Thread: FBI probe of Detroit City Council;Sludge Scandal

This is going to be huge! I'm waiting for the FBI to yank Monica Conyers and don't tell me Senator hubby John didn't know what what going on.

FBI probe of Detroit City Council; Sludge Scandal

July 10, 2008

More "Exposure" of Unethical Muslim FOX Anchor Fanchon Stinger, Nothing New to Schlussel Readers--FOX 2 Forced to do CYA Story to Respond to Schlussel
by Pseudonym Reporter)

By Debbie Schlussel

To my readers across America and the rest of the world:

Although this story concerns a FOX News/NewsCorp news department in Detroit, the story should concern you, because the same thing is, sadly, occurring in news rooms all over the country (and the world), where political correctness and dishonesty dominates and journalistic ethics--if they ever existed--are a thing of the past . . . .

Readers have been following my coverage of Fanchon Stinger, the Muslim anchor/reporter who is the face of FOX News/NewsCorp's owned-and-operated Detroit affiliate. Now FOX 2 is trying to cover its very exposed rear (watch the video) in response to repeated inquiries regarding news first reported here on this site.



Muslim Sludge Duo: Fanchon Stinger, Rayford Jackson

As I noted, Stinger had a multi-year "relationship" (euphemism) with married father, Rayford Jackson a/k/a Rayford Jackson Muhammad, a top leader in the Nation of Islam and a close Louis Farrakhan associate. Jackson is now embroiled in an FBI investigation of a Detroit City Council bribery scheme, involving a $47 million contract with the the City for a sludge treatment plant. As I also noted, Stinger was involved with Synagro and put some of Jackson's assets in her name. And she and Jackson apparently coordinated large, matching campaign contributions to the Bush-Cheney 2004 re-election campaign.

As I noted, Stinger had an interest in the sludge treatment plant deal--she was paid by Synagro for marketing, "media consulting," and PR, while she was employed by FOX News/NewsCorp and paid an annual
salary of at least $325,000 to be solely an anchor and reporter. But that money--which puts her in the top 1/4% of money earners in Michigan--was not enough for Stinger.

Even though she was handsomely paid NOT to have outside interests that would compromise her news coverage, she wanted more and wasn't about to let that thing called "journalistic ethics" stand in her way. Records, posted below, show she formed Stinger Strategies, LLC on September 14, 2007, just three days before a September 17, 2007 letter went out lobbying for the Synagro deal in Detroit to go through. Sources say Stinger may have even written the letter.


Stinger also had another entity, Stinger Strategies, Inc., for several years. Started when she became a news anchor in January 2004, it dissolved in 2007 (see Articles of Incorporation, below).

Just who were the clients of Stinger Strategies, Inc., and how much did they pay her for "media consulting"? How many of them got favorable coverage on FOX 2 News? Did Stinger get money from Rehab Amer, a devout Muslim mother accused of killing her young boy, on whose behalf Stinger lobbied in many news reports and got Amer "cleared," even though many things about the case point to Amer's guilt? How much money was Stinger Strategies, Inc. paid by Imad Hamad and the pro-Hezbollah/pro-HAMAS American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, when she hosted events for them and then favorably covered it on FOX 2 News?


And how many other FOX 2 News reporters and anchors have private companies in which outside interests pay them? Who are those interests?

Now, FOX 2 News--in the face of its personnel visiting my site daily for the REAL story on Fanchon Stinger, and in the face of a front-page Detroit Newsistan story about Stinger--has been forced to respond. Last night, its chief investigative reporter "Scott Lewis" did a story on Stinger, in which he claimed that he and the rest of his colleagues at FOX 2 are surprised and disturbed by Stinger's heavy involvement. But that's a lie, which even he betrays in the story, as he notes that he and his colleagues knew of Stinger's relationship with Jackson.

The story--though it is deceptively packaged as an expose on Stinger--is really what is conventionally known by three letters: C-Y-A, as in Cover Your [Butt]. People will be distracted by the photos of a Ferrari and Rolls Royce, which Jackson apparently put in Stinger's name, per her permission.

"Lewis" claims that Stinger never covered or reported on Synagro. But that's not the point. She gave friendly and warm interviews to parties involved with Synagro, and never disclosed to viewers that she had a monetary interest in kissing Conyers' butt, which she did. Conyers allegedly took bribes from Synagro and cast the vote that broke the tie in favor of Synagro. Below is a picture from Conyers' personal website in which Stinger is warm and fuzzy with her on a FOX 2 Morning Show interview. "Lewis" didn't comment about that.

FOX "Journalist" Fanchon Stinger "Interviews"
Her Apparent Partner in Sludge, Monica Conyers

Nor did he comment about Stinger's coverage of news stories such as glowing coverage of the Louis Farrakhan visit to Detroit--in which her boyfriend was heavily involved--or the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign, to which she had contributed, in violation of FOX 2 News and FOX News/NewsCorp's policies. When a past FOX 2 News anchor, Rich Fisher, donated to the campaign of Republican U.S. Senator Spencer Abraham, FOX 2 News made a big deal out of it and made Fisher issue an apology. With Stinger--who, unlike Fisher, is Black, female, and Muslim--no-one seemed to mind or notice.

"Lewis" says in his report that Stinger's relationship was "considered her personal business." And that's where the problem lies. If Diane Sawyer was dating one of David Duke's top people, it would not be "personal business." It simply wouldn't be acceptable. And Stinger's "dating" (euphemism) of the Black version of that--a top Farrakhan associate--is equally outrageous, though not treated that way by the FOX 2 Newsroom or parent company, FOX News/NewsCorp.

None of what you saw in the "Scott Lewis" FOX News piece is new to my readers. I was the first media outlet to report on Stinger's "relationship" with Rayford Jackson. I was also the first to report that Rayford Jackson put some of his property and assets in Ms. Stinger's name, and that she had a personal interest in Synagro. So, it shouldn't be news to you that cars in Stinger's name included a Ferrari, a Rolls Royce, and a Mercedes--cars that even on her $325,000 -plus annual salary, Stinger could not afford. Sources say Jackson drove those cars.

The real lesson here is that a Muslim Black female anchor and reporter got away with everything and escaped all scrutiny from a liberal, politically correct newsroom. Despite complaints from myself and even a top executive at FOX News/NewsCorp, FOX 2 continued to look the other way on Stinger's behavior and involvement with causes that compromised her objectivity. She was an activist and crusader, NOT an impartial reporter. And she got paid for some of her activism.

Many of you may be wondering why I put the name "Scott Lewis" in quotation marks. That's because, sources say, "Scott Lewis" is not his real name. He uses a pseudonym. Yes, fake names are okay on radio, when you're spinning Top 40 records. But not in a serious news operation in a major market when you are the top investigative reporter for that news outfit.

"Scott Lewis" can claim he's investigating whatever needs to be investigated, but we won't know for sure. We won't be able to look into him and see what his interests are, the details of his records. And that's significant. While Stinger got a free pass and zero scrutiny by FOX 2 News, we can't even begin to try to scrutinize "Scott Lewis" or what his interests may be because we don't know who he really is. There's something a little hypocritical in that.

There simply isn't the transparency and open and honest dealings with the FOX 2 viewing audience that FOX 2 News and its investigative unit, "The Problem Solvers," demand from those it targets in slanted hit pieces.

And he's not just a "reporter" either. He, too, is an activist. A few years ago, "Lewis" was recorded on tape telling a client of mine that the client should dump me. "Lewis"--who has told third parties he is Jewish--said he was troubled by the fact that I wrote a New York Post column and got the FBI to revoke an award to "former" PFLP terrorist, marriage fraud perpetrator, and current ADC-Midwest leader, Imad Hamad--a man with whom "Lewis"' FOX 2 and Fanchon Stinger have a close relationship, so close that--as I noted previously--FOX 2 reported as news a fraudulent press release sent out by Hamad and ADC, tried to cover up a previous negative news story on Hamad, and frequently farmed out FOX 2 News personalities to host controversial ADC events. By telling my client this, "Lewis" was no longer covering the story, he was trying to orchestrate the story and became a part of it.

And finally, the other lesson is: When you are a Muslim under investigation and don't want to get noticed, eat at a kosher restaurant. The Southfield, Michigan restaurant, at which "Scott Lewis"--whoever he is--and FOX 2 surveilled a lunch meeting with Stinger and Rayford Jackson Muhammad is a strictly kosher pizza place, "Jerusalem Pizza." Oh, the irony of Jackson Muhammad--who frequently denounced Jews and Israel--needing to rely on those same Jews for shelter and cover. The restaurant, owned by friends of mine, makes excellent pizza, by the way (and has all the vegetarian fake meat toppings you can think of--kosher Jews do not eat meat and dairy together). I recommend the place highly.
jerusalempizza.jpg
jerusalempizza2.jpg

One last thing: Today, for the first time ever, the Detroit Newsistan noted in a back story on Jackson Muhammad that he is a member of a Nation of Islam mosque. But, mark my word, that's the first and last reference to Islam you'll ever see in the mainstream media, with regard to Fanchon Stinger and Rayford Jackson Muhammad. Still, perhaps it's progress.

Bottom Line: Who is watching the self-appointed watchdogs? At FOX 2, nobody.

Posted by Debbie at July 10, 2008 09:50 AM

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives ... ure_o.html

Detroit Free Press coverage gives a good timeline of the investigation:

http://tinyurl.com/5qprjc[size=18]

SYNAGRO SLUDGE DEAL
Kilpatricks, Conyers among 8 named in FBI bribery probe
BY DAVID ASHENFELTER, M.L. ELRICK, JOE SWICKARD and JIM SCHAEFER • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS • January 27, 2009

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, his father, Bernard Kilpatrick, and City Council President Monica Conyers are the major figures cited in a sludge-hauling executive's account of greed and bribery in the Synagro scandal, sources confirmed Tuesday to the Free Press. The three have not been charged with wrongdoing in the case.


Their names -- and others -- emerged with additional details about the government's investigation into city corruption.

The Free Press has learned that James Rosendall, the former Synagro Technologies vice president who pleaded guilty to bribery Monday, has been questioned about his contacts with other executives at Houston-based Synagro.

FBI agents recorded one Synagro official on a phone call with Rosendall discussing Rosendall's efforts to win the $1.2-billion contract in Detroit, one source said, adding that executive has since been suspended by Synagro.

Rosendall, 44, of Grand Rapids is the government's star witness in the Synagro probe and has provided the FBI with little, if any, direct evidence that cash was funneled to Kwame Kilpatrick, according to sources familiar with the case.

One source also said that Kilpatrick's jailed former chief of staff and lover, Christine Beatty, does not appear to be a target of the Synagro probe.

Other figures named
In addition to the Kilpatricks and Monica Conyers, the Free Press has identified five other people who were cited -- but not named -- in Rosendall's plea records Monday.

Sources identified those five as onetime mayoral aides Michael Tardif and Derrick Miller; Detroit developer and Synagro consultant Rayford Jackson; Akunna Olumba, a business associate and former girlfriend of Bernard Kilpatrick, and former Conyers aide Sam Riddle.

They all declined to comment or could not be reached Tuesday, though Riddle just told WXYZ-Channel 7 he did not funnel Synagro money to Conyers, as the plea agreement alleges. “I was not that intermediary and I did not have that conversation with Rosendall,â€