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Detroit
councilwoman
Monica
Conyers
under
scrutiny,
scolds
media
By DAVID
N.
GOODMAN
and
COREY
WILLIAMS
Associated
Press
Writers
In the
glare of
a
corruption
investigation,
City
Council
member
Monica
Conyers
tended
to home
repairs
and
chaired
a
meeting
on strip
clubs
Wednesday
but said
nothing
publicly
about an
alleged
scheme
to trade
votes
for
money.
"I am
not
going to
talk to
you.
I've got
nothing
to say
to you,"
Conyers,
the wife
of U.S.
Rep.
John
Conyers,
D-Mich.,
told
reporters
outside
her
home.
She
accused
the news
media of
"harassing"
her and
neighbors,
then
rode to
City
Hall
where
she led
a
hearing
about
possible
restrictions
at strip
clubs
before
council
President
Ken
Cockrel
Jr. took
over.
"Just
like the
news
media,
they
don't
have a
right to
harass
us. But
they
have a
right to
be
here,"
Conyers
said of
the
clubs.
The
Associated
Press
learned
that
Conyers
is
"Council
Member
A"
listed
in a
document
as
receiving
more
than
$6,000
for her
2007
vote on
a $47
million-a-year
contract
with
Synagro
Technologies
of
Houston
to
recycle
sludge
from a
wastewater
treatment
plant.
She has
not been
charged.
The
information
comes
from a
person
with
knowledge
of the
investigation
who
asked
not to
be named
because
the
person
was not
authorized
to speak
publicly.
No
suggestion
has been
made
that
Conyers'
husband,
Rep.
John
Conyers,
D-Mich.,
has any
role in
the FBI
investigation.
On
Monday,
businessman
Rayford
Jackson,
a
Synagro
contractor,
pleaded
guilty
to
conspiracy
to
commit
bribery
to win
the
sludge
deal.
Jackson
said he
arranged
at least
four
payments
for
Council
Member
A,
including
$3,000
on the
same day
Conyers
joined
with the
majority
in
approving
the
Synagro
deal,
5-4.
Conyers,
44, was
elected
to the
Detroit
council
in 2005.
John
Conyers,
80, was
elected
to
Congress
in 1964
and has
never
received
less
than 82
percent
of the
vote in
re-elections
since.
Ex-Detroit
council
aide
says
'no' to
US probe
plea
 DETROIT
— A
political
consultant
and
former
aide to
Detroit
Councilwoman
Monica
Conyers
says he
turned
down a
plea in
a public
corruption
probe
tied to
a sludge
hauling
contract.
Sam
Riddle
Jr.
tells
WDIV-TV
he has
not
accepted
a deal
offered
by
federal
authorities.
He also
tells
WJBK-TV
he is
"worried"
about
the FBI
investigation
into a
council-approved
$47
million
contract
with
Houston-based
Synagro.
A person
has told
The
Associated
Press
that
Conyers
is the
"Council
Member
A"
listed
in a
court
document
as
receiving
more
than
$6,000
for her
fall
2007
vote on
the
sludge
contract.
She has
not been
charged.
The
information
comes
from a
person
with
knowledge
of the
investigation
who
asked
not to
be named
because
the
person
was not
authorized
to speak
publicly. |
