OMG! Sanford "let them down by creating a fiction" (flat
out lied) Now this regarding Chair of the Congressional
Judicuary's wife.
Is is just me, or is something wrong with this picture?????
Congressman's Wife Guilty of Bribery
By JEFF KAROUB, AP
posted: 1 HOUR 27 MINUTES AGOcomments: 94filed under:
(June 27) — City Council member Monica Conyers, the wife of
powerful Democratic congressman John Conyers, pleaded
guilty Friday to accepting cash bribes in exchange for
supporting a sludge contract with a Houston company.
Conyers, a fiery 44-year-old first-term council member,
admitted in federal court to a single count of conspiracy
to commit bribery, responding quietly to questions from
Judge Avern Cohn.
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Paul Sancya, AP
Detroit City Council member Monica Conyers, here in
September, was accused of accepting two envelopes of cash
in a bribery case involving a $47 million annual sludge
removal contract. She left court Friday without comment.
She faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine
when she's sentenced.
Conyers left court without commenting.
Her lawyer, Steve Fishman, declined to comment on the
specifics of Conyers' case outside of court, saying only
that all plea deals were more or less the same.
Rep. John Conyers, the chairman of the House Judiciary
Committee who has no role in the case, didn't answer when
questioned about it as he walked to the House floor for a
vote Friday morning. "I have no comment whatever," he said.
John Conyers' 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."
Prosecutors accused Monica Conyers of accepting two
payments from a Synagro Technologies official in late 2007
in exchange for supporting the sludge contract. They said
Conyers received envelopes containing cash on Nov. 20, 2007
in the parking lot of a Detroit community center and on
Dec. 4 of that year in a McDonald's parking lot.
In November 2007, Conyers voted in favor of the Synagro
contract. The U.S. attorney's office said she received cash
payments from an individual sent by Rayford Jackson, a paid
consultant for Synagro, before and after her vote.
"It's a very sad day for Detroit," said City Council
President Ken Cockrel Jr. "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."
Conyers is the most prominent person snagged in the Synagro
corruption investigation. Jackson and another person who
worked for the company already had pleaded guilty.
U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg said Friday that 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.
The Synagro sludge contract was rescinded in January.
The council voted 5-4 in November 2007 to award a $47-
million-a-year contract to Synagro to recycle wastewater
sludge and build a state-of-the-art incinerator to replace
one that belches yellow plumes over a poor neighborhood.
In January, Synagro's Michigan representative, Jim
Rosendall, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery.
His plea agreement described how he distributed cash and
other gifts to officials.
Jackson pleaded guilty on June 15.
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.
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 was a political unknown until her 2005
election — largely on the name of her 80-year-old husband.
She 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."
Associated Press writer Ben Evans in Washington contributed
to this report.
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information
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2009-06-26 12:02:09
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