By James Wright
AFRO Staff Writer
Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers, wife of Rep. John Conyers, is under investigation for bribery. (Courtesy Photo/ci.detroit.mi.us)
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(June 18, 2009) - The wife of one of the longest-serving members of Congress and a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus has been experiencing legal troubles for possibly accepting money illegally from a businessman.
Detroit City Council member Monica Conyers, who is married to U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), is being scrutinized by federal prosecutors for allegedly receiving more than $6,000 for her fall 2007 vote on a multimillion-dollar sludge contract.
Two sources familiar with the case said told the Detroit Free Press that there would be no plea deal or indictments on Wednesday involving Conyers. The newspaper reported that Conyers was offered a plea deal and her former top aide, political operative Sam Riddle, has been talking with prosecutors, people familiar with the investigation said yesterday.
Conyers, 44, has been cited as “Council Member A” by sources close to the investigation for receiving money from a Michigan representative of Synagro Technologies, a Houston-based sludge company.
Monica Conyers is relatively new to elective politics compared with her husband, who has never received less than 82 percent of the vote since he was first elected to Congress in 1964. He faced no Republican opposition in the 2008 elections.
Rep. Conyers is the chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee and was a key figure in the impeachment proceedings of Presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. He is the second longest-serving member of the House and the fifth longest in tenure in his chamber and the U.S. Senate.
Rep. Conyers ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1989 and 1993. A spokesman for Rep. Conyers had no comment in regards to the matter involving his wife.
Monica Conyers was elected to the Detroit’s lawmaking body in 2005.
She served as council president for about eight months until Ken Cockrel Jr. returned to the post in May after serving as interim mayor following Kwame Kilpatrick’s September resignation over a text messaging sex scandal that sent him to jail for 99 days.
Monica Conyers is running for re-election to her job in August in the council primary.
The sludge scandal broke in January when Jim Rosendall, Synagro’s representative in Michigan, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery. His plea agreement described how he distributed cash and other gifts to officials, including an unidentified “Council Member A”, to win city business.
The probe cooled for nearly five months, at least publicly, until Rayford Jackson, a Detroit businessman and Synagro contractor, pleaded guilty to the same charge on Monday and said he gave more than $6,000 to the unnamed lawmaker. Jackson said a courier delivered $3,000 to the council member on Nov. 20, 2007, the same day Conyers joined with the majority in approving the Synagro deal, 5-4.
An unspecified payment was made a month earlier outside a Mr. Fish restaurant, and another $3,000 was passed in a McDonald’s parking lot in December of the same year, Jackson said. A month before her vote, Conyers expressed concern that giving the sludge contract to Houston-based Synagro would lead to the loss of jobs in Detroit, a city that is facing multiple economic troubles.
In his plea deal with prosecutors, Rosendall said that $25,000 was spent after the Synagro vote to ensure that “Council Member A” and others in favor of the deal would not withdraw support. The contract was rescinded and Rosendall was fired after his guilty deal in January.
Monica Conyers said that she is putting her faith in God to resolve the matter.
“All these things that are going on right now…I believe in my heart that God will deliver me from them,” said Conyers according to the Associated Press. “And so I say to all of the people out there: If you’re not praying for me, then you’re just adding to the problem.”