Updates On Flint Water Crisis Investigation: Emergency Manager, DTE, DWSD, GLWA, GM, TARP, Carlyle Group, Dana Nessel & Her New Special Prosecutor

Yes, the Flint Water Crisis will end up in Detroit because everyone was stealin' so the new Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is going to send in her gurl, Kym Worthy, to see who is under investigation so they can be proactive in taking over the prosecution to save her crew.

It may a campaign financing promise, but, hey, what do I know?

I know this case goes way back and Dana has no intention of addressing trafficking of tiny humans or child poverty in Michigan because her crew needs to fund more campaigns, but then again, child welfare is under a federal investigative purview as is the entire election of 2018.

Anyway, 2019 is going to be busy, busy, busy because there shall be lots of clowning.

FUN FACT! GM TOOK TARP

Another MDEQ employee pleads no contest to Flint water crisis charges

FLINT (WJRT) (1/7/2019) - Another Michigan Department of Environmental Quality employee has pleaded no contest to charges related to the Flint water crisis.

Liane Shekter-Smith, the department's former chief of drinking water and municipal assistance, originally was charged in July 2016 with two felonies and one misdemeanor charge.

She pleaded to a misdemeanor charge of disturbing a lawful meeting, which carries a possible penalty of 90 days in jail and a $500 fine. The other charges were dropped in exchange for her plea.

As part of the plea agreement with Special Prosecutor Todd Flood, Shekter-Smith must testify against other government officials charged in the Flint water cases. She likely will be a witness in the upcoming preliminary hearing for former Emergency Manager Darnell Earley and former Flint Water Department Manager Howard Croft.

If she provides misleading statements or fails to cooperate with prosecutors, Flood said a guilty plea to a five-year felony charge of misconduct in office will automatically be entered on her behalf. A review to determine whether she complied with the plea agreement is scheduled for April.

Shekter-Smith and other DEQ officials are accused of failing to do their jobs and provide safe drinking water for Flint residents after the switch to pump water from the Flint River in 2014.

Fellow DEQ officials Michael Prysby and Stephen Busch both pleaded no contest on Dec. 26 to misconduct in office and tampering with water monitoring reports -- both felonies -- along with misdemeanor violations of Michigan's drinking water law.

With Shekter-Smith's plea, seven of 15 people facing criminal charges related to the water crisis have pleaded guilty or no contest. A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as one at sentencing.

Then, this happened...

Flood won’t comment on AG’s request for new Flint water prosecutor

FLINT, MI -- Three days after new Attorney General Dana Nessel said she wants to replace him, special Flint water prosecutor Todd Flood showed up for work, struck a plea deal with a former state drinking water official and refused to talk about his job security.

Flood answered several questions about his future and Nessel with “no comment” on Monday, Jan. 7, following continuation of a preliminary exam in Genesee District Court.

Nessel issued a news release Friday, Jan. 4, saying she had provided Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, a member of her transition team, “with the relevant materials related to the (Flint water) cases and has requested that her office take over the prosecution of the criminal cases on her behalf.”

Worthy issued her own statement Friday, saying she would evaluate the remaining criminal cases filed by Flood but not necessarily replace him.

That sounds like code for, "I am just going to take a look to see who is going to be charged so I can put together a defensive strategy for Dana and company."

Flood was appointed to the job by former Attorney General Bill Schuette. He’s charged 15 current and former city and state government officials with crimes related to the water crisis.

Seven of those cases resulted in plea agreements, three have been bound over to Genesee Circuit Court for jury trials and five are in the process of preliminary examinations in Genesee District Court.

As a candidate for office earlier this year, Nessel was among critics of the Flint water prosecutions, calling them “politically charged show trials” but didn’t say for certain if Flood would be replaced.

Despite the uncertainty, the special prosecutor is operating as though he plans to continue working on the cases.

Kym Worthy will evaluate, not take over Flint water prosecutions

Flood told District Judge Jennifer Manley on Monday that he doesn’t need to return to court to check on the status of the cooperation of former Department of Environmental Quality official Liane Shekter-Smith until at least February. That’s after she’s expected to testify in the preliminary exams for former Flint emergency manager Darnell Earley and Howard Croft.

Last month, Flood told Genesee Circuit Judge Joseph Farah that he anticipated remaining on the job after the transition from Schuette to Nessel.

But, the Flint Water Crisis, which happened under the Emergency Manager Law, is still a matter of interest for Elijah Cummings, Chair of the U.S. House Oversight Committee.

https://democrats-oversight.house.gov/investigation-of-the-flint-water-crisis

BI-PARTISAN DEAL LED TO FLINT WATER POISONING FOR PROFIT: THE KAREGNONDI WATER AUTHORITY (KWA)

No Flint water crisis if no Karegnondi Water Authority

KWA started “greatest water war in Michigan history”

GLWA widened war, taking over all of  DWSD

KWA initiator Jeff Wright, a Democrat, tied to scandal-plagued Synagro, alleged money-laundering, shady campaign financing

 

Wright prioritized selling untreated water to DTE, other businesses over the people’s need for treated water

Karegnondi Water Group members get Bond Buyers’
“Midwest Deal of the Year” award in 2014.
Without them, the poisoning of Flint would not have happened.

DETROIT – The mass lead poisoning of the people of Flint, Michigan, a cold-blooded act of domestic terrorism, was contrived for the profit of the Wall Street bond market, corporations and politicians by both Republicans and Democrats with their own agendas.

The two parties are battling the matter out in electoral debates, with Michigan’s Republican Governor Rick Snyder justifiably though hypocritically castigated by Democratic candidates like Hillary Clinton for his role in this unspeakable catastrophe.

“The governor of that state acted as though he didn’t really care,” Clinton said during the NBC News debate in Charleston, S.C. “If the kids in a rich suburb of Detroit had been drinking contaminated water and being bathed in it, there would’ve been action.” Clinton’s Democratic opponent Bernie Sanders simply asked Snyder to resign.

In the most  cynically exploitative campaign move so far, Clinton just published the video below. It calls for donations to a Flint non-profit, rather than pledging billions from the U.S. Treasury to save Flint, just as the U.S. Treasury bailed out General Motors, which left Flint, taking with it 72,000 jobs.

No politician has expressed any intention of locking Snyder and cronies up for life without parole, the only sentence appropriate under Michigan law, or of providing the billions of dollars necessary to rebuild not only Flint’s water infrastructure, but the city itself, devastated for decades by its abandonment by General Motors and other corporations.

Ten Flint residents have already died from Legionnaire’s disease linked to contamination of the city’s water.  Tens of thousands more, especially children and babies, face irreversible life-time damage due to the neurological and behavioral effects of lead, according to the World Health Organization.

A petition to recall Snyder has finally 

been approved by the notoriously recalcitrant State Elections Board and will no doubt receive mass support, as it should.

But make no mistake—getting rid of Snyder will not cut out the cancer of racism and profiteering that has devastated Flint, Detroit, and cities across the U.S. for years.

The most blatant example of the bi-partisan midwifery of the Flint water catastrophe is the creation of the Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA), in what a Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD) spokesman called “the greatest water war in Michigan’s history.”

He was quoted before the creation of the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA), which has since robbed the people of Detroit, the largest Black majority city in the U.S., of the entire DWSD, the country’s third largest water and sewerage system, founded in 1836, which had been serving 40 percent of Michigan’s population.

The poisoning of the city of Flint, which is also a majority Black, would not have happened without the creation of the KWA at the instigation of Genesee County Drain Commissioner Jeff Wright, a white Democrat who has been Drain Commissioner since 2001 and spent 23 years prior to that in the department under former Drain Commissioner Anthony Ragnone.

According to U.S. Census figures, Genesee County is 75.2 percent white, and 20.6 percent Black, with a 21 percent poverty level. Flint is 37.4 percent white, and 56.6 percent Black, with a 41.5 percent poverty level.

Jeff Wright, CEO of KWA, Genesee County Drain Commissioner

In 2013, the KWA began building a 63-mile pipeline to Lake Huron that runs parallel to DWSD’s pipeline for the region. While boasting it will lower water rates, the Authority admits the pipeline will only deliver raw water, unlike the DWSD, which delivers fully treated water. Communities which sign on to it will have to treat their own water, creating ways to do so at additional costs to customers and profits to contractors. Wright said in 2011 that he wanted to bring raw water in for the benefit of businesses in the area.

The pipeline was supposed to have been up for operation by 2015.

The KWA now includes the “Genesee County Drain Commissioner, Lapeer County Drain Commissioner, Lapeer City, Sanilac County Drain Commissioner and the City of Flint,” according to its website. St. Clair County is reportedly also considering membership as Wright courts more regional customers.

Wright, who has a history of shady dealings with water contractors, began the push to create the KWA in 2006. Snyder’s appointee, Flint Emergency Manager Ed Kurtz, later endorsed it as well. In 2013, Wright got the Democratic City Council of Flint to agree to disconnect the city from the DWSD, which had supplied high-quality water to Flint residents since 1967, and connect with the KWA instead.

Due to KWA construction delays, however, Snyder and Kurtz ordered the ultimately disastrous long-term use of the polluted Flint River in the interim, falsely claiming that Detroit had refused to negotiate better rates for its Genesee County customers. While the Flint Water Treatment Plant, using the Flint River, has always been a back-up water supply to DWSD, which gets its water from Lake Huron, the plant was never outfitted to operate with river water for more than 20 days, on an emergency basis.

DTE’s Greenwood Energy Center in Avoca, MI
is on the proposed Karegnondi line.

VOD reader Peter Bernard wrote, “DTE has been involved in the formation of KWA since the beginning. DTE didn’t need treated water to run its turbines. Was it the demand of DTE for untreated water as soon as Flint withdrew from DWSD that caused Flint to pump untreated water into its supply system? I worked for Detroit Edison as a summer intern 60 years ago and they always thought pure water was an extra expense since super-heated stem automatically purified the water driving the steam turbines.”

In 2011, Ron Fonger of the Flint Journal reported that DTE told the KWA board it was interested in purchasing up to three million gallons of untreated water per day from the Authority for its Greenwood Energy Plant.

“Genesee County Drain Commissioner Jeff Wright called the news ‘very encouraging’ during a meeting of the KWA Board of Directors today, and said others could follow ‘as more businesses are made aware of (what we are doing and) the lower cost of untreated water,'” Fonger wrote, adding that Wright said KWA would work with DTE.

Map shows KWA pipeline in red,
DWSD pipelines in blue.

In 2014, the Bond Buyer magazine gave KWA the Midwest Bond Buyer of the Year award during an elaborate ceremony in New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel, for its second sale of $220 million in bonds to finance the pipeline, an intake facility, and two pumping stations.

It earlier sold $35 billion in bonds despite Detroit’s bankruptcy filing.

“Long before Detroit filed its Chapter 9 bankruptcy case in the summer of 2013, Flint and Genesee County, Michigan saw the need to break away from their dependence on the Detroit water system,” the narrator of a video shown at the ceremony said in a disingenuous, factually inaccurate introduction.

“In 2010 they formed the Karegnondi Water Authority, the two governments’ long-term strategy to deliver a more reliable water supply at more reasonable rates. After years of planning and crafting a bond structure with dual backstops to protect investors, the Authority hit the market in early April with its inaugural issue for $220 million in bonds. . . .The governments expect to cover the debt repayments with system revenues, and both put their limited tax GBO payments behind the bonds.”

The narrator said that Genesee County also pledged to cover Flint’s portions of the bonds if it is not able to do so under state emergency management.

Former Detroit CFO Sean Werdlow and former
Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick receive Bond Buyer award in 2004
for disastrous $1.5 billion COPS deal.

“Entering a market where local governments across Michigan faced heightened penalties, the authorities sold the bonds to more than 30 investors and achieved borrowing costs below projections,” the narrator said. “The deal paves the way for the County to trade in annual rate increases of about 11.5 percent for ones closer to five.”

The presentation recalled a similar Bond Buyer award given to former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his then-CFO Sean Werdlow in 2004, for the disastrous sale of $1.5 billion in “Certificates of Participation,” or “Pension Obligation Bonds,” an amount that ballooned to $2.8 billion with default penalties and interest swaps. Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr cited the deal as one reason for his improperly authorized 2013 Detroit Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing, but never followed through on a lawsuit he filed calling it “void ab initio, illegal and unenforceable.”

Below is the video presented at the Bond Buyer 2014 awards ceremony, on the Karegnondi Water Authority and the bonds involved.

In 2013, Tucker, Young, Jackson and Tull (TYJT), a Detroit-based engineering and consulting company, was contracted by the Michigan Department of Treasury to provide a study of the proposed KWA, contrasting it with the advantages of Flint remaining with the DWSD. The study strongly contradicted claims the Bond Buyer made at the 2014 awards ceremony, and other made in a study contracted by the community of Swartz Creek. (See full TYJT study at http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/FLINT-KWA-TYJT-water_report.pdf,)

DWSD spokesman Bill Johnson

“The Flint City Council’s approval of the Genesee County Drain Commission-backed idea to link Flint and a proposed multi-county connector effectively launched the greatest water war in Michigan’s history, “ Bill Johnson, communications head for the DWSD, said in a press release. “The action ignores a credible state-sponsored study that came out against the ill-advised Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA) project. And the vote makes no connection to Flint’s fiscal reality. All things considered, the City of Flint is best served by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD).” (See full release at http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/water_war_undermines_flint-dwsd_relations-2013-14.pdf.)

The study concluded that the cheapest and safest option out of eight through 2042 for Flint’s water supply was to provide it directly through an adaptation of DWSD’s Imlay City pumping station, which is closer to Flint. DWSD has always provided water for the area through its Lake Huron Water Treatment Plant at Ft. Gratiot, Michigan, which sends it to the Imlay City station to go to Flint. Flint then supplies it to other regional customers.  (See graph below.)

TYJT noted that the KWA proposal did not account for cost overruns on construction contracts, an almost inevitable occurrence, or provide a back-up water supply as does the DWSD for all its customers in the event of failure of the primary supply.

Why did Wright ignore this study? His connections with shady contractors during his tenure as Genesee County Drain Commissioner beginning in 2001, and earlier in his 23 years serving under former Drain Commissioner Anthony Ragnone, are well-known.

Southwest community organizer Denise Hearn leads protest against Synagro’s Detroit boondoogle outside the Detroit Wastewater Treatment Plant July 31, 2008.

Wright himself formerly owned a water consulting business called Tara/Aqua Management. During his term as Commissioner, he has signed multiple contracts with Synagro Technologies, Inc. for sewage sludge removal, dewatering, and land application at the county’s Linden and Ragnone treatment plants, from 2002 through 2009, according to a 2010 Flint Journal expose by reporter Ron Fonger.

At least two of the Genesee Drain Commission Synagro contracts, in 2003 and 2005, were signed by James Rosendall, former Synagro vice-president of development who went to prison for 11 months, in connection with the Synagro/Carlyle  bribery scandal that brought down former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, DWSD head Victor Mercado, and former City Council President Monica Conyers, among other Black city officials.

Synagro VP James Rosendall

Rosendall was the only white who was jailed, while Black officials who refused to act as FBI informants received terms as long as five years.

Judge Avern Cohn barred the defense from asking why Synagro and the Carlyle Group were not charged in the RICO indictment.

Whatever you do, do not tell anyone the reason why the defense was barred from asking why Synagro and the Carlyle Group was not charged in the RICO indictment was because there was an ongoing investigation into other matters of interest.  Sssshhhh.......

Wright was an FBI informant against Conyers’ aide Sam Riddle during the probe. Many officials involved in the probe acted as informants rather than being charged as well.

Synagro was purchased by the insidious Carlyle Group in 2007, one of the largest private equity and alternative investment firms in the world which has extensive ties to the global defense industry.

The Carlyle Group’s board has included politicians from around the world, including former U.S. Presidents George H. W Bush and George W. Bush, and their former cabinet members U.S. Secretary of State James Baker III, and U.S. Secretary of Defense Frank Carlucci, also former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Arthur Levitt, who served under Pres. Bill Clinton.

It is connected to the Bin Laden family and to former Phillippines dictator Fidel Ramos, among numerous others. Synagro went bankrupt in 2013 and was sold.

The KWA’s current major contractors include the omnipresent L D’Agostini & Sons, based in Macomb, at a starting cost $24.6 million for the pipeline and $11.06 million for the intake station on Lake Huron. D’Agostini earlier sued the DWSD because it was barred from further contracting with the department after its involvement in the RICO indictment of Kilpatrick et. al. was exposed. D’Agostini previously did 70 percent of its business with the Department.

The Alabama-based American Cast Iron Pipe Company, which operates one of the largest ductile iron pipe casting plants in the world, has a contract with a starting cost of $84.1 million, while the Flint-based E & L Construction’s contract for the Imlay City pump station has a starting cost of $11.78 million. All this work duplicates DWSD pipelines and intake and pumping stations already servicing the area.

Pipe for Karegnondi Water Authority is hoisted into Lake Huron.

Recently, Channel 2 reporter Charlie LeDuff interviewed Jeff Wright in a story focusing on the profits made by contractors on the Flint water switch. They included Kurtz campaign contributors AECOM, with $18 billion in revenues in 2015, and the engineering firm hired to ensure that the switch to Flint River water would be safe, LAN (Lockwood, Andrews and Norman).

LeDuff reports that firm’s original contract began at $140,000 and ballooned later to $4 million, despite the fact that it did NOTHING to ensure the safety of the city’s water.

(VOD takes issue with LeDuff’s initial contention that Flint ratepayers decided to opt for the KWA because they were paying “outrageous” rates to Detroit. That is a claim that has been made by DWSD’s wholesale customers in six counties for decades, never with an addendum that the communities involved add their own surcharges to the wholesale rates. LeDuff also appears to conclude at the end that water flowing through Flint’s pipes now from DWSD is safe, which it will not be until complete replacement of the corroded infrastructure. )

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Cocktails & Popcorn: Judiciary & Oversight Preparatory Reading Material For A Hot Summer

Detroit preparatory reading material for a hot summer event

I believe Judiciary & Oversight are preparing for a hot summer.

So, if you are in need of brushing up, now, or sometime in the future, below, I have provided a series of links on a few of the summer events....just a few, because the ball is in the U.S. Attorney's Court and I am just siting here, with Cocktails & Popcorn, patiently awaiting for the volley.

You can always generate your own reading refresher list of links by using the search function on the blog "go find it".

My blog is a blockchain model, or rather in its the initial stages.

It is going to be a hot summer in Detroit.

Enjoy.

Watergate2: Just a Friendly Brush Up For The Upcoming Congressional Hearings

Senate Judiciary Chairmen Grassley, Graham; Ranking Members Feinstein, Whitehouse Ask John Podesta & DNC Tom Perez: "Why Does Perkins Coie Suck?"

House Oversight Investigation Is Coming To Michigan, Again

Another Congressional Staffer To Be Grilled By Judiciary & Oversight 

A Few Plausible Explanations Why Trey Gowdy Resigned From Ethics

Cummings and Nadler Seek Subpoenas for Trump Campaign Consultants Refusing to Deny Foreign Contacts During Election

CONYERS: Statement On Oversight Of The U.S. Department Of Justice Hearing With Attorney General Jeff Sessions

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder Response To Congress On Flint Water Testimony 10-12-17

Cummings & Gowdy Got A Flat Out "No" From Snyder On His Fraudulent Flint Testimony

Public Service Has An Ethics Committee Obligation To Clean Up The Messes It Makes

Justice Dept. IG, key FBI officials slated for Capitol Hill appearances as Clinton email report looms

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz is slated to testify before congressional committees next month, presumably after the release of his long-awaited report on the FBI's Hillary Clinton investigation during the 2016 presidential campaign, Fox News has learned.

Both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Oversight Committee are preparing to have Horowitz appear before them in early June, according to a congressional source.

On Tuesday, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said his committee would hold a hearing titled “Examining the Inspector General’s First Report on Justice Department Decisions Regarding the 2016 Presidential Election” on June 5.

In June, House Republicans also plan to interview three FBI officials linked to the agency’s handling of the Clinton email probe, part of an ongoing joint investigation by the House Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform committees

To be interviewed are: Bill Priestap, assistant director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division; Michael Steinbach, former head of the agency’s national security division; and Steinbach’s predecessor, John Giacalone.

DOJ IG COMPLETES LONG-AWAITED REVIEW OF HILLARY CLINTON PROBE

The Priestap, Steinbach and Giacalone interviews were first reported last week by The Hill.

Priestap, who oversaw both the Clinton email and Russia probes, is scheduled for a closed-door hearing on June 5. Priestap was the boss of FBI official Peter Strzok, whose anti-Trump texts with a fellow agency employee have been probed by congressional investigators.

Priestap's appearance comes as messages between Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page are drawing fresh scrutiny because they indicate Priestap went to London two weeks before the FBI officially opened its investigation into Russia meddling in the election. A congressional source questioned to Fox News whether the trip was connected.

In a text on May 4, 2016, Strzok referenced how “Bill” is getting “back from London next week."

For more than a year, Horowitz has been reviewing FBI and DOJ actions related to the  investigation of Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state under President Barack Obama.

Earlier this month, Horowitz announced that a draft report of his Clinton investigation review had been completed. He did not say when the results of the review would be officially released to the FBI, the DOJ and congressional committees.

Horowitz’s investigation has looked at a variety of allegations, including whether it was improper for former FBI Director James Comey to make a public announcement about not recommending prosecution concerning the Clinton email arrangement.

Top Secret FISA Court Order - President Obama Spying on Political Enemies by The Conservative Treehouse on Scribd

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

CONYERS Retired, Resigned Or Is It A Federal Investigation?: Michael Gilmore Wants A Special Election

Michael Gilmore is launching his congressional campaign for the Michgian 13th Congressional  District with a bang.

He is going to do the dramatic Hollywood style ceremonial "filing of the complaint" on the courthouse steps.

I am excited to see the video and what he is going to do with it for his campaign, because you know he is going to use the federal litigation for his campaign.

Well, the days of the political drama have been, oh, let us just say, have been placed under the lens of the cyber community, so all eyes shall be watching this case, in real time.

To begin, let us exam the reason why Michael is filing this lawsuit.

On second thought, that would be a waste of time so I am just going to identify his motivation to file the lawsuit in the title of the article, below.

He is filing to launch his campaign, and not for the greater good of society.

I say this because a congressional seat does not belong to a man nor is it an American title of nobility; it belongs to all people of the 13th Congressional District of Michigan, not just a targeted population of Detroit.

Can one use federal resources, in this case, the federal court, for a political campaign, particularly if the suit of law is for the seat you are attempting to sway to public to win?

This is a questionable way to kick off a political campaign.

This is also the part that where I defenestrate my reservations and remain consistent.

There is a formal process for a Member of Congress to resign and it is my belief that process was executed in a fraudulent manner.

The following is copy of the Congressional Letter of "retirement" of John Conyers, Jr. which was found published with media outlets.

Congressional Retirement Letter of U.S. Representative John Conyers, Jr., signed December 5, 2017 by Beverly Tran on Scribd

That does not look like his signature to me and I should know.

How could he sign a letter dated December 5, 2017 and enter it into public record when it was reported that he was hospitalized, medically incapacitated, November 30, 2017 in Detroit?

Hmmmmm....

According to media reports, Conyers' "retirement" was lobbied by a non-governmental, unlicensed attorney, and other Members of Congress, despite the fact that Arnold Reed was retained to represent Mr. Conyers.

Hmmmmm....

Date of signature: December 5, 2017

Date of signature: July 7, 2007

Date of signature: November 18, 2017

Date of signature: December 16, 2016

Date of signature: January 22, 2015

Only one of these signatures from United States Congressional Letters, is the real signature of John Conyers, Jr.

Can you guess which one is his?

The reason why I question the validity of the "retirement" letter signature, is not from the poorly written congressional letter of "retirement", but from the eleventh grade written so-called legacy letter read, on the Floor of the House, by U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, into the congressional record.

Mother Superior Augustine would have had a heart attack if she bared witness to the reading of this letter with just about every sentence commencing with first person pronoun, "I", giving me every indication that the Gentlelady Jackson Lee was in rather a pressurized bind by a few unsavory characters.

See, I know what Nancy Pelosi did last summer, and the summer before that, and so on, with Bitch Boy, which is another reason why I speculate the legality of the process, because Nancy has been terribly mean to my Sweetie for quite some time.

I challenge the veracity of Mr. Conyers' voting record and policy positions because people have been forging his signature on congressional letters, for a long time, which is why I did this.

Original signature of John Conyers, Jr.

I was quite shocked when I found out how much individuals were getting for his forged signatures on congressional letters.

Quintessentially, if there are relevent questions raised surrounding the legitimacy of the "retiring" of Mr. Conyers, perhaps, this is the real reason why there will be no special election, as there are multiple, ongoing federal investigations.

Maybe Michael could attempt to validate his racist theories in discovery, or he could just do a basic internet search.

It is just a jurisdictional issue that would immediately halt any state "retirement" process.

But, hey, what do I know?

Candidate says he'll sue Gov. Snyder to move up election for Conyers' seat

A candidate for the U.S. House seat vacated by former U.S. Rep John Conyers filed a lawsuit against Gov. Rick Snyder demanding that the election be moved up to an earlier date.

On Dec. 8, Gov. Snyder had announced that Conyers' congressional seat would remain empty until the regularly scheduled November election, leaving it vacant for nearly a year. What's more, political observers have pointed out that since the post will be listed twice — once in the August primary and again in the November general election ballots — the office could be held by two different people before January is out.

In short, the move would leave Detroiters without effective representation for 11 months — and perhaps even longer.

Michael Gilmore

As the Associated Press noted earlier this month judging by a review of roughly 100 vacancies and successors listed on the House website for the last 20 years, it is unusual for a congressional district to stay vacant for so long. Eleven months would be the longest time a House seat stayed empty during that period.

Gov. Snyder had said his decision would both save money and give candidates ample time to campaign. But given his role in establishing Emergency Management in Michigan, this situation calls another lawsuit to mind — namely one filed by the Detroit Branch of the NAACP against Gov. Snyder that Emergency Management has violated the voting rights of the state's African Americans, effectively stripping representation away from residents in majority-minority cities and school districts. By some estimates, more than half of the state's blacks had their representatives overruled by Snyder-appointed viceroys.

None of this is lost on candidate Michael Gilmore, who has announced his intention to sue the governor over the scheduling of this election:

"Gov. Snyder continues to treat residents of urban areas across the state as second-class citizens and is violating a laundry list of constitutional laws in doing so," Gilmore said in a statement released today. "By holding this congressional seat vacant for 11 months, he is denying minority residents of the 13th Congressional District the right to vote and the right to be represented in Congress. This is yet another attempt to further silence the voice of minorities in the state and disregard their views. From putting emergency managers only in minority school districts and city halls to signing off on the Flint water crisis for fiscal benefit, Gov. Snyder has historically cited cost-saving measures as his reason for denying civil and human rights to urban areas. Here, he is once again attempting to balance the state's budget on the backs of Black people, in the name of 'cost savings.'"

Gilmore says he will discuss his lawsuit against Gov. Snyder at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018, at the Fort Street entrance of the Theodore Levin United States Courthouse, Detroit.



One man hoping to win an empty congressional seat is suing the governor for waiting until November to fill the seat. Most residents have a representative in Congress until the next election.

However, because Congressman John Conyers resigned in 2017, and Gov. Rick Snyder set an election to fill his seat starting in November, residents of the 13th congressional district will not have a representative in Congress for 11 months in 2018.

"Governor Snyder continues to treat residents of urban areas across the street as second class citizens," Michael Gilmore said. Governor Snyder has historically cited cost saving measures as his reason for denying civil rights and human rights to urban areas," he said.

The governor does believe setting the date for the special election in August and November on the same dates as the regular general election will save local taxpayers up to $2 million.

"Divide $2 million by the 658,000 residents, that totals roughly $3 per person," he said.

Gilmore calls this systemic discrimination in the 13th congressional district, which he says is composed of over 62 percent minority residents.

"He is once again attempting to balance the state's budgets on the backs of black people in the name of cost savings," he said.

Gilmore is also a candidate for this seat. Might his lawsuit be self-serving?

"I don't believe this is self-serving, in fact I'm actually quite ashamed that I'm the only one talking about it," he said. "Donald Trump has already begun to illuminate important social programs that we need in this area, and no one else is talking about it?"

Gilmore says that typically vacancies are filled within a few months and he has asked the federal court to make a quick ruling hopefully by the end of February. There's been no formal response from the governor's office. 

http://www.fox2detroit.com/news/local-news/candidate-for-conyers-seat-suing-governor-for-waiting-to-fill-vacancy

UPDATE: I am impressed with the finess of Charlie Langton.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

On World Water Day, Conyers Reintroduces Bill To Address Nation's Water Infrastructure Crisis

Washington, D.C. — Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13) today reintroduced the Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity and Reliability(WATER) Act. This legislation would provide nearly $35 billion annually to modernize U.S. water infrastructure. The WATER Act funds infrastructure projects by closing a loophole on offshore corporate profits. The WATER Act would make these profits subject to U.S. tax in the year they are generated and ensure that all funds would go to publicly-owned water systems, rather than for-profit providers.

Dean of the U.S.House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

“Today, we mark World Water Day 2017—where we focus on how important this fundamental resource is to life itself. Around the world, people struggle with access to safe, affordable water—sadly America is no different. Thousands of communities depend on water pipes that are a century old, unsafe, and need to be replaced,” Congressman Conyers said. “That is why I’m introducing the WATER Act of 2017, which funds a massive investment in our public water utilities and creates thousands of jobs in every community. It would help places like Flint, where lead has made the water undrinkable—or Detroit, where outdated infrastructure makes water unaffordable. In the richest country in the world—safe, affordable water in every home is a basic human right.  The WATER Act would make that principle a reality for every American.”

More than 11,200 community water systems have lead service lines, some of which provide water to schools. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates roughly $697 billion is needed to upgrade our drinking water and wastewater systems over the next 20 years.  Without adequate federal support, communities often have to compensate for the funding gap by raising service rates, which some households cannot afford, leading some—including thousands of Detroiters—to be cut off from water and sewer service. Current failing service lines pose a danger to the environment, and wastewater overflows threaten public health. Congressman Conyers introduced the WATER Act to help ensure access to safe, clean, affordable water service. The bill reintroduction comes a day after reports indicated that nearly 380,000 Michigan residents get their water from systems that would fail to meet lead-safety standards proposed by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder.

The WATER Act would allow states to issue grants to replace lead service lines and would establish a School Drinking Water Improvement Grant program to provide funding to public primary and secondary schools that wish to test, repair, replace or install the infrastructure necessary for drinking water foundations or bottle filling stations. Additionally, the WATER Act creates a new grant program to help households install, repair, replace and upgrade septic tanks and drainage fields. The legislation also amends the existing Tribal grant program to increase the amount of assistance from 1.5 percent of Drinking Water SRF funds to 3 percent.

The legislation is cosponsored by Reps. Cheri Bustos (IL-17), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Keith Ellison (MN-05), Dwight Evans (PA-02), Tulsi Gabbard (HI-02), Raúl Grijalva (AZ-03), Jared Huffman (CA-02), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Hank Johnson (GA-04), Brenda Lawrence (MI-14), Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM-01), Betty McCollum (MN-04), James McGovern (MA-02), Gwen Moore (WI-04), Jerrold Nadler (NY-10), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Peter Welch (VT-At Large). It is endorsed by over 60 labor unions, national and grassroots organizations, including:  Food & Water Watch, Public Citizen, AFSCME, UAW, National Nurses United, 9to5, National Association of Working Women, Alliance for Democracy, Center for Biological Diversity, Corporate Accountability International, Hip Hop Caucus, Michigan Unitarian Universalist Social Justice Network, United Church of Christ, Detroit Metropolitan Association Social Justice Mission Team, Michigan United, Water You Fighting For, We the People of Detroit.

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Michigan Congressional Democrats Call On DOJ To Review Decision To Block Flint From Suing The State

Michigan – U.S. House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13) and Congressman Dan Kildee (MI-05) today led a letter signed by every Democratic House member of Michigan’s congressional delegation, calling for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to review the State of Michigan’s actions to block the City of Flint from suing the State in connection with the Flint Water Crisis.

As stated in the letter, in March 2016, the City of Flint filed a notice of intent to sue the State. Just a week later, the Governor-appointed Receivership Transition Advisory Board (RTAB) issued a recommendation requiring that it approve the initiation of any litigation by Flint, which was approved by the state treasurer.  The letter raises concerns about the lawfulness of Michigan’s actions and requests the Department of Justice to review whether denying the City of Flint the ability to seek legal redress from the State implicates constitutional due process, equal protection and associated environmental justice issues for the people of Flint.

In their letter, the Members wrote, “First, we are concerned that the state-appointed RTAB’s potentially unauthorized action to restrain Flint’s authority to initiate litigation and its apparent failure to adequately notify the City of the import of its actions may have deprived the City of Flint and its residents of constitutionally protected due process…Given the fact that Flint is a majority African American municipality, the denial of the City’s right to obtain judicial redress may therefore implicate the Equal Protection Clause…Third, we are concerned that the actions of the State may have violated principles of environmental justice, which are premised on notions of Equal Protection.”

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

 “Much remains to be done in the pursuit of justice for Flint residents and to ensure no other community suffers from the actions of unaccountable political appointees that they did not elect,” said Congressman Conyers. “The people of Flint must have their rightfully deserved access to legal redress, due process, equal protection under the law and associated environmental justice. I urge DOJ to thoroughly review actions by Governor Snyder and the Michigan Receivership Transition Advisory Board against the people of Flint. I will continue to monitor the situation in Flint in the months and years ahead.”

“The state of Michigan should focus on bringing clean drinking water to the people of Flint, not maneuvering to prevent them from accessing the judicial system,” said Congressman Kildee. “Our letter asks the Department of Justice to investigate the constitutional and environmental justice issues implicated by the State’s decision to effectively prevent the city of Flint from suing the state. Quite simply, this is wrong.”

The letter to DOJ was signed by Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13), Congressman Dan Kildee (MI-05), Congressman Sandy Levin (MI-09), Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (MI-12) and Congresswoman Brenda Lawrence (MI-14).

In March, Congressman Conyers introduced H.R. 4754, the Emergency Financial Manager Reform Act of 2016, to address unchecked decision-making powers that appointed emergency financial managers have in financially distressed cities which cause situations like the Flint Water Crisis.

Democratic Michigan Congressional Delegation Letter to DOJ To Review Decision To Block Flint From Suing The... by Beverly Tran on Scribd

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CONYERS: Attorney General Schuette's Lawsuit Wont't Undo the Damage Flint Has Suffered

Washington, D.C. – Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13) released the following statement on the lawsuit filed by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette:

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

“While  Schuette’s lawsuit may represent some measure of accountability for those who failed to exercise due care in carrying out Governor Snyder’s takeover of the Flint water system, it will do nothing to undo the damage that Flint’s citizens have already suffered and continue to suffer each day.  If Mr. Schuette dedicated his resources to environmental protection instead of using them to sue the Environmental Protection Agency to allow increased mercury pollution for special interests in Michigan, Flint’s families would not be struggling with the anguish and uncertainty they presently face.

“The simple fact is that no matter how many people are prosecuted or sued by Attorney General Schuette, it will not undo the damage Flint has suffered. Unfortunately, it seems that in Michigan, there are two water quality standards: the one that wealthy communities who supported Governor Snyder receive, and the one forced upon minority, low-income communities who are politically unimportant to our Republican-controlled state government.

“If the facts bear out that these two companies used an insufficient level of care, then they should absolutely be held accountable and pay a price for their actions.  Sadly, it seems like Governor Snyder and Attorney General Schuette have no interest in holding themselves to that same standard of which they are now—finally—holding to others.  In one important respect, the lawsuits change nothing, the people of the State of Michigan are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to attorneys to protect those largely at fault. 

“Until Flint’s water is fully safe, its children are made whole, and we see consequences for those who stripped Flint’s citizens of their political and civil rights to protect themselves, there will be neither justice nor resolution for the people of Flint.”

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