Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Detroit City Council Corruption Continues

So Monica Conyers, the former President of the Detroit City Council has accepted a plea deal in the Synagro bribery investigation and has resigned from the City Council, effective July 6 (why wait - holiday pay?).

However the Synagro bribery rabbit hole continues, with a paralegal in the Detroit US Attorneys office being suspended for possibly passing information about the investigation to Sam Riddle, a former top aide to Detroit City Council President Pro-Tem Monica Conyers and now a "political consultant".

From the Detroit News:
People familiar with the investigation said the controversy arose about a year ago, close to the time that news of the Synagro Technologies Inc. bribery scandal became public. Riddle had dated Greene and federal officials suspected he got information from her relevant to an ongoing federal investigation, sources said.

One source said officials suspected Greene told Riddle about a search of someone's home conducted in connection with the Detroit City Hall investigation. Search warrant affidavits are normally sealed. An investigation related to Greene is being conducted by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Grand Rapids because it was seen as a conflict of interest for Greene to be investigated by the office in which she worked, sources said.


It will be interesting to see how far this corruption investigation reaches and how far down the rabbit hole of Detroit city politics it goes.

You will notice that you have to play "name that party" for the political affiliation of Mrs. Conyers. On the other hand, it is probably pretty clear to all by now that Detroit is run by 100% Democrats so naming the party must seem superfluous. The question as to how many of them may still face indictment in this corruption investigation is still open however.

No comments: