Democrat culture of corruption

Monica Conyers pleads guilty to conspiracyShe faces up to 5 years in prison

By BEN SCHMITT, JOE SWICKARD, JIM SCHAEFER, DAVID ASHENFELTER, M.L. ELRICK and ZACHARY GORCHOWFree Press Staff Writers

Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers pleaded guilty this morning to conspiring to commit bribery and is free on personal bond.
U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn said, "The defendant now stands convicted."
The one count of conspiring to commit bribery is punishable by up to five years in prison.
No sentencing date has been set.
Conyers, the wife of powerful Democratic congressman U.S. Rep. John Conyers, appeared before Cohn to answer charges in connection with the wide-ranging probe of wrongdoing at Detroit city hall.
• PDF: Download the charging document and plea agreement
She has long been under suspicion in the Synagro Technologies bribery probe, not least because she had been a vocal opponent of the contract before suddenly switching her sentiments. She became the deciding voice in the city council’s 5-4 vote to approve the sludge-hauling deal in November 2007.
“This is not the beginning and it is certainly not the end, folks,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Andy Arena said at a news conference this morning.
Arena said the message to corrupt public officials is, “We’re coming after you.”
U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg said the city corruption probe continues, but this is the end of his office’s investigation “of Synagro-related conduct.”
It remains unclear if federal investigators are still considering Synagro charges against Sam Riddle, the ex-Conyers aide, who court documents suggest was with Conyers when she received at least one of the bribes.
The Free Press previously reported that Riddle is also under investigation for possible corruption in Southfield. In that instance, authorities are looking into whether a pawn shop in that city used undue influence to win quicker approval to move its store to another part of Southfield.
Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel, who testified before the grand jury in the case, hailed the clearing of other members.
"That is fabulous," she said. "That is very good news. That will help, I think, to dissipate the cloud."
Berg said the plea deal does not require Conyers to cooperate in the ongoing investigation of city corruption.
While Cohn pronounced Conyers convicted, Detroit attorney Bill Goodman said his understanding is that she is not convicted or compelled to leave office until she is sentenced.
Goodman, who represented the City Council in its fight to oust ex-mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, said the city charter requires a council member to step down “the minute he or she is convicted of a felony. In federal court, that process is complete at the sentencing.”
No resignation letter has been submitted by Conyers to Detroit City Council as of this morning, according to the council clerk’s office, Council President Ken Cockrel Jr.’s office, and council’s legal office.
The federal plea document released today cites two instances in late 2007, in the days surrounding the approval of the now-infamous Synagro Technologies sludge-hauling contract, when Conyers accepted cash bribes from a Synagro consultant.
The document does not cite the specific amount of the bribes, but previous court documents have said that Conyers, identified by the feds as Council Member A, took at least two bribes of $3,000 each, among other bribes.
In both cases cited in the court documents today, Conyers was handed the cash in an envelope by a individual representing Rayford Jackson, a Detroit businessman doing work for Synagro who pleaded guilty to bribery earlier this month.
On one of those two occasions, Conyers was accompanied by an aide. Previous court documents indirectly identified former Conyers aide and political consultant Sam Riddle as having participated in the bribery scheme.
Rayford Jackson’s brother Lennie is believed to be the courier who met with Conyers.
Elizabeth Jacobs, Lennie Jackson’s attorney, declined to comment on Conyers’ plea or plea document.
“The thing speaks for itself,” Jacobs said today.
The charge reads: Monica Ann Conyers beginning on a date unknown and continuing until or about December 2007, did knowingly and voluntarily conspire and agree with an aide and others to corruptly solicit and demand for the benefit of herself and others and to accept and agree to accept things of value from persons while an agent of the City of Detroit, an entity that received more than $10,000 in federal funding during the calendar year of 2007, with intent that Conyers would be influenced and rewarded in connection with any business transaction or series of transactions of a value of $5,000 or more with the City of Detroit.
Overt acts: On Nov. 20, 2007, at approximately 3:15 p.m., Conyers met with an individual sent by Rayford Jackson in the parking lot at Butzel Family Center and received an envelope containing cash. On Dec. 4, 2007, at approximately 2:30 p.m., an individual sent by Rayford Jackson met Conyers and her aide in a McDonald's parking lot in Detroit at which time the individual delivered an envelope containing cash.
The two bribes admittedly accepted by Conyers – on Nov. 20 and Dec. 4 2007 – bookended the Synagro vote, which was on Nov. 28 of that year.
The charging document reads: “The payments were made and received as part of an agreement and understanding between defendant and Rayford Jackson … to influence defendant to support the Synagro contract.”
She has been at the center of FBI questioning for months about the city’s sludge disposal contract with Synagro Technologies and her activities as a member of the city pension board.
Also attending the hearing was David Whitaker, director of research and analysis division of Detroit City Council, sitting in the back row with coworker Marcel Hurt. Whitaker said they are to report back what happened to city council today.
“What happens next depends on what the council wants us to do, and what the charter requires,” Whitaker said. He said if Conyers pleads and a change is required on council, JoAnn Watson becomes mayor pro tem.
Under federal sentencing guidelines, Conyers could face 31 to 60 months in prison, depending on how much money the judge believes was involved in the scheme. Conyers’ lawyer and federal prosecutors disagree about the amount of money she received.
After pleading guilty, Conyers left the courtroom through a back door and got into a public elevator on the Fort Street side of the federal courthouse.
Conyers declined to comment on her plea, then refused to allow the doors to close until a Free Press reporter got out of the elevator, which was going up. She stepped out of the elevator and flagged a court employee to have the reporter removed.
“Can someone get her out of here?” Conyers asked after declining to comment on her plea.
The reporter voluntarily got out of the elevator, but Conyers and an unidentified man and woman with her got on another elevator instead.
Former Detroit Police whistle-blower Gary Brown, a city council candidate, said today he was relieved to hear of Conyers’ plea.
“I’m glad,” he said. “This has been anticipated for a long time. Detroiters have been on edge and with the election cycle coming around, if council members are involved in corruption, we need to get that exposed prior to the election. I hope any agreement requires her to forfeit her position immediately. Any other city employee charged criminally would be required to step down.”
Conyers’ husband, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, was not available for comment this morning. His office released 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.”
U.S. Attorney Berg told the Free Press today that other council members and John Conyers did nothing wrong.
"I want to state that this investigation has not uncovered evidence sufficient to support charging any other elected members of the Detroit City Council with taking bribes or engaging in acts of corruption relating to the Synagro contract," Berg said.
"I also want to make it equally clear that the evidence offered no suggestion that U.S. Rep. John Conyers, Mrs. Conyers' husband, had any knowledge or role in Mrs. Conyers' illegal conduct, nor did the congressman attempt to influence this investigation in any way."
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union – which bitterly opposed the Synagro deal – welcomed Conyers’ plea.
“She sold her vote to privatize part of the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department’s core operations, and eliminate over a hundred city worker jobs,”AFSCME Local 207 President John Riehl said in a news release today.
“We would hope that all those that violated the rights of the citizens and city workers in the Synagro case will be charged forthwith, including the top levels of the Synagro Corporation,” Riehl wrote. “All guilty public and private officials must resign and be jailed.”
Riehl added: “Let this be a hard lesson to elected officials and the public: privatization of public services, influence peddling and bribery go hand in hand. Keep the profit motive out of the public’s services!”
The Rev. Spencer Ellis, pastor at Citadel of Praise who says he’s a longtime friend and spiritual adviser to Monica Conyers, called today’s developments “a very unfortunate situation.”
“As a spiritual adviser we pray with her and for her during this difficult time,” Ellis said. “It’s not the end of the world. We look to her future and toward her restoration, mentally, spiritually and physically.”
Ellis says he has not spoken with Conyers, a member of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Detroit, in recent days, but expects he will soon. “I’m not sure about today. I know this is a very trying day.”
In January, James Rosendall, the Michigan-based Synagro vice president, pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge for his role in the Detroit Synagro contract and was fired by the company.
Rosendall, 44, of Grand Rapids admitted to plying Detroit officials with cash, contributions, chartered flights and a case of Cristal champagne -- which costs thousands of dollars -- to win approval of the $1.2-billion sludge disposal contract.
He is facing 11 months in prison and a fine of up to $200,000 for his role in the scheme, which began in 2001.
Synagro suspended him without pay last summer after the Free Press revealed that federal officials were probing a deal to build a sludge disposal facility in Detroit.