Monday, August 24, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
thoughts on mj
such a beautiful tribute.
he truly is the king - who else could pull together that kind of rememberance? people watching from all over the world...
where was oprah?
where was macaulay culkin?
where was diana ross?
where was liz taylor?
where was bubbles?
no matter what personal issues you have with people, there are 2 events you absolutely can't miss - weddings and funerals. they only happen once. can't have a do-over.
i wish the best for his family. i loved hearing from his daughter. so touching.
he truly is the king - who else could pull together that kind of rememberance? people watching from all over the world...
where was oprah?
where was macaulay culkin?
where was diana ross?
where was liz taylor?
where was bubbles?
no matter what personal issues you have with people, there are 2 events you absolutely can't miss - weddings and funerals. they only happen once. can't have a do-over.
i wish the best for his family. i loved hearing from his daughter. so touching.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Brandon & Samantha's Middle Eastern Jamboree!
Staying true to my reputation for doing random things, Sam Talbot and I will embark on a trek to the Middle East on August 6th.
We will arrive in Istanbul, Turkey and make our way to Cairo, Egypt.
Stops along the way include Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Apparently, you cannot gain access to the surrounding countries if you visit Israel... Yes, I will be contacting the State Department to see if there is a way around this...
No, I am not concerned that I will be hate crimed or stoned to death. I expect the trip to be an amazing one!
Yes, I will OBVIOUSLY be documenting the entire journey on this blog. I am not big on picture taking - I will leave that to Sam. My contribution will be the videos ;)
Stay tuned!
P.S. If anyone has advice, speaks conversational Arabic and wants to teach me or can point me in the direction of a quality local retailer that will help me outfit myself in the native garb, do let me know. I'm thinking 'earthy chic' with bright colored scarves... Duh.
We will arrive in Istanbul, Turkey and make our way to Cairo, Egypt.
Stops along the way include Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. Apparently, you cannot gain access to the surrounding countries if you visit Israel... Yes, I will be contacting the State Department to see if there is a way around this...
No, I am not concerned that I will be hate crimed or stoned to death. I expect the trip to be an amazing one!
Yes, I will OBVIOUSLY be documenting the entire journey on this blog. I am not big on picture taking - I will leave that to Sam. My contribution will be the videos ;)
Stay tuned!
P.S. If anyone has advice, speaks conversational Arabic and wants to teach me or can point me in the direction of a quality local retailer that will help me outfit myself in the native garb, do let me know. I'm thinking 'earthy chic' with bright colored scarves... Duh.
Lansing sex-sting operation sparks FOIA fight
By Todd A. Heywood 6/26/09 7:13 PM
LANSING — Board of Police Commissioners member Jan Kolp said she placed a call to the head of the Lansing Police Department’s special operations unit which resulted in a May 22 sex sting operation in the city’s Fenner Nature Center, which has raised questions about command and control of police operations, as well as concerns about what some community groups say may be an unfair targeting of gay men in the capital city.
When questioned by Michigan Messenger in recent weeks, police officials have given conflicting information about the sting operation, which has sparked a Freedom of Information Act fight that is headed to the Lansing City Council, where an appeal of an information request denial will be considered by council members at their Monday meeting.
Additionally, a Public Safety Committee hearing has been scheduled on July 1 to investigate how the sting was instigated and conducted.
In an interview on Friday evening, Kolp said she called Lt. Larry Klaus, head of the police’s special operations unit, about men soliciting sex from other men in the nature center, which sits on 130 acres on the city’s southeast side. “I asked him if he could give us some help over there.”
Kolp said she did not believe her post on the Lansing Board of Police Commissioners, which oversees departmental budgets and disciplinary matters, influenced how police responded. Kolp is in her second four-year term on the board, and was reappointed by Mayor Virgil Bernero, with approval of the Lansing City Council last year. Her current term expires in 2012.
“I think you’re giving that too much credit,” Kolp said when asked about her post. “I wasn’t calling as a police commissioner, I was calling as a person who has lived on Forest Road for 40 years and president of Forestview Neighborhood Association… I would hope they would handle anyone’s complaint the same way.”
The sting resulted in two arrests and a warrant for a third. All those in question were men, and police allege they were in the park to engage in sex with other men.
But in an interview earlier this month, Lansing Police Chief Mark Alley said the department had stepped up uniformed patrols in the park and had not found any evidence of criminal wrongdoing. Alley and other top city officials have denied knowing about the sting operation until after it had taken place.
The Lansing Association for Human Rights, part of a coalition appealing the denial of the FOIA request seeking documents related to the sting, “believes in an open and truthful government as vital to all citizens,” said the group’s president, Penny Gardner. “To deny the FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] request keeps secret a process and action that bears scrutiny and only diminishes the honesty and accountability crucial to our citizenry’s well being.”
Officials said the request, filed June 2, could not be fulfilled for two reasons. The city refused to release the arrest reports because the suspects had not yet been arraigned on the charges and that release of the arrest reports could taint the jury pool, preventing the men from receiving a fair trial. The request seeking internal communications was rejected because officials said it would reveal operational instructions to police officers or agents.
But Michigan Messenger, along with LAHR, the alternative weekly newspaper City Pulse and the Detroit-based Triangle Foundation appealed the decision to the Lansing City Council arguing the public’s right to know outweighed reasons for non-disclosure.
Triangle Foundation, which monitors and reports on hate crimes and discrimination against the LGBT community, has long criticized what they have characterized as “Bag-a-Fag” or gay sting operations. The term was coined by Michigan State Police troopers involved in operations at state highways, according to a report by former judge and lawyer Rudy Sierra.
Critics argue that men caught up in such stings often have done nothing but discuss sex with police decoys. A Michigan Messenger investigation last fall about a similar operation in Mount Pleasant found that men were arrested for only talking about engaging in sexual activity, including one man who was arrested for saying he was into “gardening.”
Kolp said she hopes no one will mistake the neighborhood’s concerns as being anti-gay.
“I hope you or anyone doesn’t think this has anything to do with sexual orientation. This whole thing is about sex in a public place,” she said. “It’s simply because it is an indecency problem, a moral problem and a matter of law.”
In the appeal letter, delivered to the city on Wednesday and currently on the city council’s Monday agenda, the groups argued that the denial of the release of the arrest reports was inappropriate. The groups argue that police officials may already have tainted the jury pool by alleging that “there were children present in the park.”
In regard to the denial of internal communications, the groups argue that officials had denied prior knowledge of the police action, including the chief of police. Obtaining internal communications could prove or disprove those claims.
The organizations seeking information about the sting also argued that reports indicating a police commissioner’s involvement in instigating the stings elevates the public’s right to know above any purported sensitivity of internal communications. The appeal letter did not identify Kolp specifically, who was named by a city official speaking with Michigan Messenger about the matter on the condition of anonymity.
The appeal letter will be formally accepted by the Lansing City Council at its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday. The letter will likely be referred to the city attorney’s office. From there, the city attorney will make a legal ruling and refer it back to council for action. The council can overturn the denial completely, in part or uphold the denial.
Once the council has acted, the mayor can veto the measure, unless six of the eight council members voted in favor, in which case a veto would likely be overturned.
LANSING — Board of Police Commissioners member Jan Kolp said she placed a call to the head of the Lansing Police Department’s special operations unit which resulted in a May 22 sex sting operation in the city’s Fenner Nature Center, which has raised questions about command and control of police operations, as well as concerns about what some community groups say may be an unfair targeting of gay men in the capital city.
When questioned by Michigan Messenger in recent weeks, police officials have given conflicting information about the sting operation, which has sparked a Freedom of Information Act fight that is headed to the Lansing City Council, where an appeal of an information request denial will be considered by council members at their Monday meeting.
Additionally, a Public Safety Committee hearing has been scheduled on July 1 to investigate how the sting was instigated and conducted.
In an interview on Friday evening, Kolp said she called Lt. Larry Klaus, head of the police’s special operations unit, about men soliciting sex from other men in the nature center, which sits on 130 acres on the city’s southeast side. “I asked him if he could give us some help over there.”
Kolp said she did not believe her post on the Lansing Board of Police Commissioners, which oversees departmental budgets and disciplinary matters, influenced how police responded. Kolp is in her second four-year term on the board, and was reappointed by Mayor Virgil Bernero, with approval of the Lansing City Council last year. Her current term expires in 2012.
“I think you’re giving that too much credit,” Kolp said when asked about her post. “I wasn’t calling as a police commissioner, I was calling as a person who has lived on Forest Road for 40 years and president of Forestview Neighborhood Association… I would hope they would handle anyone’s complaint the same way.”
The sting resulted in two arrests and a warrant for a third. All those in question were men, and police allege they were in the park to engage in sex with other men.
But in an interview earlier this month, Lansing Police Chief Mark Alley said the department had stepped up uniformed patrols in the park and had not found any evidence of criminal wrongdoing. Alley and other top city officials have denied knowing about the sting operation until after it had taken place.
The Lansing Association for Human Rights, part of a coalition appealing the denial of the FOIA request seeking documents related to the sting, “believes in an open and truthful government as vital to all citizens,” said the group’s president, Penny Gardner. “To deny the FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] request keeps secret a process and action that bears scrutiny and only diminishes the honesty and accountability crucial to our citizenry’s well being.”
Officials said the request, filed June 2, could not be fulfilled for two reasons. The city refused to release the arrest reports because the suspects had not yet been arraigned on the charges and that release of the arrest reports could taint the jury pool, preventing the men from receiving a fair trial. The request seeking internal communications was rejected because officials said it would reveal operational instructions to police officers or agents.
But Michigan Messenger, along with LAHR, the alternative weekly newspaper City Pulse and the Detroit-based Triangle Foundation appealed the decision to the Lansing City Council arguing the public’s right to know outweighed reasons for non-disclosure.
Triangle Foundation, which monitors and reports on hate crimes and discrimination against the LGBT community, has long criticized what they have characterized as “Bag-a-Fag” or gay sting operations. The term was coined by Michigan State Police troopers involved in operations at state highways, according to a report by former judge and lawyer Rudy Sierra.
Critics argue that men caught up in such stings often have done nothing but discuss sex with police decoys. A Michigan Messenger investigation last fall about a similar operation in Mount Pleasant found that men were arrested for only talking about engaging in sexual activity, including one man who was arrested for saying he was into “gardening.”
Kolp said she hopes no one will mistake the neighborhood’s concerns as being anti-gay.
“I hope you or anyone doesn’t think this has anything to do with sexual orientation. This whole thing is about sex in a public place,” she said. “It’s simply because it is an indecency problem, a moral problem and a matter of law.”
In the appeal letter, delivered to the city on Wednesday and currently on the city council’s Monday agenda, the groups argued that the denial of the release of the arrest reports was inappropriate. The groups argue that police officials may already have tainted the jury pool by alleging that “there were children present in the park.”
In regard to the denial of internal communications, the groups argue that officials had denied prior knowledge of the police action, including the chief of police. Obtaining internal communications could prove or disprove those claims.
The organizations seeking information about the sting also argued that reports indicating a police commissioner’s involvement in instigating the stings elevates the public’s right to know above any purported sensitivity of internal communications. The appeal letter did not identify Kolp specifically, who was named by a city official speaking with Michigan Messenger about the matter on the condition of anonymity.
The appeal letter will be formally accepted by the Lansing City Council at its regularly scheduled meeting on Monday. The letter will likely be referred to the city attorney’s office. From there, the city attorney will make a legal ruling and refer it back to council for action. The council can overturn the denial completely, in part or uphold the denial.
Once the council has acted, the mayor can veto the measure, unless six of the eight council members voted in favor, in which case a veto would likely be overturned.
textfromlastnight.com
(563): My dad just sent me a text telling me to "say hi to all the luscious bitches" at the gay bar. Guess this explains my childhood.
(301): Lady next to me is getting american flags airburshed on her nails. god bless the ghetto.
(301): Lady next to me is getting american flags airburshed on her nails. god bless the ghetto.
thisiswhyyourefat.com
in case you weren't aware, some funny people have created a site to tell you...
post pictures of fatty food.
this is my current favorite:
yes, that is a deep fried slice of spam. delicious.
post pictures of fatty food.
this is my current favorite:
yes, that is a deep fried slice of spam. delicious.
Monday, June 29, 2009
i think it's cute!
"Pabst, a boxer mix, won the blue ribbon at the 21st annual World's Ugliest Dog contest on Friday at the Sonoma-Marin Fair. According to reports, his sweet personality and adorable underbite gave him the edge."
good times, gone bad
Madoff Sentenced to 150 Years for Ponzi Scheme
By JACK HEALY
For one brief moment on Monday morning, Bernard L. Madoff stood up in a Manhattan courtroom and turned to face the people who lost their life savings to his huge Ponzi scheme. “I’m sorry,” he told them. “I know that doesn’t help you.”
What did help some of the victims — if anything could — was the sentence Mr. Madoff received minutes later: 150 years in prison for operating one of the largest frauds in Wall Street history, an operation that ensnared millionaires, private foundations, a Nobel Prize laureate and hundreds of small investors who lost their life savings to an investment guru they had trusted completely.
In pronouncing the sentence — the maximum he could have handed down — Judge Denny Chin turned aside Mr. Madoff’s own assertions of remorse and rejected the suggestion from Mr. Madoff’s lawyers that there was a sense of “mob vengeance” surrounding calls for a long prison term. Mr. Madoff’s crimes, the judge said, were “extraordinarily evil.”
“Objectively speaking, the fraud here was staggering,” Judge Chin said. “It spanned more than 20 years.”
The sentencing came at the end of an emotional 90-minute hearing in which victims of the $65 billion fraud urged the judge to show no mercy and described how their lives had been upended by Mr. Madoff. They told of working three jobs to get by, losing their retirement, waking up one day to the shock of learning that their savings and investments had vanished.
After the victims spoke, Mr. Madoff himself stood up from the defense table to acknowledge the damage he had inflicted and express regret.
“I’m responsible for a great deal of suffering and pain, I understand that,” the 71-year-old financier told the court. “I live in a tormented state now, knowing all of the pain and suffering that I’ve created. I’ve left a legacy of shame, as some of my victims have pointed out, to my family and my grandchildren.”
Prosecutors said Mr. Madoff deserved the maximum term — representing a life sentence and more for the disgraced financier — for perpetrating one of the biggest investment frauds in Wall Street history. Mr. Madoff’s own lawyers said he should receive only 12 years.
Mr. Madoff wore a charcoal gray suit, cream shirt and a knit tie and sat at a polished wood table, surrounded by his lawyers. Prosecutors sat opposite them, and the viewing gallery was crowded with onlookers.
The hearing opened shortly after 10 a.m. with statements from victims of the Madoff scheme, who stood at a lectern and told wrenching stories of how they had lost everything, and were now working several jobs and living hand-to-mouth.
They fought through tears, connected Mr. Madoff to villains from Dante’s Inferno, spoke of their feelings of betrayal and mistrust, and described how their families had lost money that would have gone to caring for disabled relatives.
“How could someone do this to us?” said Dominic Ambrosino, a retired New York City corrections officer who said he lost his life savings with Mr. Madoff and was the first victim to speak. “We worked honestly and so hard.”
Another victim, Sharon Lissauer, who said she invested all of her savings with Mr. Madoff, told the court: “He should spend his whole life in jail. He’s ruined so many people’s lives. He killed my spirit and shattered my dreams.”
After Mr. Madoff’s victims finished speaking, his lawyer, Ira Lee Sorkin, stood up and said the government’s request for a 150-year sentence bordered on absurd. He called Mr. Madoff a “deeply flawed individual,” but a human being nonetheless.
“Vengeance is not the goal of punishment,” Mr. Sorkin said.
Even with a lesser term, Mr. Sorkin added, Mr. Madoff expects to “live out his years in prison.”
But in meting out the maximum sentence, Judge Chin pointed out that no friends, family or other supporters had submitted any letters on Mr. Madoff’s behalf, attesting to the strength of his character or good deeds he had done.
Even Mr. Madoff’s wife, Ruth, whose own awareness of his business dealings has been a major unanswered question, issued a statement on Monday distancing herself from him.
“All those touched by this fraud feel betrayed, disbelieving the nightmare they woke to,” she said. “I am embarrassed and ashamed. Like everyone else, I feel betrayed and confused. The man who committed this horrible fraud is not the man whom I have known for all these years.”
She was not in court for the sentencing hearing.
Mr. Madoff was expected to return to his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan while federal prison officials determine where he will serve his sentence. The judge indicated that Mr. Madoff would be imprisoned somewhere in the Northeast.
The hearing on Monday marked a climactic moment in the criminal case against Mr. Madoff, whose name has become synonymous with greed and fraud on Wall Street. Dozens of photographers and television camera crews from New York to Britain to China waited outside the federal district courthouse on Pearl Street as reporters, legal teams and Mr. Madoff’s victims filed toward the courtroom.
“We’re hoping for a big sentence only as a deterrent,” Cynthia Friedman, who said she lost her life savings with Mr. Madoff, said outside the courtroom. “He can’t hurt us anymore.”
It was a scene reminiscent of the morning in March when Mr. Madoff walked into the same courthouse with his lawyers and pleaded guilty to a series of counts of fraud, theft and perjury. This time, however, Mr. Madoff was brought to court from his jail cell.
Mr. Madoff’s case was playing out amid a tangle of lawsuits, criminal and civil investigations, and competing claims for restitution prompted by revelations of the outsize fraud at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities.
It will be at least another three months before the judge makes a decision on repaying the victims. Prosecutors requested more time to sift through Mr. Madoff’s records to determine how much was lost and how many people are owed.
Mr. Madoff’s accountant, David G. Friehling, was charged with securities fraud in March, and is so far the only other person to face criminal charges connected to the Ponzi scheme. A New York financier whose clients lost $2 billion with Mr. Madoff has been charged with fraud and deception in a civil suit by the New York State attorney general.
The inspector general of the Securities and Exchange Commission is examining how regulators failed for years to catch Mr. Madoff. Investment funds that channeled money to Mr. Madoff have been sued, and two have agreed to return millions they withdrew before Mr. Madoff’s December arrest.
For decades, Mr. Madoff built his reputation — and his client base — on the promise of healthy returns that flowed in as reliably as the tides. Big hedge funds and notables like Elie Wiesel and Sandy Koufax entrusted their money to Mr. Madoff’s investment business, but so did hundreds of retirees and smaller investors.
But the reliable returns and monthly investment statements simply masked a Ponzi scheme that attracted new money to pay existing investors and finance his operating costs.
When the cash ran out, the illusion imploded.
Zachery Kouwe and Diana B. Henriques contributed reporting.
By JACK HEALY
For one brief moment on Monday morning, Bernard L. Madoff stood up in a Manhattan courtroom and turned to face the people who lost their life savings to his huge Ponzi scheme. “I’m sorry,” he told them. “I know that doesn’t help you.”
What did help some of the victims — if anything could — was the sentence Mr. Madoff received minutes later: 150 years in prison for operating one of the largest frauds in Wall Street history, an operation that ensnared millionaires, private foundations, a Nobel Prize laureate and hundreds of small investors who lost their life savings to an investment guru they had trusted completely.
In pronouncing the sentence — the maximum he could have handed down — Judge Denny Chin turned aside Mr. Madoff’s own assertions of remorse and rejected the suggestion from Mr. Madoff’s lawyers that there was a sense of “mob vengeance” surrounding calls for a long prison term. Mr. Madoff’s crimes, the judge said, were “extraordinarily evil.”
“Objectively speaking, the fraud here was staggering,” Judge Chin said. “It spanned more than 20 years.”
The sentencing came at the end of an emotional 90-minute hearing in which victims of the $65 billion fraud urged the judge to show no mercy and described how their lives had been upended by Mr. Madoff. They told of working three jobs to get by, losing their retirement, waking up one day to the shock of learning that their savings and investments had vanished.
After the victims spoke, Mr. Madoff himself stood up from the defense table to acknowledge the damage he had inflicted and express regret.
“I’m responsible for a great deal of suffering and pain, I understand that,” the 71-year-old financier told the court. “I live in a tormented state now, knowing all of the pain and suffering that I’ve created. I’ve left a legacy of shame, as some of my victims have pointed out, to my family and my grandchildren.”
Prosecutors said Mr. Madoff deserved the maximum term — representing a life sentence and more for the disgraced financier — for perpetrating one of the biggest investment frauds in Wall Street history. Mr. Madoff’s own lawyers said he should receive only 12 years.
Mr. Madoff wore a charcoal gray suit, cream shirt and a knit tie and sat at a polished wood table, surrounded by his lawyers. Prosecutors sat opposite them, and the viewing gallery was crowded with onlookers.
The hearing opened shortly after 10 a.m. with statements from victims of the Madoff scheme, who stood at a lectern and told wrenching stories of how they had lost everything, and were now working several jobs and living hand-to-mouth.
They fought through tears, connected Mr. Madoff to villains from Dante’s Inferno, spoke of their feelings of betrayal and mistrust, and described how their families had lost money that would have gone to caring for disabled relatives.
“How could someone do this to us?” said Dominic Ambrosino, a retired New York City corrections officer who said he lost his life savings with Mr. Madoff and was the first victim to speak. “We worked honestly and so hard.”
Another victim, Sharon Lissauer, who said she invested all of her savings with Mr. Madoff, told the court: “He should spend his whole life in jail. He’s ruined so many people’s lives. He killed my spirit and shattered my dreams.”
After Mr. Madoff’s victims finished speaking, his lawyer, Ira Lee Sorkin, stood up and said the government’s request for a 150-year sentence bordered on absurd. He called Mr. Madoff a “deeply flawed individual,” but a human being nonetheless.
“Vengeance is not the goal of punishment,” Mr. Sorkin said.
Even with a lesser term, Mr. Sorkin added, Mr. Madoff expects to “live out his years in prison.”
But in meting out the maximum sentence, Judge Chin pointed out that no friends, family or other supporters had submitted any letters on Mr. Madoff’s behalf, attesting to the strength of his character or good deeds he had done.
Even Mr. Madoff’s wife, Ruth, whose own awareness of his business dealings has been a major unanswered question, issued a statement on Monday distancing herself from him.
“All those touched by this fraud feel betrayed, disbelieving the nightmare they woke to,” she said. “I am embarrassed and ashamed. Like everyone else, I feel betrayed and confused. The man who committed this horrible fraud is not the man whom I have known for all these years.”
She was not in court for the sentencing hearing.
Mr. Madoff was expected to return to his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan while federal prison officials determine where he will serve his sentence. The judge indicated that Mr. Madoff would be imprisoned somewhere in the Northeast.
The hearing on Monday marked a climactic moment in the criminal case against Mr. Madoff, whose name has become synonymous with greed and fraud on Wall Street. Dozens of photographers and television camera crews from New York to Britain to China waited outside the federal district courthouse on Pearl Street as reporters, legal teams and Mr. Madoff’s victims filed toward the courtroom.
“We’re hoping for a big sentence only as a deterrent,” Cynthia Friedman, who said she lost her life savings with Mr. Madoff, said outside the courtroom. “He can’t hurt us anymore.”
It was a scene reminiscent of the morning in March when Mr. Madoff walked into the same courthouse with his lawyers and pleaded guilty to a series of counts of fraud, theft and perjury. This time, however, Mr. Madoff was brought to court from his jail cell.
Mr. Madoff’s case was playing out amid a tangle of lawsuits, criminal and civil investigations, and competing claims for restitution prompted by revelations of the outsize fraud at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities.
It will be at least another three months before the judge makes a decision on repaying the victims. Prosecutors requested more time to sift through Mr. Madoff’s records to determine how much was lost and how many people are owed.
Mr. Madoff’s accountant, David G. Friehling, was charged with securities fraud in March, and is so far the only other person to face criminal charges connected to the Ponzi scheme. A New York financier whose clients lost $2 billion with Mr. Madoff has been charged with fraud and deception in a civil suit by the New York State attorney general.
The inspector general of the Securities and Exchange Commission is examining how regulators failed for years to catch Mr. Madoff. Investment funds that channeled money to Mr. Madoff have been sued, and two have agreed to return millions they withdrew before Mr. Madoff’s December arrest.
For decades, Mr. Madoff built his reputation — and his client base — on the promise of healthy returns that flowed in as reliably as the tides. Big hedge funds and notables like Elie Wiesel and Sandy Koufax entrusted their money to Mr. Madoff’s investment business, but so did hundreds of retirees and smaller investors.
But the reliable returns and monthly investment statements simply masked a Ponzi scheme that attracted new money to pay existing investors and finance his operating costs.
When the cash ran out, the illusion imploded.
Zachery Kouwe and Diana B. Henriques contributed reporting.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Friday, June 26, 2009
so sad.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Monica Conyers guilty in Synagro bribery scandal
Paul Egan / Detroit News Staff
Detroit -- Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers pleaded guilty to a felony today in connection with the city sludge contract hauling scandal. Detroit's top federal prosecutor said no other City Council members would be charged in connection with the contract.
Conyers, 44, spoke softly in federal court as she admitted taking bribes in connection with the $1.2 billion Synagro Technologies Inc. contract the Detroit City Council awarded in 2007.
Conyers changed her position from opposing to supporting the deal to cast the deciding vote.
Conyers could be facing about three years in prison under her plea agreement. Her attorney, Steve Fishman, believes federal sentencing guidelines of 30-37 months apply.
Federal prosecutors believe she would get the full five years under sentencing guidelines.
Interim U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg said Conyers' guilty plea marks the end of the federal investigation of corruption by Detroit council members in connection with the Synagro contract.
No other council members will be charged in the Synagro case, Berg said.
Berg also suggested Conyers won't face additional charges despite allegations she received jewelry and other items of value in connection with city business. Prosecutors plan to present evidence of other alleged acts by Conyers at her sentencing hearing, Berg said.
During the brief court appearance, Conyers had to be asked several times to speak up, and about the only words that were audible were "law degree," when asked how much education she had.
Her husband, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, has offices in the federal courthouse where she pleaded guilty.
Walking off the House floor in Washington where he was voting on legislation, John Conyers said "I have no comment" when asked for reaction to the news of his wife's guilty plea.
Rayford Jackson, a Detroit businessman who has been named as a person connected to Conyers' briberies, was also at the courthouse for a separate matter and declined to comment on the plea.
"We knew nothing about this. Had we known, we would not be here. I didn't know she'd plead," said Richard H. Morgan, Jr., Jackson's attorney.
One of her longest friends, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Vonda Evans, entered the courtroom just before 10 a.m.
Federal prosecutors have been in plea talks in recent days with Conyers and her former aide, Sam Riddle.
Berg said the plea deal does not address Conyers resigning her elected post, as that will be up to the Detroit City Council and the people of Detroit, he said.
Steve Fishman, Conyers' attorney, said he has no idea whether Conyers plans to resign or when Conyers will be sentenced.
Conyers' plea agreement makes no reference to her cooperating with prosecutors or testifying in court. It says that as both a council member and as a trustee of Detroit's General Retirement System, she "and an aide received payments from persons who sought contracts, money and/or favorable treatment from these two entities." They created the perception with those paying the money "that defendant would be influenced by the payments in her official actions," the plea agreement said.
According to the paperwork filed, Conyers pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to commit bribery: "Beginning at a date unknown and continuing until in or about Dec. 2007 ... Monica A. Conyers 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 agreed to accept, things of value from persons while an agent of the city of Detroit ... with the intent that Conyers would be influence and rewarded with connection with any business, transaction or series of transactions of a value of $5,000 or more with the city of Detroit. ...
"Defendant Conyers and her co-conspirators executed the conspiracy by agreeing Conyers and her aide would receive money and other things of value by creating the perception in the payers' minds that Conyers would be influenced in taking actions beneficial to the persons giving the things of value using her authority as a member of the Detroit City Council."
Two examples from the agreement:
• On Nov. 20, 2007, at 3:15 p.m., Conyers met with "an individual sent by Rayford Jackson" in the Butzel Family Center parking lot and received "an envelope containing cash."
• On Dec. 4, 2007, at 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 she received "an envelope containing cash."
James R. Rosendall Jr., a former official with Synagro Technologies Inc., and Jackson earlier pleaded guilty to bribery charges in connection with $1.2 billion contract the Detroit City Council awarded in 2007.
David Whitaker, City Council's head of Research and Analysis, said City Council will follow the city's charter, which has a process to remove an elected official from office. However, he added that the charter is garbled on the process.
"I am sure efforts will be made immediately to alleviate her position," he said outside the federal courthouse.
Mayor Dave Bing had no immediate comment on Conyers' guilty plea, but his spokeswoman, Meagan Pitts, said a statement should be released this afternoon.
City Council candidate and former deputy police chief Gary Brown said it sounds like the City Hall corruption case is moving to conclusion.
"I'll be glad when this is over," he said.
Leadership of a city employee's union hailed the guilty plea as a lesson to public officials.
"She sold her vote to privatize part of the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department's core operations, and eliminate over a hundred city worker jobs," John Riehl president of AFSCME Local 207 said in a statement issued this morning. "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. All guilty public and private officials must resign and be jailed."
Michael Alan Schwartz, a lawyer who represents former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, said Friday that he's received no indication that authorities have any links to his client in this investigation.
"It's my understanding that this was entirely a City Council matter," Schwartz said. "I've heard nothing to suggest there are any claims against Mr. Kilpatrick or that he has any involvement in this at all."
Detroit News Staff Writers Paul Egan, Christine MacDonald, David Josar, Leonard N. Fleming and Deb Price contributed to this report.
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