|
Detroit
councilwoman
Monica
Conyers
pleas to
taking
bribes,
faces 5
years in
prison
HB
Meeks/Tell
Us USA
News
Network
JEFF KAROUB
of
Associated
Press
City
Councilwoman
Monica
Conyers
pleaded
guilty
to
bribery
charges
Friday,
becoming
the
latest
Detroit
politician
taken
down by
scandal
and
marking
a
victory
for
federal
prosecutors
in their
nearly
two-year
investigation
into
city
corruption.
Conyers,
the wife
of
powerful
Democratic
congressman
John
Conyers
who won
her seat
in 2005
largely
on her
popular
husband's
name,
admitted
in
federal
court to
taking
cash
from a
Houston-based
company
in
exchange
for her
vote on
a city
sludge-treatment
contract.
The
normally
fiery
44-year-old
Conyers
spoke
quietly
while
entering
her plea
in
federal
court,
and left
the
courthouse
without
commenting
to
reporters,
free on
bond.
She
faces up
to five
years in
prison
and a
$250,000
fine
when
she's
sentenced.
Her
lawyer,
Steve
Fishman,
said he
will ask
Judge
Avern
Cohn for
a
sentence
that
doesn't
include
prison
time.
Both
Fishman
and
federal
authorities
say the
plea
deal
does not
include
a formal
cooperation
agreement.
Monica
Conyers'
plea is
the
latest
blow to
a city
beset by
political
scandal
in
recent
years.
Former
Mayor
Kwame
Kilpatrick
and a
top aide
were
jailed
after
admitting
to lying
under
oath
about
their
romantic
involvement
during a
whistle-blowers'
trial.
And a
recent
audit of
the
city's
beleaguered
public
school
system
has
uncovered
theft
and
other
wrongdoing
by
employees.
Prosecutors
made
clear
that
John
Conyers,
the
80-year-old
chairman
of the
House
Judiciary
Committee,
knew
nothing
of his
wife's
corruption.
He
declined
to
answer a
reporter's
questions
as he
walked
to the
House
floor
for a
vote
Friday
morning,
saying,
"I have
no
comment
whatever."
Rep.
John
Conyers,
the
80-year-old
chairman
of the
House
Judiciary
Committee
who
prosecutors
said
knew
nothing
of the
bribery,
declined
to
answer a
reporter's
questions
as he
walked
to the
House
floor
for a
vote
Friday
morning.
"I have
no
comment
whatever,"
he said.
His
office
issued
the
following
statement:
"This
has been
a trying
time for
the
Conyers
family.
With
hope and
prayer,
they
will
make it
through
this as
a
family.
Public
officials
must
expect
to be
held to
the
highest
ethical
and
legal
standards.
With
this in
mind,
Mr.
Conyers
wants to
work
towards
helping
his
family
and the
city
recover
from
this
serious
matter."
![](images/conyers%20and%20conyers.jpg)
In this
Sept. 5,
2005
file
photo
Monica
Conyers
sits
with her
husband,
Democratic
U.S.
Rep.
John
Conyers
at a
Labor
Day
rally in
Detroit.
Prosecutors
on
Friday,
June 26,
2009
charged
Detroit
City
Council
member
Monica
Conyers
with
accepting
cash
bribes
in
exchange
for
supporting
a sludge
contract
with a
Houston
company.
(AP
Photo/Carlos
Osorio,
file)
Detroit
mayor
Dave
Bing
today,
made
this
statement,
"It is
unfortunate
that our
city
must,
again,
endure
another
set of
unethical
circumstances
surrounding
elected
officials.
This is
further
evidence
of the
need for
and
respect
of
strong
ethical
standards.
However,
we must
stay
focused
on the
job at
hand--rebuilding
and
moving
Detroit
forward."
City
Council
President
Ken
Cockrel
Jr. said
city
attorneys
were
looking
into
whether
Conyers'
guilty
plea
will
bring
about
her
automatic
and
swift
expulsion
from the
board,
or if
that has
to occur
following
sentencing.
Detroit
City
Council
Candidate
Jai-Lee
Dearing
offered
this
statement,
“Despite
my
professional
and
moral
differences
with
Councilwoman
Conyers,
my heart
goes out
to the
Conyers
family.
I
believe
the city
should
share in
my
compassion
and take
a moment
to pray
for the
Conyers
and
their
children.
What is
important
now is
how we
react as
a
community
and a
city."
U.S.
Attorney
Terrence
Berg
said
Monica
Conyers
admitted
to "a
pattern
of
conduct
of
accepting
bribes,"
but the
plea
agreement
does not
specify
how much
money
was
involved.
Prosecutors
said
Monica
Conyers
accepted
two
payments
in late
2007
from a
Synagro
Technologies
official,
Rayford
Jackson,
in
exchange
for
supporting
a
$47-million-a-year,
contract
that
November
to have
Synagro
recycle
wastewater
sludge
and
build a
modern
incinerator
in a
poor
Detroit
neighborhood.
![](../council/images/monica%20conyers%20040909.jpg)
In March
2009
Councilwoman
Monica
Conyers
sits at
Council
table (Photo by HB Meeks/Tell Us
Detroit)
The
council
voted
5-4 to
approve
the
20-year
contract
with
Conyers'
vote. It
was
rescinded
in
January
amid the
accusations
of
wrongdoing.
Monica
Conyers
is the
most
prominent
person
snagged
in the
Synagro
investigation.
Jackson
and the
company's
Michigan
representative,
Jim
Rosendall,
have
also
pleaded
guilty
to
bribery
charges
in the
case.
Rosendall's
plea
agreement
described
how he
distributed
cash and
other
gifts to
officials.
Berg
said the
Conyers
plea
doesn't
end the
Synagro
investigation,
but it
does
mark the
conclusion
of the
probe
into
elected
officials
in the
case. He
called
the plea
deal an
"appropriate
and fair
resolution
to the
matter,"
with a
"high-level
public
figure
pleading
guilty"
to
bribery.
"It's a
very sad
day for
Detroit,"
Cockrel
said.
"On the
other
hand, I
think
it's
another
step in
clearing
out some
problems
in city
government.
I don't
necessarily
think
this is
over.
This may
go
beyond
one
council
member
and may
involve
non-elected
officials."
Andrew
Arena,
special
agent in
charge
of the
Detroit
FBI
office,
said
Conyers'
guilty
plea
should
signal
others
who may
have
been
involved
in
wrongdoing
who have
not been
named
that the
noose is
closing
on them.
"The
message
I want
to send
is,
"We're
coming
after
you."
Monica
Conyers'
plea is
the
latest
blow to
a city
beset by
political
scandal
in
recent
years.
Former
Mayor
Kwame
Kilpatrick
and a
top aide
were
jailed
after
admitting
to lying
under
oath
about
their
romantic
involvement
during a
whistle-blowers'
trial.
And a
recent
audit of
the
city's
beleaguered
public
school
system
has
uncovered
theft
and
other
wrongdoing
by
employees.
Monica
Conyers'
name
still
will
appear
along
with 166
others
on the
Aug. 4
nonpartisan
primary
ballot
for
council,
and it's
unclear
what
would
happen
if she
receives
enough
votes to
get her
name on
the
ballot
for the
November
general
election.
Gov.
Jennifer
Granholm
noted
Friday
that
with all
the
recent
upheaval
in
Michigan
politics,
voters
have a
real
opportunity
to
change
the
political
landscape.
"We have
a
primary
coming
up in
August.
We have
a
general
election
coming
up in
November,"
Granholm
said
following
an
unrelated
announcement
in
Birmingham.
"It's a
new day.
There is
new
leadership
at all
levels.
People
have to
see
that."
Like the
brash
and
arrogant
Kilpatrick,
Monica
Conyers
took a
defiant
stance
as the
Synagro
bribery
accusations
swirled
around
her, the
council
and
city.
She
refused
to
address
the
accusations
in
recent
weeks,
and was
often
contentious
with
colleagues
and the
media.
Monica
Conyers
told The
Associated
Press in
September
that she
would
like
others
to see
her as
"someone
who
cares
about
the
city,
someone
who
wants to
make
sure all
the
citizens
of
Detroit
have
what
they
need to
live"
productive
lives.
But it
was
another
side of
Conyers
that
gained
the most
attention.
She has
called
reporters
seeking
interviews
"evil"
and
compared
the
local
media to
"paparazzi."
Last
summer,
Conyers
was
involved
in a
disturbance
at a
Denver
hotel
while
attending
the
Democratic
National
Convention
with her
husband.
She also
has been
accused
of
threatening
to shoot
a
mayoral
staffer,
and she
publicly
called
Cockrel
"Shrek."
JEFF KAROUB
of
Associated
Press
contributed
to this
story |