biography center image
Home Suggest a Biography Forum Contact
 
Browse by Alphabet Most Popular Highest Rated   back to  search
Browse by Letter : A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Monica Conyers ( - )  Category ( Politicians ) [suggest a correction]
 

Like many large American cities, Detroit has a history of municipal sleight of hand and skullduggery and theatrical conflict on City Council.

But in 2008, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick managed to raise the bar for malfeasance when he pleaded guilty to a felony (obstruction of justice) while still in office. Not long afterward, he resigned amidst the rancor of a recall campaign, leaving Monica Conyers as the resident lightning rod in city government (and City Council president).

Conyers’ high-profile conflicts with other Council members weren’t about party loyalties – all eight are Democrats. But she has disagreed publically with most of them, and was accused at one point of threatening to shoot DeDan Milton, an aide to Kilpatrick.

In an argument over budget cuts, she told fellow council member Kwame Kenyatta that he “needed to learn how to talk to a woman.” And in one memorable heated moment during a council session , she referred to the burly, balding Kenneth Cockrel – who replaced Kilpatrick as mayor – as “Shrek.”

The wife of U.S. Congressman John Conyers, Monica Conyers grew up in Detroit and spent 16 years as a teacher and school administrator before being elected to council. She graduated from Bennett College, attended the University of District of Columbia law school and has a post-graduate degree from Central Michigan.

Initially popular with Detroit voters, Conyers first ran for City council in 2005, polling even more votes than Kilpatrick.

During the campaign, husband John asked Detroit residents to "join the Conyers family as we fight to take back Detroit from those that put self interest above your interests. Detroit deserves better. I respect you enough to say that you must vote for more than a name. Vote for Monica because she has prepared herself to serve Detroit."

These words began to turn to irony four years later, when Monica Conyers was notified that she owed the city $6,500 in travel advances that had not been reimbursed. Included was a trip to Grand Cayman. She also caught flak for helping her brother, Reggie Esters, land a city job that was supposed to last four months but was extended to five years. It also turned out that Esters was an ex-felon.

Conyers lost her position as council president in the fall of 2008 when former pro basketball star Dave Bing defeated Cockrel in the mayoral election. That job went to Cockrel.

After the incident with Kenyatta in February of 2009, the Detroit News declared in an editorial that Conyers was unfit to serve, citing her “volatile” behavior.

Undaunted, Conyers led a movement within council to oppose the transfer of Cobo Hall – Detroit’s civic arena – to a regional authority, telling Teamster’s Union representative Isaac Robinson (who was white) that “most of the people who work at that show (the North American International Auto Show held each year at Cobo) don’t look like me. They look like you.”

Yet all this tumult paled alongside the accusations of bribery leveled at Conyers in June of 2009. The Councilwoman was connected with a bribery case involving the Synagro Company and a city contract, sent a pre-indictment letter and offered a plea bargain. She initially declined action on the latter.


starstarstarstarstarstarstarstarstarstar    Rating  0
Rating      
http://www.freep.com/article/20090618/OPINION01/90... [Comment on this link]
 
starstarstarstarstarstarstarstarstarstar    Rating  0
Rating      
http://www.ci.detroit.mi.us/legislative/citycounci... [Comment on this link]
 
starstarstarstarstarstarstarstarstarstar    Rating  0
Rating      
http://wonkette.com/388543/eighth-grader-owns-moni... [Comment on this link]
 
[Suggest another Link for this biography]
 
 
Browse by categories
Biographies beginning with
Biographes by Category
Most popular biographies
Most rated biographies
View all categories
Browse by categories
arrow Suggest an addtional category for Conyers Monica
arrow Suggest a Biography
arrow Add details to this biogaphy
   
 
 
© Copyright 1998-2024 Biography Center