And this time a well-connected one:
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 for up to five years in prison.
No sentencing date has been set and it is not immediately clear if the plea deal requires Conyers to cooperate with the feds in the ongoing probe of city corruption.
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.
I wonder if she will get any time.
Death By Mosquito Truck
Gotta suck for Conyers. I’ve always wondered what I’d do if my business-owning wife was caught embezzling or something. Prolly go hiking on the AT.
SGEW
Surely you have followed Wonkette’s truly excellent coverage of Monica Conyers’ travails, yes?
In fact, this single video they posted of Conyers getting pwnd in a debate by an eighth grader (key rebuttal from kid: “But you’re an adult!”) proves the worth of the internet, period.
Mudge
Power corrupts. Most of us have never been in a situation where anyone even wanted to “give” us money.
Zifnab
@Death By Mosquito Truck:
Yes, because if a wife is caught embezzling money, there’s no way her powerful and politically connected husband isn’t neck deep in it as well.
*sigh* More and more it looks like Conyers is a crook. I wouldn’t mind seeing him ousted soon.
Joe Lisboa
As a Detroiter I can vouch for the fact that the vast, vast majority of residents now view MonCon as a first-class clown. It’s highly likely she’ll do some time — this is the first corrupt pol nabbed by an ongoing federal investigation. More heads will roll. Stay tuned.
The Grand Panjandrum
@SGEW: That is absolute classic pwnage. I remember seeing the video when it first came out and watching it over and over. Anyone time some arrogant public official gets pwned it’s like catnip for a political junkie like me.
blogenfreude
D, R, or I – jail ’em.
rachel
@SGEW:
Kierra Bell: Calling another adult ‘Shrek’? That’s something a second grader would do.
Conyers: And so at school, you’ve never done that? You’ve never said anything that you shouldn’t have said inappropriately?
Kierra Bell: We are kids…
Jeebus, what a dingbat this woman is.
linda
@Zifnab:
yeah, and those ‘harshly worded letters’ he endlessly threatened to write pretty much shitcanned any respect i had remaining of the guy.
way too long in the house. anyone recall the staff complaints of having to provide babysitting services for him…
Brick Oven Bill
Conyers is just clumsy and arrogant. A cleaner way to operate is to have your five children sign up as lobbyists.
J.D. Rhoades
Jesus, elect the kids to the City Council. At least they’ve got some damn sense.
jrg
That’s awesome. The kid does not back down, and Conyers gets owned. Who in their right mind would vote for this woman?
gex
As a reluctant Democrat, I say “good riddance”. We need to police the current crop of Democrats vigilantly – lest we allow a way in for Republicans that doesn’t involve actually formulating policy proposals that people want.
asiangrrlMN
Good lord. I haven’t seen this video before. Give me a break. I heard her on the radio machine, and she was saying, “You need to PRAY for me. If you’re not PRAYING for me, then you’re part of the problem.” I can’t believe she did a kid that way. What a disgrace.
I don’t think she will serve time, but I am exceptionally cynical in these situations. She will roll over, provide names, and get a slap on the wrist.
gex, agreed. I don’t want that mess in my party, thank you very much.
MikeJ
There are worse things than being a crook. In fact when David Duke ran for, uhm gov?, of LA, there were bumper stickers urging people to “Vote for the crook”, meaning Edwin Edwards.
gex
Well, that’s debatable, especially after seeing Conyers’ behavior. She’s old, but she’s not an adult in any sense. Jesus, she was treating the council like an episode of Springer.
jrg
Let me know if you still feel that way after you watch the video SGEW posted.
Dennis-SGMM
Just what Detroit needed: a corrupt politician to pick its bones. Conyers should be sentenced to performing community service for the rest of her life.
MikeJ
BTW, my reference to the Duke/Edwards race above isn’t meant to justify Conyers. It was really a more general note. I have no knowledge of Detroit politics, nor any desire to gain that knowledge.
Ceteris paribus, I’d prefer competent and honest people in office.
Zifnab
@MikeJ:
Yes, but we’re aiming for More Better Democrats. I’m not campaigning for anyone running on the “At least we’re not in the KKK” platform.
And, besides, does anyone honestly believe that if David Duke got into office he wouldn’t raid the Treasury like it was his own personal piggy bank?
The Other Steve
It would be best if John Conyers took this moment to say he’s not running for reelection or better yet resigning… to spend more time supporting his family.
Eric U.
this is why the current insanity that is taking down the republican party is such a problem for us. We can’t afford to have a single party running our government at any level.
linda
just watched that video. damn, those kids should take up permanent residency in those council seats.
and since we’re on the subject of degradation of that whole representation thingy; have y’all seen this gem out of louisiana:
http://gawker.com/5302802/hurricane-chris-raps-profanely-on-the-floor-of-the-louisiana-legislature
Mr Furious
Detroit is a political fucking cesspool. Take a look at the tragic decline of the city as vividly illustrated by the haunting photographs at Sweet Juniper, and in almost every case the neglect or outright abuse of the system by crooked pols and city contractors is responsible.
Leelee for Obama
@Mudge: Actually, I was offered a bribe once, one that would have definitely improved my job situation and kept my then husband working. It involved a boss who had dumped toxic sludge in the sewer system to avoid paying for removal(dry cleaning chemicals) I turned it down, and I’ve always been proud of it. It’s not easy, but doing the right thing means something, if it means something to you. There are times these pols and corproate whores just make me nauseous. If Cong. Conyers is involved, he should step down for the sake of the future of the Party, and the Country.
OT completely…I need someone who can tell me if putting my reading from the internets in Google reader will help keep my hard drive from overloading on me? I keep having to clean out my temp files just to look at my crafty sites and the political blogs. I need to install a new mem card, but what I know about computers is too small to mention, and I can’t get anywhere just now to have it done for me. Thanks in advance
asiangrrlMN
@Leelee for Obama: I’ve never been in your position, but I agree with you that doing the right thing isn’t easy, but it’s doable.
I think the problem is, the way our governmental system is structured, you have to be a certain type to be attracted to it. Power-hungry, willing to bend the rules, compromise, glad-handle, etc. I don’t think every single member of our government is like that, but a disproportionate number are. In addition, it takes a shit-load of money just to get elected, so there’s always room for bribes and such. Nature of the beast.
As for your computer question, no idea. Sorry.
Leelee for Obama
@asiangrrlMN: I think you’re right that the money issues re campaign funds lead to much of the problems, but these are the people who could change all of that by installing public funding for all elections. That’s the rub–it’s also about access and jobs after politics. I don’t know how we fix it, but fix it we must
joe from Lowell
That teacher set her up like mofo. Conyers agrees to do an event with a bunch of eight-graders, on tape, and then he asks that question about an issue that he’d been talking about with the kids?
Ha ha!
trestles
This woman needs to go. We laugh at Michelle Bachmann because of the stupid stuff that she says, but at least (as far we know) she hasn’t committed a crime. This woman is an idiot and a criminal. I just wonder what her husband knew.
SGEW
‘Tis pleasant purchasing our fellow-creatures;
And all are to be sold, if you consider
Their passions, and are dext’rous; some by features
Are brought up, others by a warlike leader;
Some by a place–as tend their years or natures;
The most by ready cash–but all have prices,
From crowns to kicks, according to their vices.
-Lord Byron
A bribe is a charm to the one who gives it; wherever he turns, he succeeds.
-Proverbs 17:8
It’s kind of an old problem.
pharniel
detroit in general is a cesspool.
hopefully when they obliterate and nature park all the empty space the various townships can go back to being seperate townships, and thus the city concil will be serving a smaller area.
i have freinds in the political scene down there, and it’s things have been hairy since archer left.
DonnaInMichigan
Absolute power corrupts, absolutely.
Detroit has become a cesspool.
They should just take a bulldozer to the city.
I recently drove by the neighborhood on which my grandparents lived for 50+ yrs. My grandfather died in that house, my grandmother, god bless her soul was taken out of that home, with dementia and sent to a nursing home, where she only lived a few years after that.
Where once a beautiful row of houses, with green lawns and trees, now looks like a war torn area. . Houses that are condemned, burned to the ground, some are still standing…but are eye sores. It’s a disgrace. My grandparents once beautiful home on Oakman street, is still standing proud, but empty. Tis a shame, many many memories of Sunday dinners there…holidays, etc.
Leelee for Obama
@SGEW: Yeah, the Serpent and Adam and Eve were the first briber/bribee relationship, I guess.
Why is it though, that good works were done by politicians in the past that I was raised on? I know none of them were perfect, but it seems that many were more civically motivated?
Is that just rose-colored glasses?
Dennis-SGMM
@Mr Furious:
Thank you for the link to Sweet Juniper. I had it bookmarked before, likely from another of your links, then lost it in the process of rebuilding my PC (You always forget something!).
I am old enough to remember when “Made in USA” actually did mean something good. We weren’t better people then by any means because those days were burdened by Joe McCarthy, Dick Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover but whether it was watches, or televisions, or Cadillacs, or machine tools, we did do some things well. Although pulling handles on a lathe or running a vertical mill wasn’t paradise (I was a machinist for twenty-three years) it gave a lot of people entrée to the middle class. I won’t be presumptuous enough to suggest that going back to making the things we use is the answer. It’s probably too late for that anyway. I will suggest that spinning money out of thin air only lasts for a short time and that finding the alternatives to that will be painful.
Leelee for Obama
This is a perfect description of the derivatives and such. I vote we call is the Rumplestiltskin Economy.
Well done!
goblue72
I worked for a while in Oakland, CA in a job that involved regular interaction with the city government, as well as previously in Detroit. Also grew up near Philly. Its sad, but this sort of political corruption/graft combined with sheer hackery/incompetence is fairly endemic with the poor decaying, post-industrial cities in the country. Places like Detroit, Newark, Philly, Baltimore, East St. Louis, etc. are fairly hollow shells of their former selves. Massive out-migration of middle classes leaving behind an overwhelmingly poor-working class population, high crime, horrible schools, declining job base, etc.
Compare to that class of cities which escaped that fate – Boston, Chicago, NYC, SF, LA, etc. It was never the capital citiies that were faced with the prospect of permanent decline as they entered the late 20th century. It was the mid-sized ones that depended too much on manufacturing and didn’t have enough other local industries to help them transition to the knowledge economy (media, finance, healthcare, research/education, tourism)
linda
am old enough to remember when “Made in USA” actually did mean something good.
i’ve been thinking about that alot recently… prolly because i’m noticing shitty/sloppy worksmanship on the nyc subway. and have been seeing alot of misaligned sign and ad boards; window shields with airbubbles; masking tape used to hold in place a piece of equipment — on the inside of a friggin car.
i’m so old, i remember it was a joke when it said ‘made in china’ and a sign of pride and craftsmanship when it was ‘made in the usa’.
Mr Furious
@DonnaInMichigan: you mean like this?
(another Sweet Juniper photo link)
The Grand Panjandrum
Jesus, I still remember when Made in Japan was an insult. Then sometime in the late 60’s that started changing.
Leelee for Obama
@The Grand Panjandrum: When I was a kid, it had to say U. S. A., with the periods! My Mom swore there was a town in Japan named Usa that they used as a beard! Considering the Gap was using Chinese slave labor in the Marianas, and using Made in USA labels, maybe she was right. I can’t ask now, she won’t remember.
Throwin Stones
@Mr Furious: I see you made it back from the ‘roo alive. Barely escaped the zombies?
Martin
Well, having a city/state/country that dependent on a specific industry tends to lead to those results.
passerby
@DonnaInMichigan:
As others have mentioned, they are currently downsizing Detroit and other Michigan cities that used to be home to tens of thousands of autoworkers. I wish I had a link to the article I was reading. There were maps showing the current sprawl superimposed by the new footprint size, and photos of how areas look after bulldozing.
I was saddened to read that the average home in D is currently valued at $18,000 (not a typo–eighteen thousand dollars!)
Then we get news of Conyers corrupt behavior and it drains more hope out of us. I hope any and all elected officials who are indicted for wrong doing, get run out of office and see jail time if convicted.
Ray Nagin was re-elected mayor of NO after Katrina and he has failed the city miserably. Instead of taking advantage of the opportunity to make NO new and better, he squandered it and the city has lost it’s momentum. BUT, at least a better city council was elected.
Those young women who were questioning Conyers (my, she has a nasty attitude) are really the bright spot in terms of the future of Detroit and for their sake I hope Detroit can elect better civic leaders who are interested in making Detroit new again…or at least bring experience and professionalism to the council.
Dennis-SGMM
@Leelee for Obama:
Good memory. My dad was stationed in Yokosuka, Japan in ’51-’53 so we dependents had the privilege of living there. In 1952 one Japanese town attempted to rename itself “USA” so as to be able to stamp its goods “Made in USA.” I thought that it was cool, the then occupation government did not.
Leelee for Obama
@Dennis-SGMM: I’ll be dipped. I always thought it might be an urban legend! Thanks for this. Funny, isn’t it, how things were when we were young? I guess it was naive to think things wouldn’t change. It was my Generation that insisted on some change, but I know we didn’t mean for the things I’ve seen to happen.
Dennis-SGMM
@Leelee for Obama:
Hell, I’m so old that I remember when the phrase “Japanese batteries” was a pejorative.
Leelee for Obama
@Dennis-SGMM: Yeah, and owning a Japanese car was anathema for my Dad until the late 80s. My brother wound up working for a Toyota dealership for 18 years!!!! When I was looking for my first car here in FL after getting my license at 50 yo (don’t ask!), my brother told me to “get a rice-burner” He was right, and that was that.
It’s maybe time we made some stuff here again-it makes a country proud to make something that other nations want to own. Our present mess is partially blameable (?) on the fact that we import too many things that we could make here. As a seamstress and a crafter and artsy and stuff-I have to say we should be looking for some products we can do better. Obama’s right about the clean-green energy future-we should own it-we’ll see.
slag
@SGEW: Best video ever.
But I have to say, Conyers is depressing. I kind of liked him when he was supposedly standing up for constitutional rights. And then he just seemed to disappear.
She better get time.
Joe Lisboa
I’d politely ask you all to refrain from using photos from Sweet Juniper to exemplify some anti-Detroit refrain. Like myself, the author and photographer behind that site was a Michigan native who graduated from Michigan Law School and opted to remain in the Wolverine State (indeed, the Motor City!) despite all socio-economic advantages to the contrary. I’d be the first to admit my hometown and current residence is fucked up and in dire need of reform, but there’s no need to pile on the “OMG! it’s a zombie city!!?!?!111” banalities. There are real human beings living here. Like, well, me. And my family. And the people we all collectively care about who’ve decided to stick it out and stick around and try to do something positive in the interim.
That said: Monica Conyers can rot in hell.