Stand by your woman?

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By Ben Schmitt, Joe Swickard, Jim Schaefer, David Ashenfelter, M.L. Elrick and Zachary Gorchow of the Detroit Free Press

 Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers, the wife of powerful House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., 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 by up to five years in prison.

No sentencing date has been set.

The federal plea document released Friday cites two instances in late 2007, in the days surrounding the approval of a sludge-hauling contact with Synagro Technologies when Conyers accepted cash bribes from a Synagro consultant. The sludge contract was rescinded in January.

Conyers appeared before Cohn to answer charges in connection with the wide-ranging probe of wrongdoing at Detroit city hall.

She has long been under suspicion in the Synagro Technologies bribery probe, not least because she had been a vocal opponent of the contract before suddenly switching her sentiments. She became the deciding voice in the city council’s 5-4 vote to approve the sludge-hauling deal in November 2007.

The document does not cite the specific amount of the bribes, but previous court documents have said that Conyers, identified by the feds as Council Member A, took at least two bribes of $3,000 each, among other bribes. In both cases cited in the court documents today, Conyers was handed the cash in an envelope by a individual representing Rayford Jackson, a Detroit businessman doing work for Synagro who pleaded guilty to bribery earlier this month.

“This is not the beginning and it is certainly not the end, folks,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Andy Arena said at a news conference this morning.

Arena said the message to corrupt public officials is, “We?re coming after you.”

U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg said the city corruption probe continues, but this is the end of his office?s investigation “of Synagro-related conduct.”

It remains unclear if federal investigators are still considering Synagro charges against Sam Riddle, the ex-Conyers aide, who court documents suggest was with Conyers when she received at least one of the bribes.

The Free Press previously reported that Riddle is also under investigation for possible corruption in Southfield. In that instance, authorities are looking into whether a pawn shop in that city used undue influence to win quicker approval to move its store to another part of Southfield.

Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel, who testified before the grand jury in the case, hailed the clearing of other members.

“That is fabulous,” she said. “That is very good news. That will help, I think, to dissipate the cloud.”

Berg said the plea deal does not require Conyers to cooperate in the ongoing investigation of city corruption.

While Cohn pronounced Conyers convicted, Detroit attorney Bill Goodman said his understanding is that she is not convicted or compelled to leave office until she is sentenced.

No resignation letter has been submitted by Conyers to Detroit City Council as of this morning, according to the council clerk’s office, Council President Ken Cockrel Jr.’s office, and council’s legal office.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, Conyers could face 31 to 60 months in prison, depending on how much money the judge believes was involved in the scheme. Conyers? lawyer and federal prosecutors disagree about the amount of money she received.

Conyers declined to comment on her plea, then refused to allow the doors to close until a Free Press reporter got out of the elevator, which was going up. She stepped out of the elevator and flagged a court employee to have the reporter removed.

Conyers? husband, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, was not available for comment this morning. His office released 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.”

U.S. Attorney Berg told the Free Press today that other council members and John Conyers did nothing wrong.

“I want to state that this investigation has not uncovered evidence sufficient to support charging any other elected members of the Detroit City Council with taking bribes or engaging in acts of corruption relating to the Synagro contract,” Berg said. “I also want to make it equally clear that the evidence offered no suggestion that U.S. Rep. John Conyers, Mrs. Conyers’ husband, had any knowledge or role in Mrs. Conyers’ illegal conduct, nor did the congressman attempt to influence this investigation in any way.”

Contributing: Detroit Free Press staff writers Cassandra Spratling and Tammy Stables Battaglia.

This story is filed under: Politics

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