Nick's Blog

According to Channel 4 Kwame rejected a deal that gives him 90 days in jail because he wants no jail time. Idiot. He pissed off the Prosecutor, and the cops. The State's Attorney General wants to use his bloated corpse as a stepping stone to the Governor's mansion. His approval rating statewide is 2%, and a person elected by the entire state (Gov. Granholm) can fire him. I'm shocked anybody actually offered him as few as 90 days in jail. Hopefully Granholm puts him out of his misery on September 3rd, without hearing either case; for the good of the state.

Channel 4 also claims Monica Conyers got in a shouting match with Denver PD when the hotel tried to downgrade her room. Denver police and the hotel confirm the story. Shouting matches over stupid shit are kinda Monica Conyers thing, but Monica denies everything. She claims she was asleep at the time.

Denying everything is most definitely not a Monica Conyers thing, so it's possible there was a case of mistaken identity. Not likely, but possible.

And he deserves it.

He screwed up by going to Canada without court permission. He's on bond, and he has to tell the Courts before he leaves the state. So the Judge had to revoke the bond, which means he'll be in jail until a) all legal issues (including assault, perjury, and obstruction charges) are resolved or a higher court sets new bond conditions.

Note that this is a huge problem for him. He wants a local trial, because most of the local judges like him. He needs a jury trial, because a hung jury is much easiar to get than a Not Guilty verdict. But potential local jurors are rare because almost everybody knows about the case. He needs to delay, and throw up enough random BS that potential jurors won't be biased against him.

But if he can't sweet talk an Appeals Court Judge into giving him new bond terms he'll spen every second of that delay in jail. Which dooms his political career because he can't actually do his job. If his deputy screws up Kwame gets blamed because it's Kwame's fault
ilton is in charge. If Kandia Milton turns out to be a great leader Milton will get all the credit.

If Kwame doesn't get bail again he'll almost have to resign. There's no way he can win re-election if he's spent months rotting in jail while some other dude runs the city, and if he gets an immediate trial he'll probably get convicted. Which automaticaly throws him out of office.

If he does get bail again he'll fight. He's way too stubborn to not fight when there's hope he can stay on. He's got a slight hope of not being convicted at trial, and he believes he can win re-election if he isn't convicted.

Sounds like there's more to this probe than I thought. Ken Cockrel Jr.'s Chief of Staff was apparently caught on tape taking a $2,000 bribe. He just resigned.

The bribe apparently didn't work. Kenny voted against the deal they're investigating. Unless it was a bribe to get him to vote 'no.' Which is unlikely in the Skeptic's opinion -- the major opponents of the contract were Southwest Detroit neighborhood organizations. Most of them have trouble making payroll consistantly. They have other things to spend $2,000 on.

The other opponents -- unions representing city employees -- could get that kind of cash together with some work, but I doubt they'd waste it on a mere Chief of Staff. And there's no way in hell they'd bother bribing Kenny. The man didn't get to be Council President by being bought. He got there because he's one of the few Council members who works hard, and frequently seems to be the only one with common sense. Pissing off his voters for a fraction of his salary just ain't a Kenny thing to do. And those Southwest Detroit neighborhhod groups are his voters.

OTOH, an out-of-state company might not know that. They'd think Chief-of-Staff to the Council President is a fancy title, and $2,000 ain't much when a $47 million contract is on the line.

Apparently the FBI thinks a $47 million waste disposal contract was approved only after several COuncil members took bribes. Monica Conyers is one of the suspects. Ken Cockrel Jr. isn't.

Conyers is notorious for supporting the Mayor, but fought him when the scandal first broke. She's also known as the women who called Kenny Cockrel "Shrek" on-camera. IMO she's just mean.

That said, the Freep probably wouldn't have published this article if Conyers was not currently supporting the Mayor. They published a fawning piece on Kwame Kenyatta after he came out against Kwame. This is despite the fact Kenyatta supported a blatently racist proposal to create an African Town business district. Supported by City Loans, only avaliable to blacks. Idiots. Who's more likely to import African art -- white South Africans, or some chick whose afraid of leaves?

Back to the subject. I doubt there's widespread corruption on the Council. Conyers is a nasty person, but she's also a flake. Flakes are supposed to change their minds for no apparent reason.

Besides there is very little actual corruption in Detroit. In corrupt sities public employees do their jobs. It's hard to take bribes to issue permits if you never issue any permits.

So I bet they find nothing. I doubt the investigation is poklitcally motivates. Monica is married to John Conyers, Chair of the House Judiciary Committee. Mr. Conyers could issue Articles of Impeachment against Dubya, so going after his wife would be remarkably syupid politically.

Without it her Presidential ambitions die.

Party loyalists are a pretty important demographic in a primary race. Many of them will blame an Obama loss on her refusal to drop out of the primary earlier, and the divisive nature of this primary race. Why would they encourage a repeat by supporting Hillary again? We aren't stupid.

That might be hyperbole, but it's a point the Hillary should be considering. Her best counter is being nominated for VP. That way fewer people will blame her for any loss, and if Obama wins she'll be the heir apparent as VP. It is true that the Vice Presidency does not offer her much. So she's got tricky political calculations to make.

Obama's calculations are easy. Hillary means Bill, and Bill means drama. The latest problem is a new bimbo eruption. Vanity Fair implied Bill Clinton is sleeping with the Hon. Belinda Stronach, Gina Gershon, and several other women. The piece is a clear hit job, and most of the accusations are getting no play in public. But Ms. Gershon took umbrage, and threatened to sue. This made it official news. Then there're the other problems.

Add in Hillary's other problems -- she's highly divisive even within the party, and the GOP base would be energized by her presence on the ballot -- and Obama's decision is easy. Just say no. Hillary's best chance at the White House is campaigning hard for Obama. She can run again in 2016. She'll be 69, but Reagan was older.