First I have to say that I am a registered Independant and have no connection to either party.

I think that this is an interesting example of the liberal media'd agenda. Am I just being picky???

First, I have AOL and on the news screen is this article about Sarah Palin's sister in law. This woman is a step sister to Palin's husband and has no fiduciary connection to the Governor.

Next, I find the articles concerning the head of the Senate Judiciary Committe's wife Monica Conyers (Senator John Conyers)

Not just one, but many and these articles refer to investigations into pay to play scandals, hiring relatives, racist comments etc.

Now, Senator Conyers has a fiduciary connection to his wife, but I have not seen anything in the national media that mentions this.

Conyers is going after Sheriff Joe??????


Governor Palin's article:

http://news.aol.com/article/palin-siste ... d%2F414045

Sarah Palin's Sister-in-Law Arrested
By RACHEL D'ORO, AP
posted: 17 HOURS 14 MINUTES

Alaska (April 3) -

Police say Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's sister-in-law is accused of breaking into the same home twice to steal money.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's sister-in-law is accused of breaking into the same house twice to steal money. Diana Palin, 35, faces two counts of felony burglary and misdemeanor counts of criminal trespass and theft, police said Friday. Diana Palin is the half sister of the governor's husband, "First Dude" Todd Palin.(Note: Please disable your pop-up blocker)

Deputy Wasilla Police Chief Greg Wood says 35-year-old Diana Palin was arrested Thursday after she was confronted by the homeowner in the governor's hometown of Wasilla. She faces two counts of felony burglary and misdemeanor counts of criminal trespass and theft.

Skip over this content Wood says tire tracks and shoe prints tied Palin to another break-in Tuesday in which $400 was taken. Police have not tied Palin to another burglary at the home last week.

Governor spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton says Palin is the half sister of the governor's husband and the family has no comment.

Diana Palin's husband says his wife has a court-appointed attorney.
Skip over this content
Conyers Aide

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/ar ... /901290402

Conyers aide under fire

Lawyer: Riddle made cash-for-vote offer

Christine MacDonald and Paul Egan / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- A lawyer for a strip club official says his client told a federal grand jury Wednesday that a top aide to then-City Councilwoman Monica Conyers offered to deliver her vote on a permit transfer for $25,000.

The onetime aide, Sam Riddle, denies the claims, which came the same day he held a news conference denying he accepted or delivered bribes in connection with the multimillion-dollar Synagro sludge deal.

Jim St. John, CEO of Deja Vu Consulting, alleged he and a colleague met with Riddle in a Dearborn restaurant in November 2006, days before the City Council was to vote on the Zoo Bar's bid to transfer a topless permit, St. John's attorney Brad Shafer told The News on Wednesday.

"At some point in the conversation, Sam Riddle indicated for $25,000 he could, or we could get, Monica Conyers' vote," said Shafer, adding his clients refused to pay.

The testimony comes two days after a Synagro Technologies vice president pleaded guilty to bribing city officials and demonstrates the grand jury investigation of City Hall continues to expand. City business under federal investigation includes the Synagro sludge contract, contracts at Cobo Center, the Asian Village development, other pay-to-play accusations and jobs handled by Bobby Ferguson, a Detroit contractor and friend of former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

Earlier this month, St. John's colleague, Joe Hall, the company's chief operating officer, testified similarly in federal court, Shafer said. At the time a group of investors affiliated with Deja Vu, a Lansing-based national chain, was trying to buy the Zoo Bar downtown and open a Larry Flynt-themed Hustler strip club.

Hall claims Riddle told him he wanted money for the vote, saying "to get things done, sometimes that's what you need to do," according to Shafer.

Not true, said Riddle, who stopped working for Conyers in February 2008. She has since become the City Council president.

"I never had a conversation like that," he said. "I don't know why they would say something like that. I'd like anyone to produce a tape or anything else that substantiates that because they can't do it."

Riddle said he was an independent contractor, not a city employee, when he worked for Conyers. As a consultant, he had other clients, some of whom he acknowledged wanted to influence Conyers.

For outside clients, Riddle had contracts that he said made it clear he wouldn't advise them or Conyers if there was a conflict.

For the city, Riddle's contract with Conyers specified he would have "no personal or financial interest" that would conflict with his job.

St. John and Hall refused to pay, Shafer said. The council, including Conyers, voted down the transfer in a 5-3 vote Nov. 15.

According to Shafer, Detroit businessman Christopher Jackson, a consultant and proposed minority partner in the $3 million Zoo Bar deal, was also at the meeting before the vote.

After the vote, he told Hall and St. John that Riddle promised that Conyers would move to reconsider her vote if they followed through on the $25,000 payment, Shafer said.

They refused, Shafer said.

Conyers said at a public meeting Nov. 17 she would reconsider her vote, but never did so when council returned from a holiday break in January. At the time, clergy members lobbied heavily to maintain the vote, saying the city had too many strip clubs.

Shafer alleged Jackson relayed a final pitch from Riddle, but they again refused.

Hall and St. John, who declined to be interviewed by The News, said they never spoke directly with Conyers, Shafer said. He said his clients didn't report the alleged bribe attempt to authorities, aren't sure how federal investigators learned of it and didn't want to air the allegations publicly.

"The ultimate conclusion was we were having so many problems with the city of Detroit we thought the blowback we would suffer ... would make it virtually impossible to operate a business in the city of Detroit," Shafer said.

Jackson, a former Greektown Casino partner and head of Jackson Consulting Group LLC, said he has not appeared before a federal grand jury investigating the strip club allegations and other issues related to alleged City Hall corruption. He referred all other questions to his Detroit attorney, Ray Paige.

Paige confirmed Jackson was hired as a consultant to Deja Vu in connection with the license transfer. There may have been discussions about Jackson becoming a partner in the strip club, but that did not happen, Paige said.

"It's my understanding that there is an ongoing investigation," and it would be improper to comment in detail, Paige said.

"I know for certain that Mr. Chris Jackson is not a target of any investigation and there is no one making allegations that he did anything improper whatsoever," Paige said.

Jackson never met with Monica Conyers on the deal, said Paige, who would not comment on any meetings with Riddle.

The U.S. Attorney's Office "can't confirm or deny the existence of an investigation on that matter," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Chutkow said.

Conyers attorney, Steve Fishman, said he agrees with Acting U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg that "people should be careful about jumping to conclusions" about the involvement of Conyers or anyone else who has not been charged in the scandal.

Conyers, who sources have said is under federal investigation in connection with the Synagro contract, closely matches the description of "City Council Member A," detailed in documents filed Monday when former Synagro Michigan Vice President James R. Rosendall pleaded guilty to a bribery conspiracy charge.

The Synagro contract was approved by a 5-4 vote in November 2007 after Conyers switched her position from opposing the contract to supporting it. Conyers has denied any wrongdoing.

Rosendall's plea documents say an aide to Council Member A demanded Rosendall hire the aide as a consultant in connection with an earlier contract approval Rosendall was involved with, for Systematic Recycling LLC.

On Wednesday, Riddle denied he talked to Rosendall about Synagro or was involved in any bribes, but would not say whether there were discussions about hiring him as a consultant on the Systematic Recycling deal.

The Zoo Bar buyers and current owners are suing the city in federal court in part over its refusal to transfer the permit, which the investors first requested in 2003. Shafer estimates the profit lost for the potential Hustler club at nearly $7.8 million as of last year.

On April 22, 2008, Shafer said he reported Riddle's bribe solicitation to a federal mediator and to the city's attorney Eric Gaabo, during a conference call in a settlement conference on the Zoo Bar lawsuit.

Gaabo said Wednesday he remembers Shafer bringing up a vague allegation of a bribe solicitation, but said he didn't remember him providing the names of those involved. He said he was skeptical.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090128/METRO/901280400

Feds up pressure in bribery probe

Ex-prosecutor says Synagro players are being sent message: Talk or risk charges.
Paul Egan and Santiago Esparza / The Detroit News
DETROIT -- Federal prosecutors are stepping up pressure on those involved in the Synagro sludge scandal to come forward and cut a deal or face indictment and harsh treatment, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Detroit said Tuesday.

That's why prosecutors released documents Monday containing extensive details about the actions of former Synagro official James R. Rosendall Jr. and intermediaries he dealt with when Rosendall pleaded guilty to a bribery conspiracy charge on Monday, said Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University and a former federal prosecutor.

"Come now or we're coming after you," is the message, Henning said. "This is your time to make a deal."

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Henning said the details released Monday show prosecutors "have a very strong case against the intermediaries" as they move closer to targeted public officials.

Documents filed in the Rosendall case show former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his father, business consultant Bernard N. Kilpatrick, are among those under investigation in connection with a contract that pays Synagro about $47 million a year to haul and treat the city's sewage sludge.

Detroit City Council President Monica Conyers also is under investigation in connection with the sludge contract, people familiar with the investigation said.

Appearances before a federal grand jury in Detroit that has been investigating City Hall corruption are scheduled well into February, people familiar with the investigation said.

The long-running and wide-ranging investigation involves the Synagro deal and contracts at Cobo Center and other city departments.

It's likely indictments are still weeks away, Henning said.

The Detroit City Council approved the contract by a 5-4 vote in the fall of 2007.

Mayor Kenneth Cockrel Jr. and the City Council took steps Tuesday to rescind the controversial contract, which Councilman Kwame Kenyatta described as "tainted" and Councilwoman JoAnn Watson said "never should have happened."

The pair co-sponsored a resolution, which passed 7-1, asking the Mayor's Office and the Law Department to find a way to revoke the contract without leaving the city open to legal action.

Synagro fired Rosendall late Monday, soon after his guilty plea, spokeswoman Darci McConnell of McConnell Communications said Tuesday. He had been suspended without pay since news of the bribery scandal broke in June.

McConnell declined comment on the city's latest move to rescind the sludge contract.

Watson first tried to rescind the contract in July. She did not have the votes then, but easily won over her colleagues Tuesday.

"It never should have been approved," Watson said of the contract. "It is just another layer of bad news. We need to have transparency" in government.

Mayoral spokesman Daniel Cherrin said Cockrel "is in support of rescinding the contract if he can do so legally."

John Riehl, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 207, applauded Tuesday's move and said the contract can be legally revoked because it involved bribes.

"This contract is untenable," Riehl said. "They can't perpetuate this fraud forever."

Conyers, who is linked to the corruption probe but maintains she did nothing wrong, said the council doesn't have the authority to rescind the deal on its own, and the Mayor's Office would have to do so. She declined comment after the meeting.

Assistant Corporation Counsel Lewis Smith asked council members to meet in closed session as soon as possible to discuss the next step.

But Watson said the Law Department could have given advice in July when Watson first tried to rescind the contract. She said it was too late to begin trying to offer suggestions.

Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel questioned the legality of revoking the contract, which she has described as a good deal for the city, and voted against the move.

Payments to Conyers alleged
Federal officials have electronic surveillance evidence that allegedly links Conyers to receiving a payment or payments in connection with the Synagro deal, people familiar with the investigation said.

Conyers has denied any wrongdoing, and her Detroit attorney, Steve Fishman, has said such allegations should be viewed with skepticism. Fishman declined comment Tuesday.

Conyers, at the time the council president pro tem, opposed the Synagro deal but ultimately voted in favor of it.

Sam Riddle, a former aide to Conyers, has said his telephone was tapped by the FBI in connection with the investigation.

Riddle has also admitted to business dealings with Rayford W. Jackson, a Detroit businessman who was Synagro's local partner in the sludge deal. Jackson is also under FBI investigation and also had his telephone tapped as part of the investigation, sources said. Riddle has not returned phone calls in recent days.

Rosendall's actions detailed
Documents filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit on Monday in connection with Rosendall's guilty plea say Rosendall made payments to "City Council Member A" in the fall of 2007 in exchange for that council member's Nov. 20, 2007, vote in favor of the Synagro contract.

In 2007, Rosendall was advised that an aide to Council Member A requested money in exchange for the council member's yes vote on the Synagro contract, Rosendall's plea agreement says.

When Council Member A voted yes, "despite ... earlier misgivings," Rosendall said he would direct Synagro to wire $25,000 to an intermediary "for use as campaign contributions and other forms of support to ensure that Council Member A and other supporters of the Synagro contract did not change their positions."

Rosendall also was involved as a landowner in an earlier agreement the City Council approved to allow Systematic Recycling LLC to operate in southwest Detroit.

According to Rosendall's plea agreement, the aide to City Council Member A told Rosendall that only if Rosendall hired the aide as a consultant would the agreement be approved.

When Council Member A learned that an intermediary working with Rosendall had not made a payment or donation to benefit the council member, the council member said, "You don't have my vote and you're short," and cursed at Rosendall and the intermediary after a council meeting, the plea agreement said.

On March 28, 2007, the council member voted in favor of the Systematic Recycling deal. The intermediary advised Rosendall that he later paid the council member $5,000 to $8,000 in cash, the Rosendall plea agreement says.

Henning said he does not believe the prospect of a Democratic president soon appointing a new U.S. attorney in Detroit is affecting the timing of prosecutors' actions in Detroit.

No U.S. attorney would attempt to interfere with a public corruption investigation, he said. Such investigations have to be preapproved by U.S. Justice Department headquarters in Washington, D.C., he said.

More reports:
Kenyatta calls for censure of Conyers
Conyers got ex-con brother city job
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