Detroit City Hall Insider

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Category: Corruption probe

Sam Riddle: Never say never

The City Hall Insider today caught up with the City Hall corruption probe's man of the hour, the one and only and seemingly ubiquitous Sam Riddle.

The charismatic and often bombastic Riddle was at the Cody Ninth Grade Academy on behalf of the Cease Fire Initiative and was treated by parents and teachers like a rock star, even though he was traveling incognito in a Detroit Tigers baseball cap and sunglasses.

And no. Before you ask, Ridlde says he won't take a plea deal. The onetime chief of staff to soon-to-be-ex Councilwoman Monica Conyers says there's not enough evidence to warrant charges and told the Insider not to listen to those who say he's destined for jail.

"Never say never," he said. "This is Detroit."

Riddle also said that Conyers' husband, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, didn't know any of the crimes committed by her. She pleaded guilty to a five-year felony of conspiracy to accept a bribe on claims she took two payments of $3,000 to switch her vote on a $1.2 billion sludge-hauling contract.

"He doesn't care about money," Riddle said. "He is cause-oriented."

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Category: Monica Conyers

Conyers TV show contest update

The entries are flying fast and furious, less than two days into the City Hall Insider's contest to rename "Ask the Councilwoman with Monica Conyers." The TV show needs a new title since she's quitting Monday amid her plea to a felony bribery conspiracy charge.

The Insider has received two dozen suggestions, and so far, the favorite for the call-in program on WHPR-TV 33 is "The Monica Conyers Show: If You're Not Calling in, You're Part of the Problem," a play on her infamous one-liner last month about people praying for her. Just for playing, Patrick Fitzgerald from East Lansing gets a tip of the cap and collectible "Certificate of Appreciation" and "Commemorating Your Retirement" certificate signed by ex-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. They are handsome and treasured keepsakes suitable for framing.

Other contenders: "I'm Just Sayin'!", "Ask the Jailbird", "Attitude Talkin'" and numerous plays on the councilwoman's last name and her status as a convict.

The Insider also received a handful of emails that went something like this Tsk, tsk, tsk! Have you no shame? and You are not as funny as you think. While we welcome the feedback, those are kinda long for TV show titles.

It may be tough to top "If You're Not Calling in, You're Part of the Problem," but the Insider is daring to dream and sweetening the pot. The winner of the contest not only will get the Kilpatrick certificates but also a rare, six-page book of stickers from the Mackinac Policy Conference. Many jab the City Council, including one depicting Conyers trying to get back into the Office of the City Council President.

So keep those entries coming by e-mailing the Insider. Make sure to include your address. We're feeling mighty generous and have drawers full of junk cherished souvenirs.

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Category: City Hall

FBI bossman: More dominos could fall

Former Detroit News reporter Allan Lengel recently snagged a long sitdown chat with Andrew C. Arena, the FBI's special agent in charge in Detroit. The interview on the Web site Tickle the Wire focuses mainly on the feds' sometimes tricky relationship with Detroit's sizeable Arab-American community, but also touches on the feds' ongoing corruption probe into City Hall.

Among the highlights:

* Arena sidesteps questions about whether former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick can expect an indictment in his future, saying "I better not touch that."

* Arena describes City Hall corruption as a "very serious problem" and says the feds are intent on weeding it out. "There’s been rumors for years and I just think, there’s mistrust in the local government right now, anything they do they just don’t trust and that’s a shame. That really is. I think it adds to the divide with the suburbs."

* Arena likened Detroit's level of corruption situation to his former base, Youngstown, Ohio, where feds netted 72 convictions in 2 1/2 years culminating in the imprisonment of former U.S. rep. James Traficant. "Once you get something rolling, you get one person falling and they fall like dominos. That’s obviously our goal here," Arena said of Detroit.

That sounds like a shot across the bow to the Insider. In honor of the interview and the long weekend, here's reggae legend Junior Murvin with "Police and Thieves."

Category: City council race

Videos galore of council, charter candidates

It's a good thing a long weekend is coming. The City Hall Insider needs the time to curl up in our bunny slippers, sip mojitos, light sparklers and dig into 106 videos of Detroit City Council and Charter Commission candidates talking about how to fix the city.

Detroit Public TV on Monday launched a series of one-hour specials featuring the interviews of candidates. They'll air every weekday at 8 p.m. on the DPTV Plus Channel (56.2/Comcast 287) through July 31. The primary is Aug. 4.

The interviews, which could go a long way toward educating voters in a confusing, crowded field, were conducted with the Institute for Local Government at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, ARISE Detroit, WWJ and the League of Women Voters.

They're available online at MiVote.org and feature 106 candidates total. All 212 candidates for the City Council and Charter Commission were offered the opportunity to participate, and it's noteworthy that no incumbent besides City Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr. and Alberta Tinsley-Talabi took organizers up on the free publicity.

The videos, which are 5 minutes or shorter, ask candidates their qualifications and where they would cut to shore up the city's budget deficit.

Here's a sample, starting with Annivory Calvert, the mother of state Rep. Coleman Young II, talking public works and her "heart for Detroit."

Here's Charles Pugh talking about how his years as a Fox 2 personality have helped him become a "trained listener" and "student of Detroit."

Here's Zsa Zsa C. Hubbard explaining that she wouldn't run for City Council if she didn't love Detroit and would cut her salary in half if she wins.

Category: Monica Conyers

Conyers got $64,012 for falling in Cobo

On Tuesday, Monica Conyers told viewers of her weekly TV show on WHPR-TV that leading efforts to kill a plan to turn over Cobo Center to a regional authority was one of her proudest moments as a council member. She likened it to giving away vital assets for beans or pennies.

But records show Conyers was injured at Cobo Center in 2003, leading to a prolonged fight with Detroit Public Schools over a worker's compensation claim she filed while an attendance officer and substitute teacher, according to records from the Workers' Compensation Agency. The district initially balked at the claim, but paid her $64,012, according to records obtained by The Detroit News through the Freedom of Information Act.

On Dec. 4, 2003, she slipped and fell while at a seminar in Cobo Center and damaged her right knee, according to the claims. Then on June 3, 2004, that knee gave out, causing her to fall and hurt her left knee. Then on June 24, 2004, she fell again, injuring both knees and tearing her rectum, according to the records.

And since the Insider is strolling down Memory Lane -- and because Conyers told TV viewers she only wanted "cute" photos of her -- here's a couple from the vaults of the Galaxy, her yearbook at Henry Ford High School.

Category: City Council

Ken Cockrel forced to play referee again

The FBI's announcement that they won't seek charges in the Synagro scandal against any other City Council members beyond Monica Conyers has yet to bring an era of sunshine and chorus of "Kumbaya" to the august body.

Instead, Councilwoman Barbara-Rose Collins and Sheila Cockrel mixed it up again today. In a four-minute argument, Collins dropped an "s-bomb" as she lit into a Pulitzer Prize-winning local newspaper and accused reporters all over town of playing footsie with Sheila Cockrel. The remark didn't make the day of Cockrel, who called it a "diatribe" and noted the council has lacked a "modicum of collegiality" and engaged in "verbal prejudice" for some time.

Neither are running for re-election, but both want to set the record straight about who talked to the FBI and when. Council President Ken Cockrel was put in a familiar position of gavel-banging referee, imploring members to knock it off.

Fox 2 has video.

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Category: Monica Conyers

Conyers' TV show needs a new name

Monica Conyers surprised many in the Detroit press corps today by lifting her head, putting the key into her city-owned Crown Victoria and driving herself to the Highland Park studios for her weekly gabfest "Ask the Councilwoman with Monica Conyers."

One day after announcing her resignation and four days after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, Conyers heeded the old vaudeville call about no business being like show business and parked in front of cameras at WHPR-TV in Highland Park.

Conyers began by saying she couldn't say much, lest she annoy a judge who now controls her freedom. Conyers then talked for an hour, twice the show's usual length. It was vintage "Ask the Councilwoman with Monica Conyers" and reiterated why the Insider's TiVo finger gets itchy whenever it comes on every Tuesday at 3:30.

Conyers mixed a diatribe against the media and enemies including her former aide Sam Riddle and City Council President Kenneth Cockrel Jr. with apologies for unspecified acts that may "disappoint" voters, her love of God and thanks for numerous supporters, pastors and even a few hunky members of the media (yes, the Insider received a shout-out for being part of that Sluggers' Row of Detroit Journalism that also includes Hot 102.7 personality Reggie Reg and Mix 92.3 host Frankie Darcell.)

Smiling and even dabbing a tear after a slew of "keep-that-chin-up" calls from viewers, Conyers announced that, like they say in the Catskills, the show will go on -- conviction and all. It just needs a new name, since "Ask the Councilwoman ..." will be obsolete come Monday.

As a public service, the Insider is taking suggestions. Winner gets a leftover commemorative Certificate of Appreciation from Conyers' onetime chum and fellow wrong-side-of-the-law official, former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

Click here to email the Insider your suggestions. We'll pass them on to the programming gurus at WHPR who are also behind such hits as "Ladies, Can We Talk?"

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Category: Councilwoman Martha Reeves

Singing in the UK while Detroit slogs along

Motown legend Martha Reeves is becoming a legend among City Council members too. During the past week while council was pondering what to do after Monica Conyers pleaded guilty and was getting ready to weigh in on a plan that could revamp Cobo Hall, Reeves was in the United Kingdom on a concert tour. She returned Monday night.

Reeves has not stopped touring since being elected to City Council. After all, she made a name for herself singing. And she does owe the state and IRS more than $200,000 in unpaid taxes, according to Wayne County records. While her being out of town prevented her from weighing in on the resignation of her friend Councilwoman Monica Conyers, she did have time June 22 to do a BBC interview on the program "Woman's Hour."

Among the highlights: calling her $81,000 post a "second job."

Her concert dates will keep her busy most Fridays in July, even though council doesn't start its summer break until the first week in August. She has concerts planned Friday in New Jersey and then in St. Louis on July 10 and 11. Earlier in June, she was not present for a critical vote to raise the city's water and sewerage rates. Her office did not return a phone call Tuesday morning.

Here's Martha from way back in the day, in her other job:

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Category: Monica Conyers

Conyers talks spirituality, not Synagro

Councilwoman Monica Conyers' "I'm Not Talking About That" media tour continued way up the broadcast dial Thursday, stopping by Christian Television Network to chat about God but not about Synagro.

Two days after proclaiming that "If you're not praying for me, you're just adding to the problem" on her talk show on WHPR, Conyers opted for spirituality over specifics with Pastor Glenn Plummer.

Conyers didn't mention a looming federal indictment or plea deal, but compared her current situation to a "fire" or spiritual test she is relying on her faith to survive.

"God doesn’t give you more than you can handle…so I’m good," she said. "I’m fine. I do my job, I go to work, I’m going to clean up my house… I really don’t have time to worry about things I can’t control. ...What is going to happen…is going to happen. Only God knows what is in store..."

Conyers has drawn a lot of criticism for name-dropping God so often these days, but in fairness, she was never shy about doing so before the current crisis.

And give Plummer credit. For a pastor, he showed some chops, asking Conyers if she was "going through anything" and rebutting her when she claimed that she's "never confrontational" during public meetings -- except for that teeny-tiny thing with Ken Cockrel in which she called him Shrek, said "You're not my Daddy" and the shouting match was watched by hundreds of thousands on YouTube.

Plummer reminded Conyers about a shouting match this year with Cockrel's step-mother, Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel. Plummer didn't drop details, but Conyers told her to "shut the (bad word) up" and asked if she "needed a man."

Conyers retorted that she said she'd never upbraided anyone in public. That was a private curse-out, Conyers said.

"What happens behind closed doors…is no one’s business," she said. But she added her job is "stressful" and "it can wear on you."

Later in the show, Conyers agreed to field questions from callers, but only "as long as we’re talking about God."

Several supported her and offered to pray for her, but some criticized her behavior on the City Council, and one person left a message saying, "The FBI doesn’t investigate people for no reason." Another accused Conyers of being "mean," prompting this one liner: "I’m not mean… But if I have to be the mean person to move this city forward, I have to accept that."

Plummer also pressed Conyers on her marriage, asking why her hubby, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, isn't close by for support as scrutiny continues. Conyers replied, "What would that do to his constituents?" She said an absence might make critics and colleagues question his ability.

In honor of Conyers' appearance on the show, here's some Run-DMC kicking it old-school, reminding folks that if the "G-O-D be in me than a king I be."

Category: City council race

Candidates to get video assistance

With 167 vying for City Council and another 51 for the Charter Commission, candidates sometimes can have trouble getting out their message.

Well, now there's some assistance. ARISE Detroit! is partnering with MiVote.org to produce video interviews with candidates.

Interviews will be taped next Monday though Thursday at the University of Michigan Detroit Center, located inside Orchestra Place, 3663 Woodward. They will begin airing June 28. About 67 candidates have registered so far, organizers said.

Candidates will be interviewed for five minutes. Council candidates will be asked about their backgrounds and the budget. Charter commission candidates will also be asked about the document's deficiencies.

Organizers say the initiative is free to candidates, and they will make the videos available on MiVote.org and aired on Detroit Public Television.For information, call (313)593-5140.