The Tale Of Black Lives Matter: Maureen Taylor, Jenna Urbauer, NAACP, Temple Beth El, Turkia Mullin, Human Abedine & Detroit Land Bank Authority Propaganda Coverup Ops

The Black Lives Matter movement is currently being infiltrated by the real voices of all people.

Maureen Taylor has been calling out stealin' for as long as there have been victims of stealin' - "The Poors" (always said with clinched teeth).

This is about to get real because what has been taught in the schools and Hollywood about civil rights history and this thing called race is nothing but a noble lie.

On 11th night Detroit protest march goes to Algiers motel incident site from 1967 rebellion

The protest goes to the site of the 1967 rebellion, where one can only hope that young, out of town, protesters, will finally have an awakening to learn, what they have learned, is all a farce.

Speaking of farces...



The money from Jenna Urbauer, owner of Mandell Display Designs, is going to her favorite fake ass charity, the NAACP, because it looks like she had the privilege of acquiring one of those historic, stolen legacies, of a Detroit Land Bank Authority property, during the Great Gerrymandering of Detroit.

How quaint.

I wonder if any of the money is going to Temple Beth El?

We could ask Nancy Edmunds, but I do not believe she would be amenable to an interview, right about now.

Too bad Ann Marie LeFlamme is no longer with WXYZ, because she could have interviewed Jenna, too!

If Jenna and the Wendal "Swindle" Anthony wanted to do something about those who hail of the darker persuasion getting justice, I guess they could rally for a bit of that posthumous due process, but, hey, what do I know?

I know that we could ask Jeannie Rhee, but something tells me Mueller already has.

But, instead, I decided to find out who this Padriac Mullin was, considering the fact that his name was all on Jenna's Mandell Display Designs property address filed with LARA, now removed, as the property taxpayer of Wayne County, where, I just so happen to have found not one, but two, parcel numbers.

01 02003507. 18925 FAIRFIELD DETROIT MULLIN, PADRAIC
01 27190160. 18925 FAIRFIELD DETROIT MULLIN, PADRAIC
https://pta.waynecounty.com/Home/SearchResult

Mullin?

Is Padraic the brother of Turkia Mullin, who was kicking it hard with Bob Ficano while she was running the EB-5 program I could get absolutely no information about?

Hillary really wanted control of the airports, you know.

Did Turkia and Padriac go to high school with Huma Abedine, whose brother seems to be involve with those property tax scams and other stuff I found in the Dearborns, Detroit, Highland Park and Hamtramck?

But, hey, what do I know?

The only thing I know is Maureen Taylor is an original source and the world should listen to her, as the Black Lives Matter Movement is about to be uncloaked, for the truth to finally be revealed.

#maytheheavensfall

Maureen Taylor: Champion of the poor, disenfranchised

 Maureen has been bleachbitted from the annals of cyber annals of history, but I preserved her legacy.

Maureen Taylor has spent her life advocating and fighting for the rights of the poor. Her passion put her in the national spotlight when she took on WDIV-TV reporter Hank Winchester during an MSNBC interview about the Detroit water shutoff crisis. Many saw her actions as heroic.

“It was true Maureen,” said local activist and community organizer Mike Shane of Moratorium Now! a grass-roots organization working to prevent mortgage foreclosures and utility shutoffs. “(The news segment and Taylor’s comments) gave the issue more prominence, which it needed.”

Shane said the interview illustrated Taylor’s determination and willingness to “go to the mat for poor and working people. She’s a good advocate for people.”

As state chair of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, Taylor works nonstop from her office on the fourth floor of downtown Detroit’s Central United Methodist Church to help struggling individuals and families negotiate with Metro Detroit agencies. Many of those she helps are people who are working mainly in low-paying jobs that don’t cover most of their basic bills.

The state chair of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization and a 2015 Michiganian of the Year, Maureen Taylor talks about what inspired her to become a "change agent."

For 30 years, Taylor has been a voice for the voiceless. She began her career on the front lines of protest marches and rallies to protect welfare benefits for residents during Gov. John Engler’s administration. Most recently she led efforts to prevent the state from tossing 41,000 people off the state’s welfare rolls, and last year she conducted protests over the water shutoffs in Detroit.

Taylor, who attributes many of the city’s problems to a sluggish economy that is starting to rebound, said she always wanted to be a “change agent.”

“I need to be able to make a change,” said Taylor. “I have to do something.”

Her passion for the poor began at a young age. Reared in an economically comfortable home in Detroit, a 12-year-old Taylor was struck by the abject poverty she saw during a cross-country trip with her family to Disneyland in California. Young children, most of whom were under the age of 10, were selling turquoise on the side of the road or picking vegetables.

“This question about social justice meant something to me. I thought ‘there’s something wrong,’ ” Taylor said. “I knew it and I saw it.”

A trained social worker with a master’s degree in social work, Taylor also studied at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

“At the Union Theological Seminary, the coursework was around the fundamental components of why poverty exists. It stressed the relationship between welfare assistance and employment as a bridge between the two contradictory yet dependent polls,” she said. “I learned the history of poverty, the theory of ‘surplus value’ as a component of the existing system, and what role it played in the structure of the American economy. I am a poverty scholar.”

Taylor has been praised for working with corporations, such as DTE, to implement programs to assist the area’s poor. As a result, DTE now provides a representative at Taylor’s office to help individuals and families come up with more affordable utility payments to avoid shutoffs.

Rodney Cole, DTE’s manager of regional relations for Wayne County, said Taylor has been instrumental in helping the utility company assist customers in need.

“She has the history and context with this city,” Cole said. “I have appreciated her ability and willingness to partner (with DTE ).”

Taylor says she doesn’t let those who show up at the Michigan Welfare Rights office leave without some solution to their problems.

“I try to find ways (to help),” Taylor said. “Clients don’t leave here or my desk until there is a plan to alleviate whatever is wrong.”

Oralandar Brand-Williams

Maureen Taylor

Occupation: State chair, Michigan Welfare Rights Organization

Education: Bachelor’s degree, Marygrove College; master’s degree, Wayne State University

Family: One son

Why honored: She is the first recipient of the Angelo B. Henderson Community Commitment Award for being a frontline advocate for economically challenged individuals and families.

I still say BLM was co-opted from Bureau of Land Management.

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Cocktails & Popcorn: WXYZ Found The Detroit Development Fund But Forgot To Ask Who Owns The Patent

Much love to WXYZ, except Carolyn Clifford, because she does not remember Father Michael Winkowski from the Archdiocese of Detroit.

Elizabeth Warren said really dumb things about Detroit and his Detroit legacy, but it was for the purposes of stealin' more from the people of Detroit under the reparations banner of a #coloredrevolution because they stole all the TARP money and want to steal more children, land and votes.

But, I digress.

Someone should ask Mike Duggan about those child welfare NGOs that like to do stuff with tiny humans like preterm births and infant mortality.

Someone should ask him who owns the patent because it looks like it is possibly the land patent to the City of Detroit, courtesy of the Detroit Land Bank Authority, but, hey, what do I know?

https://beverlytran.blogspot.com/search?q=detroit+development+fund

Duggan once ripped ‘secret funds.’ Today, he ducks questions about his own.

'Progress Fund' has spent $750,000 in secret since '14

DETROIT (WXYZ) — Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan refuses to disclose how a non-profit set up “to promote the City of Detroit’s turnaround” has spent $750,000 since 2014.

His decision, allowable by the IRS, stands in stark contrast to a 2013 promise Duggan made while running for mayor, vowing that he would have “no part in a secret fund when I’m elected.”

But in 2014, shortly after Duggan took office, the Detroit Progress Fund was created to “assist the Office of the Mayor on expenditures necessary to conduct the business for the City but for which there are no funds available in the City budget.”

The fund summarizes its expenses in broad categories, like spending more than $16,000 last year on “meals,” nearly $34,000 on “community outreach” and more than $41,000 on “travel.”

Fund administrator Abbey Dinsmore, who is also a fundraiser for Duggan's mayoral campaign, says the Progress Fund has been used for things like flying in job candidates from out of state and helping put on an annual dinner during Ramadan.

“We are following the law, we are disclosing everything the IRS requires that we disclose to the IRS,” Duggan said when questioned by 7 Investigator Ross Jones earlier this month.

Unlike many similar non-profits, the Detroit Progress Fund discloses its donors quarterly or bi-annually. But expenses have remained a secret and, as Duggan points out, the IRS doesn't require funds to disclose them publicly.

History of controversy

Duggan is hardly the first Michigan politician to be associated with a non-profit 501(c)(4) like the Progress Fund. Over the years, a number of elected leaders have come under fire over how their non-profits spent money.

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick insisted his Kilpatrick Civic Fund was in complete compliance, saying in 2001: “We’ve done all the paperwork, followed every rule, every regulation from the IRS.”

But reporters and eventually federal prosecutors would reveal that the Civic Fund was used to pay for things like Kilpatrick’s lavish family vacations, golf clubs and even yoga lessons.

Ex-Governor Rick Snyder said his NERD Fund was acting above board, saying in 2012 that “there’s nothing that exciting about it. We’re just following the rules and moving ahead.”

But the fund was ultimately closed after reporters learned it was paying Snyder’s top aide, Rich Baird, a salary of $100,000 from donors who were unknown.

Former Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano ran into trouble with his non-profit, the Wayne County Business Development Corporation, when it was revealed by 7 Action News to have paid his economic development czar a secret $75,000 annual bonus, paid in part by county contractors.

“Government doesn’t always run best on ‘trust me,'” said Peter Henning, a former federal prosecutor who today is a law professor at Wayne State University.

“That’s the key to government is transparency,” he said. “That we know this much is coming in and here’s what it’s being spent on.”

'Erodes confidence in government'

Henning isn’t alone in cautioning public officials from using secret funds as an extension of government. Duggan himself spoke out against them in 2013 when he was a candidate for mayor.

In an interview on Channel 7, Duggan was asked specifically about non-profit funds that got Kilpatrick, Snyder and Ficano into trouble.

“You’ll notice in this campaign, I did not create one of those funds,” Duggan said. “I had advisers telling me, let’s create secret funds where you don’t know the donors. I said absolutely not, I’m not going to participate in that. I think it erodes confidence in government, and I’m going to have no part in a secret fund when I’m elected.”

Earlier this month, Duggan was asked by 7 Action News about his change in heart.

“I didn’t change my mind,” Duggan said. “The issues were raised about people not disclosing their donors. We have disclosed our donors from the beginning,” he said.

“As you know, these funds have been abused, from Kilpatrick to Ficano to Snyder for how they've been spending money,” said Channel 7’s Ross Jones. “And the question is, if you have nothing to hide, why not show us exactly how it’s being spent?”

“There has been no suggestion of anything wrong,” Duggan said.


Close ties to Mayor

The Detroit Progress Fund is overseen by a board of five, but neither Duggan nor the fund's spokesman will say who selected the board members. All of them have ties to Duggan or his campaign.

Jonathan Quarles is the chairman of the Progress Fund’s Board. In 2014, he was appointed by Duggan to the city's Economic Development Corporation board.

Trunetta Roach, the Progress Fund’s treasurer, is the wife of Duggan’s spokesman John Roach. Campaign records show that she's donated $1,000 to Duggan’s campaign.

Attorney Thomas Bruetsch also sits on the board. In 2013, he represented Duggan in his fight to stay on the mayoral ballot. He's also donated nearly $2,500 to Duggan’s campaign.

Board member David Katz is one of Duggan’s longtime friends, having worked with him since his days in Wayne County government. Katz donated more than $10,000 to Duggan’s campaign.

In addition to serving on the Progress Fund’s board, Tatiana Grant also worked to help get the mayor elected. Records show that her company, Infused PR, has been paid more than $43,000 by Duggan’s campaign.

Fund spokesman Mario Morrow called the board “very competent people” and said their past history with Duggan doesn’t influence their judgment.

“They all seem to be pretty close to the mayor,” said Channel 7’s Ross Jones.

“This is a small town,” Morrow said.

#sayhisname

Detroit Development Fund Pa... by Beverly Tran on Scribd

Detroit Development Fund Pa... by Beverly Tran on Scribd

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Cocktails & Popcorn: Matt Schneider Said "At Least"- Where is Bob Ficano, Turkia Mullin, Brendan Dunleavy, Raymond Wojtowicz??

I truly hope we did not forget about Bob Ficano.

I wonder what Bob is up to these days.

I wonder what Turkia Mullin is doing.

Where is Brendan Dunleavy?

Where is Raymond Wojtowicz?

We should talk to Kwame Kilpatrick.

Someone should invite them for a lovely evening of cocktails & popcorn and livestream the interviews.

Guilty Detroit Metro airport boss gasps at verdict in $5M bribery case

James Warner

Detroit — A former Detroit Metropolitan Airport official faces the longest corruption crime sentence in U.S. history after being convicted Wednesday of receiving more than $5 million worth of bribes.

James Warner, 52, of Commerce Township, gasped and arched his eyebrows as the jury forewoman said "guilty" 10 times for charges that included bribery, theft and money laundering conspiracies, and obstruction of justice, a charge that carries a possible 20-year prison sentence.

Warner could be sentenced to more than 30 years in federal prison. The sentence would eclipse the current record, a 28-year federal prison sentence being served by former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

Warner will be sentenced Oct. 8 by U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts.

"The government is going to come at him guns blazing and seek the maximum sentence," said Peter Henning, a Wayne State University law professor and former federal prosecutor. "Whether Judge Roberts gives that to him is an open question."

Advisory sentencing guidelines call for 24-30 years in federal prison.

U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider, who was in the courtroom Wednesday, said his office will pursue a sentence within the guideline range, "at least."

U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider said, "at least".

Roberts has broad discretion and can ignore the guideline range.

Henning does not expect a record-setting sentence even though Warner was accused of receiving five times as much money as Kilpatrick.

"Being an elected mayor versus an airport official, I’m not sure they’re exactly comparable even though (Warner) took much more money," Henning said.

Prosecutors wanted Warner taken into custody Wednesday, calling him a flight risk and a danger to himself, citing what they believe was a suicide attempt in 2017.

More than $1 million remains unaccounted for and the money could bankroll a flight from justice, Assistant U.S. Attorney Eaton Brown told the judge.

Warner’s lawyer Robert Harrison disagreed. All of Warner’s assets have been frozen or seized, Harrison said, adding that Warner is not suicidal.

The judge read letters from Warner’s doctor before deciding to let Warner remain free until October. The letters convinced the judge Warner was not suicidal and she was satisfied he does not have money to fund an escape.

Warner and his lawyer declined comment.

Jurors deliberated for about four hours before reaching the verdict following a trial that lasted parts of three weeks. In a rare move, Warner testified in his own defense.

Warner, an airport manager and field inspector who also worked for West Bloomfield Township, is the rare indicted public official to stand trial on corruption charges and risk a decades-long federal prison sentence.

Kwame Kilpatrick and Dean Reynolds

Two of the most recent politicians to stand trial in federal court —Kilpatrick and Clinton Township Trustee Dean Reynolds — were convicted and sentenced to double-digit prison sentences.

Kwame Kilpatrick, left, and Dean Reynolds.

Warner's alleged appetites distinguish him from the dozens of public officials who have been accused or convicted of corruption-related crimes in the last decade in Metro Detroit. He fabricated invoices, overcharged the airport for work performed by contractors and received more than $5 million worth of kickbacks during a four-year period, prosecutors said.

The alleged bribery conspiracy outlined by prosecutors started in May 2010 when Warner was working as a field inspector at the airport approving maintenance and repair contracts. He headed three related schemes involving Metro Detroit contractors, including Romulus businessman William Pritula, 70, whose company William Pritula & Sons held facilities and maintenance contracts at the airport, prosecutors said.

Warner drafted and submitted inflated invoices for work Pritula was hired to perform at the airport, according to the government. The payments totaled more than $18 million.

In return, Warner received approximately half of the profits from the contracts, or more than $5 million, according to the indictment.

Pritula pleaded guilty to bribery last year and could be sentenced up to 10 years in prison in September. He agreed to forfeit $5.4 million to the government.

Federal court records describe Warner as a greedy, potty-mouthed felon.

"If it weren't for me, your ass would be out," Warner told one airport contractor, according to the indictment.

That contractor, authorities allege, was Gary Tenaglia, 65, of Rochester, who was charged last year and accused of defrauding the Wayne County Airport Authority of $1.5 million.

Warner allegedly gave Tenaglia inside information so the contractor's company, Envision Electric, could win contracts. In return, Warner received 10 percent of each invoice, prosecutors said.

During one dinner, Warner and Tenaglia discussed contracts and kickbacks, prosecutors said.

"During the meal, James Warner wrote '5k,' a proposed kickback amount, on a napkin," prosecutors wrote in the indictment. "He folded it and slid it across the table to Gary Tenaglia. After Gary Tenaglia acknowledged the meaning of the writing on the napkin, James Warner retrieved the napkin and ate it."

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An Authority Or Child Welfare: Which Fraud Came First In Wayne County?

Well. If Matt Schneider is going to go after public corruption in Wayne County, I truly hope he applies the same methodology to the other side of the Wayne County Airport Authority, which just so happens to be Child Welfare, which just so happens to be much worse.

Feds: Detroit airport manager took bribes, ate evidence

Detroit — A former Detroit Metropolitan Airport official was indicted in federal court Wednesday on charges he pocketed more than $5 million in bribes and tried to cover up the crime by eating evidence.

Former airport utilities and infrastructure manager James Warner, 51, of Commerce Township, is the third person charged in a widening bribery investigation involving an airport that has been a recurring setting for corruption scandals in recent years. The money Warner received amounts to one of the largest bribery cases prosecuted by the local U.S. Attorney's Office, which has sent ex-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and dozens of others to prison for corruption in recent years.

Federal agents have seized $11.4 million during the investigation, including $7.5 million from one contractor and $3.9 million from Warner, who was suspended Wednesday from his job in the West Bloomfield Township water and sewer department.

"Our citizens are entitled to decisions based on the best interests of the public, not the best interests of corrupt public officials and bribe-paying contractors," U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider said in a statement Wednesday.

Warner was charged with conspiracy, theft, bribery, money laundering and obstruction of justice during a seven-year stretch of corruption that spanned work at the airport and as a water and sewer official for West Bloomfield Township. If convicted, Warner could spend more than 20 years in federal prison.

He was arraigned late Wednesday in federal court and released on $10,000 unsecured bond.His lawyer did not respond to multiple messages seeking comment.

Warner had the power to approve and extend maintenance projects funded through the Wayne County Airport Authority from 2010 to 2014.

He ruled with a salty tongue and his hand out, according to federal prosecutors.

"If it weren't for me, your ass would be out," Warner told one contractor, according to the indictment.

That contractor, authorities allege, was Gary Tenaglia, 64, of Rochester, who was charged last month and accused of defrauding the Wayne County Airport Authority of $1.5 million.

During one dinner, Warner and Tenaglia discussed contracts and kickbacks, prosecutors said.

"During the meal, James Warner wrote '5k,' a proposed kickback amount, on a napkin," prosecutors wrote in the indictment. "He folded it and slid it across the table to Gary Tenaglia. After Gary Tenaglia acknowledged the meaning of the writing on the napkin, James Warner retrieved the napkin and ate it."

The indictment was filed one day after prosecutors charged airport contractor William Pritula, 69, of Romulus with federal program bribery, a 10-year felony.

In exchange for offering bribes, Pritula received contracts worth more than $18 million during a four-year period, according to the indictment.

Tenaglia and Pritula are expected to plead guilty.

Pritula owned and operated Pritula and Sons, a firm that won contracts to repair and replace pavement at the airport and contracts to repair water mains and install fire hydrants from 2003 to 2014.

Starting in May 2010, Pritula conspired with Warner and others to steal money from federally funded programs and commit bribery, prosecutors said.

Warner provided confidential and proprietary information that helped Pritula win airport contracts, according to the indictment.

Warner created phony invoices on behalf of the contractor’s company that “grossly inflated the cost and scope” of Pritula’s work, the government alleged.

In return, Pritula paid kickbacks to the airport official, prosecutors said.

In September 2013, for example, Warner submitted a $938,000 invoice to the airport authority for work that cost $275,000, according to the indictment.

Days later, Pritula’s firm paid Warner $397,372 and the airport official deposited the money in his bank account.

In less than a year, Warner received more than $573,000 from Pritula’s company, prosecutors allege.

Warner also supervised work by Tenaglia’s firm, Envision Electric, which had contracts to maintain airport parking structures from May 2011 to June 2014.

Warner fabricated reviews of Envision’s work and concealed mistakes made by the company, according to the indictment.

In exchange, Warner demanded kickbacks, prosecutors said.

Warner told Tenaglia he needed to pay kickbacks “to be a part of the ‘brotherhood’ at the airport,” prosecutors allege.

"The allegations against James Warner cheating the citizens of Wayne County are distressing to the many men and women working hard every day with integrity and commitment to protect those public funds provided for infrastructure development,” Timothy Slater, special agent in charge of the FBI's Detroit field division, said in a statement.

Warner left the airport authority in August 2014. In January 2017, he started working for the West Bloomfield Township water and sewer department as a project manager with a $74,027 salary.

"Within months, Warner proposed to Tenaglia a continuation of the same scheme the two had at the airport— a demand for 10 percent of each invoice West Bloomfield Township paid Tenaglia," prosecutors alleged.

The township suspended Warner with pay Wednesday, Supervisor Steven Kaplan told The News.

Kaplan said he is unaware whether the township was defrauded and that Warner did not have access to money or township checks.

“I think it’s doubtful,” Kaplan said. “He was low in the chain of employees. We had no reason to know or suspect that he might have been involved in skulduggery during his Wayne County employment. Although we recognize he’s presumed to be innocent, the allegation involving West Bloomfield is very disturbing."

Warner also was charged with obstructing justice because prosecutors said he altered a document provided to the FBI during the investigation.

The airport has periodically been embroiled in corruption investigations.

Airport authority CEO Turkia Mullin, a former Wayne County economic development chief, was fired in 2011 after the FBI served subpoenas demanding information about a nonprofit she ran and deals she engineered for the county.

Mullin was never charged with a crime.

The investigation coincided with a probe of then-Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, who lost re-election in August 2014.

Ficano was never charged with a crime and said federal investigators wrote him a letter after the three-year investigation declaring that he was "never a target" of the probe.

In 2004, former top airport official Wilbourne Kelley III and his wife, Barbara, were convicted of accepting cash, home improvements and other gifts from former airport contractor Frank Vallecorsa. They were sentenced to 44 months and 41 months in prison, respectively.

Kelley was the only official sent to prison as a result of an FBI investigation of Wayne County government under Edward H. McNamara, the late political boss.

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Another Detroit Authority Scandal: Detroit Metropolitan Airport Authority

For more background on the Detroit Metropolitan Airport scandals, click here.

This public corruption scandal goes all the way back to the King Maker, Ed McNamara and former Wayne County Executive Bob Ficano.

I wonder if the FBI is going to cover the EB-5 and Wayne County property foreclosure auctions?

Detroit Metro scandal widens second contractor charged

Detroit — A corruption investigation involving rigged contracts at Detroit Metropolitan Airport widened Tuesday when a contractor was charged in federal court with bribing an airport official.

William Pritula, 69, of Romulus was charged with federal program bribery, a 10-year felony, and the nature of the charge indicates he is expected to plead guilty amid the ongoing investigation.

According to prosecutors, Pritula received $5.47 million after bribing an unnamed official with the Wayne County Airport Authority, which manages and operates Detroit Metro and Willow Run airports.

The criminal charge was filed more than one month after another contractor, Gary Tenaglia, was charged with participating in a conspiracy that defrauded the Wayne County Airport Authority out of $1.5 million.

The conspiracy involves Tenaglia’s firm, Envision Engineering & Maintenance, and a $1.5 million contract to remove snow and ice from the Blue Deck parking structure at the airport. According to court records, Tenaglia conspired with at least two other people who are not named in the court filing.

Tenaglia, 64, a multimillionaire businessman from Rochester, also is expected to plead guilty.

Pritula, meanwhile, is president and owner of his namesake firm, William A. Pritula & Sons, LLC. The firm has worked as an airport contractor for at least eight years and secured contracts for facility and infrastructure maintenance and water main, storm sewer and sanitary system distribution repairs.

From May 2010 to October 2014, Pritula gave the unnamed airport official bribes to influence and reward the official for helping secure airport deals, according to court records.

Prosecutors want a $5.47 million judgment against Pritula. The sum represents gross proceeds obtained by Pritula, according to court records.

Pritula's lawyer, Ben Gonek, declined comment Tuesday.

“The Wayne County Airport Authority is aware of the criminal complaint that was filed today against William Pritula," spokeswoman Erica Donerson said in a statement Tuesday. "Since late 2014, the Airport Authority has not had any contracts with Pritula companies or the individual, William Pritula. We cannot comment further at this time given the pending proceedings.”

The airport authority trumpeted Pritula's firm when it won a $2.6 million maintenance contract in 2010.

“We have seen repeatedly how spending on transportation infrastructure turns out to be an investment in our future,” then-Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano said. “I congratulate Pritula & Sons for their successful bid.”

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Part 1: Duggan’s formidable political machine relies on deep-pocket outsiders

This is a quote taken from the Motor City Muckrucker article, below:

" many of whom have contracts with the city or bought Detroit-owned property in the past three years."

I believe it should read:

"have contracts with or bought Detroit Land Bank Authority owned property" because the Detroit Land Bank Authority is not part of the City of Detroit as they are creditors in the Detroit Chapter 9 bankruptcy, have no corporation filings with the State of Michigan, and filed no corporate interest disclosures with the Courts.

Part 1: Duggan’s formidable political machine relies on deep-pocket outsiders

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. Photo by Steve Neavling.

Mayor Mike Duggan has built a formidable political fundraising machine unlike anything Detroit has ever seen. 

The first-term mayor raised a whopping $2.8 million for his re-election bid, courting big banks, suburban developers, corporate executives, political action committees and other deep-pocket movers-and-shakers, many of whom have contracts with the city or bought Detroit-owned property in the past three years.

Wow, considering the rate of child poverty in Detroit, I guess he would have to fundraise outside the city limits.

By comparison, his challengers raised a mere $44,300 combined, giving Duggan a significant money advantage going into Tuesday’s primary election. But the mayor’s fundraising prowess raises serious questions about his influence with outsiders who don’t always have Detroit neighborhoods’ best interests at heart or who have contributed heavily to Republican candidates, including Donald Trump, Gov. Rick Snyder and the Michigan Republican Party.

Something tells me Coleman knows something about something that is going to happen and will not have to raise a single penny for his campaign to be successful.

A Motor City Muckraker review of Duggan’s latest campaign finance report, which covers $1.6 million in donations from November 2016 to July 23, found: 

• Just 10% of the mayor’s donations came from inside Detroit. Of those, nearly half came from political action committees.
• Twelve of Duggan’s 26 fundraisers were held outside of Detroit, including two in New York City, three in Bloomfield Hills, one in Grand Rapids and one in Lansing.
• Duggan’s most successful fundraiser was held at the sprawling home of Yousif and Mara Ghafari, both of whom have histories of donating tens of thousands of dollars to the Michigan Republican Party and conservative candidates, including Donald Trump, Gov. Snyder, George W. Bush and Mitt Romney.
• An unusual number of employees from deep-pocket companies contributed to Duggan’s campaign, including more than 150 from Blue Cross Blue Shield, 119 from the law firm of former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, 30 from DTE and 43 attorneys from Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn. Two Blue Cross employees said they felt pressured to donate.
• Miller Canfield Paddock and Stone, the law firm representing the mayor’s controversial demolition program, which is under a federal grand jury investigation, donated $26,600. The firm’s PAC also donated $10,000 in October 2016.
• Duggan relied heavily on suburban billionaires and their companies, including Dan Gilbert’s Quicken Loans, Roger Penske and his businesses, the conservative DeVos and Meijer families and Tony Soave, who gave former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s friend, Bobby Ferguson, $30 million in work from 2002 and 2008 and spent an additional $300,000 on Kilpatrick for private flights, hotels, watches and sporting events.
• Two high-ranking Snyder employees – senior adviser Richard Baird and former Chief of Staff Dennis Muchmore – both donated to Duggan and were influential in the financial takeovers of primarily black cities.
• Since Duggan became mayor in January 2014, he raised an additional $433,000 through his controversial nonprofit, Detroit Progress Fund, which can take unlimited contributions. A vast majority of the donors are corporations, many of which have contracts with the city.

Duggan’s campaign declined to comment on the outside donations but insisted the mayor was running a “grassroots campaign.”

I wonder if Motor City Muckrucker asked the Detroit Land Bank Authority about its participation in the campaign.

“Mayor Duggan has been running a grassroots campaign from the beginning and will continue to do so,” said campaign spokeswoman Sharon Banks, who also served as the press secretary for then-Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano. “He is across the city every day visiting and meeting with residents in the neighborhoods. The more than 10,000 families with a sign in their yard is a good sign that they believe the city is headed in the right direction.”

I believe "grassroots" means what is left of the properties that were stolen from the people by the Detroit Land Bank Authority.

Sen. Coleman Young II. Photo by Steve Neavling.

Duggan’s most competitive challenger, Sen. Coleman Young II, who raised $22,000 so far, criticized the mayor for relying on big banks and corporate outsiders who have preyed on the neighborhoods.

"Always remember, it takes a village...then pillages its treasury."

“Duggan has aligned himself with those who have made millions and millions of dollars off the misery of folks who live in Detroit,” Young’s campaign manager Adolph Mongo told us. “None of these corporations care about the revival of the neighborhoods. The banks, Quicken Loans and people like Dan Gilbert are the direct cause of the problems and foreclosures in the neighborhood.”

I believe the proper corporate reference would be Title Source, Incorporated.

Mongo added, “Unlike Duggan, Sen. Young refuses to be bought off and won’t sell the mayor’s office to get donations.”

While Duggan is leading Young in recent polls, serious questions have been raised about the mayor’s loyalty to neighborhoods, where most of the city’s predominately black population lives. Duggan, for example, is demolishing thousands of houses with federal money originally intended to help people save their homes. The mayor also repeatedly lied to the public about the use of $34.5 million in captured taxes to convince billionaire Tom Gores to move the Pistons to downtown Detroit. He also struck deals with the billionaire Illitch family and Dan Gilbert, allowing them to skirt affordable housing requirements for big residential developments in downtown and the rapidly gentrifying Cass Corridor.

Guess where the money for these project came from!  You, the taxpayer.

Among the biggest contributors to Duggan’s campaign was Blue Cross Blue Shield, which has lucrative contracts with the city. More than 150 employees and executives donated nearly $70,000 in the past several months, and the insurance company’s Lansing-based PAC contributed more than $75,000 to Duggan’s campaign and his Detroit Progress Fund.

I bet if you back track, the Clinton Foundation will be his biggest, dark, dirty money campaign contributor.

Blue Cross CEO Daniel Loepp

Blue Cross CEO Dan Loepp urged more than 1,000 employees to donate to Duggan’s campaign in March, potentially violating the company’s own code of business conduct, Crain’s Detroit Business reported. A day later, members of the company’s PAC received an email from Duggan’s campaign asking for money.

Blue Cross prohibits the use of “company property, facilities or time of any other workforce member for any political activity.”

Two Blue Cross employees, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing their jobs, told Motor City Muckraker they felt pressured to donate.

“If you want to climb up the ladder, you do what the CEO wants,” one employee said.

Hmmmm, I wonder what Bill Schuette is doing right about now....

Yousif Ghafari

Duggan’s most successful fundraiser – in which $277,000 was donated – was held on June 19 at the sprawling Bloomfield Hills home of Yousif and Mara Ghafari, who are deep-pocket donors to Republican candidates. Yousif Ghafari, the former U.S. ambassador to Slovenia, also sits on the Blue Cross Blue Shield Board of Directors.

The Ghafari family owns Ghafari Associates, which opened an office in downtown Detroit earlier this year. Wayne Count successfully sued the Dearborn-based company for its role in the failed jail project.

I wonder what his federal contracts were for.

Out-of-state donations

Duggan received 56 donations exceeding $1,000 from out-of-state residents, including six executives from JPMorgan Chase, which reached a $55 million settlement with the government in January over allegations that it discriminated against thousands of black and Latino mortgage borrowers.

Many of the out-of-state donations came during two fundraisers in New York City. Duggan raised $31,519 on the 20th floor of 277 Park Avenue, where JP Morgan Chase’s world headquarters are.

Duggan raised an additional $15,150 at a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser at Shinola’s flagship store in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan.

Banks, through the Detroit Land Bank Authority, hand out mortgages through the Hardest Hit Fund.

Another company that profits off of foreclosures, Ohio-based Safeguard Properties, also donated to Duggan’s campaign. Founder and chairman Robert Klein and his wife Ita Klein each contributed the maximum $6,800. The company clears out bank-foreclosed homes.

...and clears out Detroit Land Bank Authority Quiet Title Actions.

Detroit donations

More than two dozen executives with Detroit-based Quicken Loans, which the federal government also accused of predatory lending, contributed nearly $73,000 to Duggan’s re-election campaign. In early July, a federal judge ruled that Quicken Loans officers brokered illegal loans in excess of fair market value by relying on excessive home appraisals.

Title Source, Incorporated was fraudulently collecting non-existent, made up, delinquent taxes for Detroit Land Bank Authority because the Detroit Land Bank Authority is not a registered corporation, which means it has to run its money laundering through another host.

Dennis Archer Jr.

Former Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer and his son Dennis Archer Jr. turned out big for Duggan. Archer Jr., who won at least two competitive land contracts from the Duggan administration, was a guest speaker at the Shinola fundraiser in New York City. He and his company, Ignition Media Group, donated $14,000 to Duggan’s Detroit Progress Fund.

Archer’s father held a fundraiser for Duggan at the former mayor’s home in Palmer Park, where 29 guests donated a combined $49,240. Archer’s law firm, Dickinson Wright, also held a fundraiser at the company’s office in downtown Detroit, raising $10,850. A total of 115 employees of Dickinson Wright donated to Duggan’s campaign.

Oh, DJ...

On Monday, Motor City Muckraker explores how Duggan spent his donations and ran his campaign.

Motor City Muckraker is an independent watchdog funded by donations. To help us cover more stories like this, please consider a small contribution.

Sitting on the edge of my seat!

http://motorcitymuckraker.com/2017/08/06/part-1-duggans-formidable-political-machine-relies-deep-pocket-outsiders/

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Forum on Legal Implications of Detroit’s Bankruptcy Filing

Forum To Be Moderated by Professor Michael Eric Dyson

(DETROIT) – Saturday, September 7^th, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) will be holding a forum to discuss legal and other implications of Detroit’s bankruptcy filing. The forum will be held at the Fellowship Chapel in Detroit at 3 pm, and will be moderated by acclaimed scholar and commentator Professor Michael Eric Dyson. Participants in the forum will include key public officials, legal experts, clergy and others. The forum will be taped by C-SPAN and broadcast at a later date.

Updated information about this event is detailed below:

Forum on Legal Implications of Detroit’s Bankruptcy Filing

Host – Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) – Ranking Member, House Judiciary Committee

  Moderator – Michael Eric Dyson – Professor, Georgetown University

  Robert Ficano/Hester Wheeler – Wayne County Executive/Assistant

  State Senator Coleman Young

  State Senator Bert Johnson

  Detroit Council Member JoAnn Watson

  Reverend Wendell Anthony – President, NAACP, Detroit Chapter

  Al Garrett – President, AFSCME, Detroit Chapter

  Rose Roots – President, AFSCME Detroit Retiree Subchapter 98

James Spiotto – Partner and Head of the Special Litigation, Bankruptcy and Workout Group, Chapman & Cutler LLP

  Professor John A. E. Pottow – Bankruptcy and Commercial Law Professor, University of Michigan

  Professor Melissa Jacoby – Bankruptcy and Commercial Law Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  Krystal Crittendon – Former Corporation Counsel for the City of Detroit

  Mike Steinberg – Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan

Saturday, September 7^th, 3:00 p.m.

   

Fellowship Chapel

7707 West Outer Drive

Detroit, MI 48235

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Conyers Announces Forum on Legal Implications of Detroit’s Bankruptcy Filing; Forum To Be Moderated by Professor Michael Eric Dyson

(DETROIT) – In response to the myriad issues presented by the Detroit bankruptcy filing, Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) announced he will be holding a forum on Friday, September 6, to discuss legal and other implications of Detroit’s bankruptcy filing. The forum, expected to be broadcast live by C-SPAN, which will be held at the Fellowship Church in Detroit beginning at 6 pm, will be moderated by acclaimed scholar and commentator Michael Eric Dyson and  include key public officials, legal experts, clergy and others.

U.S. Representative
John Conyers, Jr.

In announcing the forum, Rep. Conyers stated:  “Given the unprecedented nature of Detroit’s bankruptcy filing, it is imperative that we have a public forum to discuss its impact on Detroit and the city’s future.  The forum will examine the full range of issues facing Detroit as a result of the bankruptcy filing, including the impact on pensions, the state of possible conflicts of interests and other issues raised by an unelected official making the filing, such as whether the filing was made in good faith. In addition, the forum will discuss the ramifications of the filing on taxpayers, workers, retirees and other stakeholders in Detroit, Michigan, and around the nation.”

Further information about the event is detailed below:

What:	Detroit Bankruptcy Forum
Who:	Ø      Host – Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) – Ranking Member, House Judiciary Committee Ø      Moderator – Michael Eric Dyson – Professor, Georgetown University Ø      Harvey Hollins – Director of the Office of Urban and Metropolitan Initiatives on behalf of Governor Snyder Ø      Robert Ficano – Wayne County Executive Ø      State Senator Coleman Young Ø      State Senator Bert Johnson Ø      Detroit Council Member JoAnn Watson Ø      Reverend Wendell Anthony – President, NAACP, Detroit Chapter Ø      Marcia L. Dyson – Political Strategist, Social Activist and Writer Ø      Al Garrett – President, AFSCME, Detroit Chapter Ø      Mark Diaz – President, Detroit Police Officers Association Ø      Rose Roots – President, AFSCME Detroit Retiree Subchapter 98 Ø      James Spiotto – Partner and head of the Special Litigation, Bankruptcy and Workout Group, Chapman & Cutler LLP Ø      Krystal Crittendon – Former corporation counsel for the City of Detroit Ø      Mike Steinberg – Legal Director of the American Civil Liberties Union ofMichigan Ø      Shar Habibi – Research and Policy Director, In the Public Interest
When:	Friday, September 6th, 6:00 p.m.
Where:	Fellowship Church 7707 West Outer Drive Detroit, MI 48235

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Michigan's immigrant youths put in legal limbo

Secretary of state says up to 12K here illegally despite Obama's deferred deportation policy

• By Serena Maria Daniels
• The Detroit News
• 20 Comments

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Sergio Martinez, 24, is not allowed a driver’s license in Michigan because of a decision by Secretary of State Ruth Johnson. (Steve Perez / The Detroit News)

Detroit — For Sergio Martinez, proving that he has been in the United States from the age of 5 hasn't been easy.

U.S. Immigration and Customs officials wanted every report card, school award, immunization record and transcript he has acquired over 21 years

Luckily, his mother provided him with all of his records, practically enough documentation to fill a Sunday newspaper.

"You name it, they asked for it. I'm surprised they didn't ask for a hair sample," said Martinez, 24, who lives in Detroit.

He is among the 308,935 young adults who were brought into the country illegally as children who have applied for a two-year deferment from deportation under an Obama administration policy announced this year.

But the stack of records will not be enough for Martinez to get a driver's license or state identification card in Michigan.

Martinez is among the 7,000 to 12,000 undocumented immigrants in Michigan who meet the requirements of President Barack Obama's federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, but are not being allowed to obtain licenses in Michigan. Secretary of State Ruth Johnson ruled in October that this group of immigrants does not have legal presence in the country.

Johnson's spokeswoman, Gisgie Gendreau, said the state cannot issue licenses until the undocumented immigrants are granted legal presence to be in the United States.

"We rely on the federal government to tell us who is here legally; we don't determine that," Gendreau said. "So far, the federal government has not provided information to the states indicating that DACA grants that legal status."

The Johnson ruling typifies a legal limbo existing for recipients of deferred action. Under that policy, young adults who arrived in the country illegally as children can be granted work permits and Social Security numbers, but only for two years. The policy does not automatically lead to permanent legal status or citizenship .

Getting into the deferred action program is a lengthy process. Among the many requirements, applicants must:

Have proof of identity and can prove he or she arrived in the country before age 16 and were under age 31 as of June 15, 2012.

Provide evidence he or she graduated or is working toward completing high school or its equivalent and must be otherwise law-abiding.

Once approved, the applicant can get a work permit and may be eligible to get a Social Security number.

Mich. challenges policy

While most states have not challenged the policy, Michigan joins the two states — Nebraska and Arizona — that have banned the issuance of driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants who qualify for the deferred action program. Conversely, in California, the state with one of the heaviest concentration of immigrants in the country, Gov. Jerry Brown in September signed a law that allows people approved for DACA to obtain driver's licenses or state ID cards.

"It seems that the national trend among states is we're already seeing a pro-immigrant position versus anti-immigrant," said Alina Das, a law professor at the Immigrant Rights Clinic at New York University.

"That's why Michigan to me is interesting. … I would not have guessed that (the Michigan secretary of state) would have taken this position given the climate there. Michigan has a strong and vibrant immigrant community."

Immigrant rights groups, legal experts and young immigrants who call themselves DREAMers — a nod to failed federal legislation that would have given young immigrants a path to citizenship — say Johnson's directive is misguided, based on her reasoning that DACA doesn't give recipients legal presence.

Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano joined activists last month in opposing Johnson's ruling. In a letter to Gov. Rick Snyder, Ficano urged him to issue an executive directive calling for Johnson to rescind her decision.

"Ms. Johnson apparently issued her directive based on the legally erroneous conclusion that because a DACA designation 'does not provide legal status' to the DACA beneficiary, the DACA beneficiary is, therefore, 'unlawfully present' within the United States," the letter states. "She apparently reached this decision, notwithstanding federal authority stating that although a DACA designation may not confer legal status on that individual, the person is nonetheless, 'legally present' within the United States."

The legal case

Gendreau said Johnson in recent weeks has met with the American Civil Liberties Union to discuss the group's concerns and explained that unless the federal government changes its position, the Secretary of State's Office cannot change its position.

Susan Reed, supervising attorney for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, an advocacy group in Kalamazoo, said she finds that reasoning hard to believe.

"I think that they're giving that term a tremendous amount of weight when it really has no weight at all," Reed said.

The legal case in favor of licenses and IDs for DACA recipients made by immigration advocates relates to the federal REAL ID Act. That law, enacted in 2005, considers individuals in deferred action to be lawfully present for the purpose of obtaining driver's licenses, they argue.

"Regulations implementing the REAL ID Act specifically state that an individual with approved deferred action has 'valid documentary evidence that the applicant is lawfully present in the United States,'" according to an issue brief published by the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center.

Under a state law passed in 2004, applicants for driver's licenses must provide valid evidence that they possess a Social Security number.

That has meant many illegal immigrants — whose licenses have expired over the past eight years — have risked being caught driving without a license.

One Detroit area resident got caught recently in the dilemma. While awaiting approval of a deferred action application, a 19-year-old, named Jose, who plans to attend Washtenaw Community College next term, was stopped by Redford police on I-96 and ticketed for driving without a license. Jose asked that his last name not be published out of fear that his father, who is undocumented, would be deported.

When Jose couldn't show the necessary documentation, his car was impounded, and he and his mother had to get a ride from a nearby gas station, Jose said.

Only weeks ago, Jose learned he had work authorization and a Social Security card, which he might have been able to use to renew his license. "I'm caught in this situation where I can go to work, I can go to school, I'm legal here, but I can't go to work and can't go to school."

Meanwhile, Sergio Martinez continues to take chances getting from his job as a bartender to the brick home in Detroit he and a friend are renovating.

Instead of letting the fear get to him, Martinez said he pays close attention to every development out of Washington. He works closely with the Alliance for Immigrants Rights and Reform Michigan to share his story.

If he could have, Martinez said he would have voted for Obama, calling him his hero for the measures the president has taken to decriminalize immigrants.

Still, he says he has to drive like a grandmother to avoid getting pulled over. And he missed joining friends on a recent trip to Lebanon because he would not be authorized to return to the United States.

"I've almost contemplated moving to Mexico," Martinez said, though he doubts he would fit in if he were to return to his native Mexico City. "It's almost like America doesn't want me here."

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121203/METRO/212030340#ixzz2E18ciyNL
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