One member recently pleaded guilty to corruption charges, and it was reported that he was cooperating with the feds.
And the fruits of said cooperation seem to be blossoming in public.
FBI agents were executing search warrants at the homes of Detroit City Council members Janeé Ayers and Scott Benson and at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center on Wednesday morning, the latest escalation of a federal corruption investigation that has already led to charges against Councilman André Spivey.
The exact focus of the investigation and what led investigators to mount the raids Wednesday were unclear. No criminal charges have been filed and search warrant documents remained sealed in court.
The raids Wednesday represent the largest federal investigation into City Hall corruption in the eight years since former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was convicted of racketeering conspiracy charges and sentenced to 28 years in federal prison. President Donald Trump commuted the sentence in January.
The searches come three weeks after Spivey was arraigned in federal court on one count of conspiracy to commit bribery over claims he accepted more than $35,000 to be "influenced and rewarded" for votes.
The beat goes ever on.
Have you and Mrs. Price ever entertained a family gathering thus?:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to0irFedGqc
Not...quite. My singing chops are a cut below Sonny's, and the Child Bride does not sing at all. But the kids more than make up for it with their bursts of spontaneous song.
DeleteWalter Russell Mead used to have a regular blog at The American Interest. He once had a post about current events in Detroit. His description of the Detroit City Council: "a pack of velociraptors out for a share of the payola".
ReplyDeleteMead is always astute. And, man--did he nail the DCC.
DeleteI really had some hope for the Council after new blood came in and the district representation system was adopted.
Nope.
To be fair, the entire metropolitan area is rife with political corruption. Our trash collector was put out of business after a bribery scandal, and to the south of us, the mayor of Taylor (a sizeable suburb) is well on his way to federal prison after a raid discovered more than $200K in his residence.
And that's before we talk about the convictions which have decapitated the UAW.
It's a real sleaze pit in these parts.