-bribery

Kwame is under scrutiny for possibly violating state campaign law:

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090708/METRO/907080425/-1/ARCHIVE/State-kicks-Kilpatrick-legal-tab-issue-to-IRS

A Detroit police officer was charged with stealing from the auto tip reward fund:

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090708/METRO01/907080398/-1/ARCHIVE/Detroit-cop-charged-with-stealing-reward-money

The head of the school system is discussing the possibility of bankruptcy of the school system with a judge:

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090709/SCHOOLS/907090451/-1/ARCHIVE/DPS--Bobb-calls-meeting-with-ex-bankruptcy-judge--a-very-sad-moment-

Martha Reeves said that she's keeping her campaign contribution from the man who bribed Monica Conyers:

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090710/METRO08/907100383/-1/ARCHIVE/Councilwoman-Reeves-to-keep-donations-from-ex-Synagro-exec


In addition the police chief was fired without warning.  A Habitat for Humanity worker was beaten and robbed at a construction site.  Seven people were arrested in a mortgage fraud sting.  200 tons of road salt was stolen form the Washtenaw County yard and a Detroit 911 operator who dismissed a boy's call about his dying mother as a prank is back on the job.  It struck me that other city's newspapers aren't like this.  Tales of failure of the system, corruption in city government and bizarre crime are so prevalent in Detroit papers that they've become like the crossword puzzle; something that one sees every single day.

[MadImmortalMan]

And the Lions still suck, too.

[Caliga]

"...if they're going to lie on me, I don't want to help people."

Bitch.  At least give me a reach around if I'm gonna lie on ya.