Detroit City Hall corruption

THE SYNAGRO SLUDGE DEAL
Wiretaps of mayor's dad sent FBI on probe
Grand jury starts work, subpoenas council records

BY M.L. ELRICK, DAVID ASHENFELTER, JOE SWICKARD and JIM SCHAEFER • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS • July 18, 2008

The wide-ranging probe of possible City Hall corruption -- one that is now before a federal grand jury -- began as an offshoot of an FBI investigation of Bernard Kilpatrick, the father of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, the Free Press has learned.

As the FBI scrutinized Bernard Kilpatrick, investigators became aware of his links to Rayford Jackson and James Rosendall, Michigan businessmen working for Synagro Technologies -- Rosendall as a company vice president and Jackson as a Detroit consultant brought in to sell the sludge-treatment deal to the community, sources said.

Rosendall has since agreed to cooperate with the FBI, which is looking into whether city officials and others accepted bribes to ensure approval of the Synagro contract.

The Free Press also has learned that in August 2007, the FBI began tapping the cell phone of Mike Tardif, a mayoral appointee who became a paid political campaign aide of the mayor.

In addition, in June 2007, the FBI briefly tapped a cell phone that is currently used by Marc Cunningham, an executive assistant to the mayor. Cunningham said Thursday he did not believe that phone was assigned to him at the time it was tapped.

At the time, Synagro was seeking city approval of a $47-million-a-year deal to take over Detroit's wastewater sludge-disposal operation.

Sources familiar with the investigation said the FBI began tapping Bernard Kilpatrick's cell and home phones in June 2007 and that its probe of him dates to at least 2006 and focuses on city contracts.

Neither Bernard Kilpatrick nor his lawyer returned calls seeking comment Thursday. Lawyers for Jackson and Rosendall also did not return calls.

Tardif did not return a call. His lawyer declined to comment.

The mayor, at a news conference he called to blast the City Council for a vote against one of his plans to balance the city's budget, declined to comment on his father's possible involvement in the Synagro probe.

City Councilwomen Sheila Cockrel and Monica Conyers and others have received letters in recent days from the U.S. Justice Department informing them that their conversations were recorded on telephones that were tapped.

Federal law requires investigators to notify those recorded on wiretaps about what numbers were tapped and when.

Mayoral spokeswoman Denise Tolliver said Kilpatrick has not received such a letter.

Cockrel confirmed Thursday that she received a grand jury subpoena for her files on city contracts with Synagro Technologies and Systematic Recycling -- two companies associated with Rosendall, the Synagro vice president who is cooperating with the FBI.

Her announcement marked the first confirmation the probe had proceeded to a grand jury. A grand jury can call witnesses, collect evidence and issue indictments.

Wayne State University law professor Peter Henning, a former federal prosecutor, said grand jury subpoenas are "an important step" and an indication federal authorities "are putting their case together" for a possible indictment.

"It's the next logical step after they have their wiretaps, undercover evidence and the FBI visits," Henning said, referring to recent visits to council members. "The documents can back up what's being said."

Henning said he would expect a grand jury to begin calling in witnesses to "lock in their testimony."

Cockrel, who voted for the Synagro contract, approved in November by a 5-4 vote, said she has been told she is not a target of the probe. "If there is any evidence of public corruption, it is important that it be rooted out," she said.

Bernard Kilpatrick previously has said he knows nothing about the federal investigation.

A former Wayne County commissioner and top aide to the late County Executive Ed McNamara, Bernard Kilpatrick opened a lobbying firm in 2002 that he called Maestro Associates.

He and the mayor's mother, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, divorced when the mayor and his sister, Ayanna, were still in school.

In 2003, the mayor appointed his father chairman of the board of the Detroit-Wayne County Community Mental Health Agency, which has an annual budget of more than $500 million.

Contact M.L. ELRICK at 313-222-6582 or mlelrick@freepress.com. Staff writers Naomi R. Patton and Zachary Gorchow contributed to this report.

They need to throw all these corrupt morons in prison, including Kwame's Mom

Enough is Enough

EVERYBODY, including the entire City Council! This scandal's tentacles have entrapped most everyone in city government!

laprimamirala wrote:

This scandal's tentacles have entrapped most everyone in city government!

Ewwwwwwwwwww....

SAD;BUT TRUE