Stop the Elimination of US “Voting Rights Act!” – – A No Struggle, No Development Production! By KennySnod * *
Published on Mar 1, 2013
Stop the Elimination of US “Voting Rights Act!” — Rev. Al, Sharpton, President of National Action Network (NAN), Rev. Charles Williams II and Sr., members of Detroit chapter of NAN, The NAACP, S.E.I.U., Dr. Martin Luther King III , and many other groups came to Washington, D.C., February 27, 2013to support and challenge the hearing of the oral arguments on Shelby County, AL v. Holder case which challenges The Voting Rights Act. The conservative right wing is trying to eliminate the right to vote act from the United States Constitution. About 450 to 500 people demonstrated. – –
A No Struggle, No Development Production! By Kenny Snodgrass, Activist, Photographer, Videographer, Author of 1} From Victimization To Empowerment… www.trafford.com/07-0913 eBook available at www.ebookstore.sony.com 2} The World As I’ve Seen It! My Greatest Experience! {Photo Book} YouTube: I have over 375 Video’s, over 128,612 hits averaging 4,000 a month on my YouTube channel @ www.YouTube.com/KennySnod
Students in Durham County, South Carolina fought to affirm the right to vote during the civil rights movement. Now voting rights for Blacks are being challenged across the country.
City can collect $800 million owed by businesses, says Crittendon
From: Committee to Elect Krystal A. Crittendon
February 25, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Phillip Brown, 313 717 5077
Detroit Mayoral Candidate Krystal Crittendon released this statement today in response to the Governor-appointed Financial Review Team’s release of findings after its 30-day review:
“The Financial Review Team’s (FRT) findings in their report concerning the City of Detroit’s financial status should come as no surprise to anyone. The bottom line: the Report provides no justification for the appointment of an emergency financial manager, especially when it makes no mention of $800 million in accounts receivable owed to the City as confirmed by State Treasurer Andy Dillon.
Andrew Daniels-El demands city officials comply with City Charter during rally Jan. 28, 2009.
The FRT had already found the City to be in severe financial distress in 2012. The specific findings contained in the report regarding whether the City was in ‘severe financial distress,’ whether the City ‘had a plan in place to address the financial distress,’ and whether the City had a likelihood of fixing its financial problems, are findings which are required to be made and contained in a financial report to the Governor by an FRT empaneled under PA 72. No one reading the report should be shocked that these findings are included.
“The FRT criticizes the City’s Charter as containing ‘restrictions and structural details that make it extremely difficult for City officials to restructure the City’s operations in any meaningful manner.’ It must be noted that the City’s Charter was required to be, and was, actually, approved by the State of Michigan before it was placed on the ballot to be voted on by Detroit voters. It is unclear as to whether this state-appointed advisory board is aware that the State signed off on the Charter before it was adopted by the residents of Detroit.
“The report also criticizes the fact that the 36th District Court has allegedly failed to collect $279.3 million in outstanding accounts receivables, of which approximately $100.9 million is owed to the City of Detroit. The report suggests that the failure to collect is somehow a failure by City of Detroit government. What the FRT apparently fails to realize is that 36th District Court operations are NOT under the control of City of Detroit government; the City is simply the Court’s funding source. The Court operations are not within the control or authority of the Mayor or the Detroit City Council. Moreover, to the extent that the report suggests that the City somehow failed to collect outstanding revenues, then so did the State of Michigan, as the report alleges that $76 million is owed to the State by 36th District Court.
Al Garrett, Pres. AFSCME Co. 25, testifies against Consent Agreement April 2, 2012, saying unions already presented package to save Detroit money. To his right are Co. 25 rep. Mel Brabson and APTE Pres. Dempsey Addison.
“The report further criticizes the City for failing to have a satisfactory plan to resolve its financial problem, as required by the Emergency Financial Manager Act. This finding is patently incorrect. The City negotiated over $150 million dollars in cost savings with the City’s labor unions in December of 2011. These savings were verified by the accounting firm the State forced the City of Detroit to retain to assist in deficit reduction measures. After the contracts were negotiated, the Governor then advised the Mayor NOT to submit these contracts to the City Council for approval. Had these contracts been approved in January of 2012, the City would have realized $150 million dollars in costs savings in 2012. The FRT’s criticism of the City regarding whether the City has a plan in place to address its financial problems and the slow progress the City has made in implementing cost-saving measures is, therefore, the fault of the State, and not the City.
Detroit Project Management Director Kriss Andrews and Mayor Dave Bing at press conference Dec. 7, 2012. Andrews, appointed under the consent agreement, can override decisions of Mayor and City Council.
“In addition, according to State Treasurer Andy Dillon, $800 million is owed to the City in accounts receivable. However, according to the City Charter, the Mayor must authorize the City Corporation Counsel to seek recovery of these dollars.
“The FRT criticized the City for failing to have a plan to address the cash crisis, or the City’s $13.6 billion in long-term liabilities. The FRT report contains a table of figures that supposedly comprise the City’s long term liabilities. The table includes lines for ‘Non-General Obligation(s),’ ‘Other Post Employment Benefits Unfunded Actuarial Liabili(ties)’ and ‘Other.’ These three categories total just under $12 billion.
City of Detroit Water Board Building.
“We know these are not ‘General Obligations, or ‘General Retirement System Unfunded Actuarial Accrued Liabilities’, or ‘Police and Fire Retirement System Liabilities’, because those figures are found on other lines in the table. If they are obligations of the Water Department, they are funded by Water Department revenues, which are not part of the City’s general revenues, nor are they debts of the City. Rather they would be debts of the Water Board, which Federal District Court Judge Cox has declared to be an entity separate and distinct from the City.
“This finding is problematic for several significant reasons. First, the long-term liabilities referenced in the report include debt which is not attributable to the general fund. Less than $2 billion is general fund debt; the rest is attributable to “other” sources, such as DWSD bond debt which is secured. Second, the State had to, and did, approve of the bond transactions which the state-appointed FRT now criticizes. Troubling is the fact that the now the State will not give the City all of the money it borrowed—$50 million is being withheld from the City in escrow. Even more troubling is the fact that the City cannot utilize the money it has received to help pay down any debt, as the State has required the City to spend millions of dollars on experts selected by the State to tell us what we already know: the City of Detroit is experiencing financial difficulty. This is actually what the FAB was appointed to tell us
Protesters denounce Gov. Snyder during Benton Harbor/St. Joseph Blossomtime Parage last year.
“Finally, the State made it necessary for the City to have to borrow money in the first place. The State eliminated revenue sharing for all Michigan cities, causing all cities, not just Detroit, to experience financial distress. Moreover, the State used Federal stimulus money to bail itself out, and now enjoys a billion and a half dollar surplus, while cities across the State are suffering.
“I urge the Governor to take all of these factors into consideration as he weighs his decision regarding the appointment of an emergency financial manager for Detroit.”
Free Detroit No Consent protest outside Snyder appearance at MOT Nov. 1, 2012.
By Joyce Moore
Former City Charter Commissioner
March 3, 2013
Joyce Moore
I am a concerned resident, Tax Payer in the City of Detroit and a Citizen of the United States. I am writing this because I can according to my unalienable rights. I don’t understand how it is that when the people voted not to have an emergency financial manager (EFM) in the City of Detroit, Governor Synder decides to ignore the will of the people.
In a recent article he indicated that he has an emergency financial manager as a candidate in mind. He also indicates in the article that the person would be in charge for 18 months. Isn’t that just about the time when the governor is up for election and Governor Snyder leaving office? What damage, what back-room commitments has he made and has to keep and most of all what has he stolen from the people in the City of Detroit? If the state owes the City millions, then why aren’t they paying? That would eliminate some of the debt burden!
Gov. Snyder after the repeal of PA 4.
We need to take a closer look at Snyder, what are his real plans and motives and what is he really in office to do? He says that he will continue to take a salary of $1.00 (one dollar) as governor but where will he get his money knowing that as a CEO he made close to two (2) million dollars a year? There needs to be a law that states that if you are elected to a public office then that is the only salary you are entitled to during your term as a public servant. This is clearly a conflict of interest.
If he implements his plan for an Emergency Financial Manager for the City of Detroit, this would be an abusive act of power as Governor of the State of Michigan. Further, the Tax Payers of the City of Detroit don’t need to continue to pay the elected officials $100,000.00 (one hundred thousand dollar) salaries, specifically; council members, mayor and city clerk as their authority would be relinquished. They are not performing the job as elected to do, “by the people and for the people.”
Attacks City Charter, unions, suits filed against PA 4
Malcolm X had the answer for Black majority cities like Harlem and Detroit
By Diane Bukowski
Analysis
February 26, 2013
Slavemaster Rick Snyder goes after Michigan’s majority-Black cities.
DETROIT – The Detroit Financial Review Team, whose members are described in a VOD article published yesterday, issued a scathing report Feb. 19, alleging a mammoth financial hurricane is descending on the city. They called for the appointment of an emergency financial manager. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has said he will decide the matter this week, although he has 30 days.
The announcement was covered across the globe. Detroit is the world’s largest majority-Black city outside of Africa, and also has the highest poverty rate of any major U.S. city.
During a press conference Feb. 19, State Treasurer Andy Dillon, who led the team, said it had unanimously found “there’s a financial emergency in the city, with no plan in place to correct the situation.”
State Treasurer Andy Dillon in wings to supervise Detroit’s first Financial Advisory Board meeting.
“The city has had deficits every year since 2005, masking those with long term borrowing,” Dillon said. “Under government accounting rules, long-term borrowings are deemed revenue. If this had not been done, the city’s accumulated deficit would have grown from $327 million to $937 million. Its long-term liabilities are approaching $14 billion.”
The major goal of a series of “emergency manager” acts has been to ensure that every penny of the debt cities across the country have been forced into by Wall Street before and after the global economic meltdown of 2008 gets paid. Many activists in the city have demanded a simple solution to this debt problem: declare a moratorium on Detroit’s debt, action which former Detroit Mayor Frank Murphy campaigned for during the Great Depression of the 1930’s.
The Financial Review Team “report” itself says, “The City has substantial long-term debt. As of June 30, 2012, such debt, exclusive of unfunded actuarial accrued pension liabilities and other post-employment benefits, exceeded $8.6 billion. However, upon inclusion of those other obligations, the City’s total long-term debt was $13.6 billion. (Total long-term debt is $14.99 billion depending upon whether $1.4 billion in pension system assets is, or is not, factored in the unfunded actuarial accrued liabilities.)”
Linda Willis takes part in demonstration against banks in downtown Detroit May 9, 2012.
So Dillon included in his remarks Detroit’s “unfunded actuarial accrued pension liabilities and other post-employment benefits.” As noted in VOD’s article, “Detroit Financial Review Team Represents Global Banksters,” the state of Michigan itself does not declare those items in its annual statements, leading the Institute for Truth in Accounting to admonish Michigan as well as 45 other states for deceptive accounting practices.
Dillon said the Mayor and City Council face “serious hurdles” in addressing this pre-eminent problem of paying off the banks.
Pontiac water pump station.
“These include the governance structure of the city, and impediments from the City Charter,” he said. “While we all know there is a financial strain on the city, there’s also not an ability or mechanism in place for city to address the finding of an emergency. . . For the past couple of hours, we’ve been reaching out to the Mayor, City Council members, and Lansing legislators to let them know our findings. Our relationship doesn’t have to be adversarial. Look at Pontiac and other cities [under EFM’s], we have partnerships with the managers there.”
State “partnerships” with emergency managers in Pontiac, Flint, Benton Harbor and elsewhere, all majority-Black cities, have in fact resulted in the sale of many of those cities’ major assets, in addition to lay-offs and service cutbacks, to pay off the banks.
Mayor Dave Bing earlier said he and Gov. Rick Snyder are “joined at the hip.”
Detroit Mayor Dave Bing issued a statement Feb. 20 subtly agreeing with Dillon’s allegations while saying the city does have a plan in place.
“To the contrary, my administration has worked diligently to develop and implement a restructuring plan for the City of Detroit,” Bing said. “In fact, our plan was reviewed and accepted by all stakeholders, including the State and the Financial Advisory Board [FAB]. We have the plan, but we face significant challenges executing it in a timely manner. We are hindered by several factors, including the City Charter, labor agreements, litigation, governmental structure, and a scarcity of financial and human resources. Further exploration of ways to mitigate these barriers for more timely implementation of my initiatives should be examined.”
The attack on the voter-approved Detroit City Charter, unions, and lawsuits filed by various entities against PA 4 and the consent agreement, particularly that filed by former Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon, is virtually a proto-fascist assault.
The state’s demands come after Bing and the City Council majority have essentially bent over and let down their pants to comply with every state directive since a “Fiscal Stability [consent] Agreement” was reached April 4, 2012.
Thousands of city workers have been laid off, three federally-funded city departments have been shut down, and a Public Lighting Authority has been approved, which will result in the dismantlement of 40 percent of the city’s lighting infrastructure. Large swaths of city-owned land are being turned over to private corporations like Hantz Farms and Pulte Homes.
The last contractor just demolished a section of buildings on the city’s near east side, claiming it was out of the generosity of their hearts. But thousands of Detroiters who were driven out of their choice riverfront, working-class homes during the Graimark debacle know that it was Pulte Homes which developed those properties.
Kenneth Whipple at FAB meeting.
Costly contracts have been let to Miller Canfield, Ernst & Young, and Miller Buckfire (Stifel) at Dillon’s demand, notwithstanding the fact that Kenneth Whipple, who sits on both the Review Team and the FAB, sits on Miller Buckfire’s advisory board as well. The Financial Review Team report specifically does not include as “revenue” the $137 million state loan to Detroit, most of which has Dillon has withheld to get his wishes. After 10 months, $80 million is still outstanding.
Massive resistance by Detroiters at City Council meetings, including 600 who turned out for the Hantz Farms hearing, has met with brutal treatment by police who have physically ejected many from Council meetings at the direction of Council President Charles Pugh. Most recently, Keith Hines of Diamond II Productions was literally dragged out. Previously, Rev. Charles Williams Sr. was attacked by three cops, and former Detroit School Board member Marie Thornton was manhandled.
KEITH HINES: WILL DETROIT BOW TO CORPORATE COLONIALISM:
With l that in mind, let’s look at some of the history leading up to this latest assault on the MAJORITY-BLACK City of Detroit.
First of all, Michigan voters overwhelmingly repealed the emergency manager law, Public Act 4, on Nov. 6. PA 4 repealed the previous emergency financial manager law, Public Act 72.
The state constitution says clearly, “Whenever a statute, or any part thereof shall be repealed by a subsequent statute, such statute, or any part thereof, so repealed, shall not be revived by the repeal of such subsequent repealing statute.” .
However, the Michigan Supreme Court refused to hear Highland Park School Board member Robert Davis’ appeal of a lower court decision which declared PA 72 was reinstated with the repeal of PA4. (This despite the fact that Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Young cited the statute above during closing arguments on whether PA 4 should go on the ballot.)
Rev. Edward Pinkney of Benton Harbor is interviewed during protest against EM and Snyder May 7, 2011.
Now PA 72 includes a note, “THIS SECTION IS REPEALED BY ACT 436 OF 2012 EFFECTIVE MARCH 28, 2013,”eferring to the new EM law enacted by Snyder during the legislature’s lame duck session in December.
PA 72 spells out specific events which must take place to trigger a state financial review of a city’s finances. (Click on PA 72 conditions for review mcl-141-1212 to read all the circumstances.)
The Review Team identified Sections 12J and 12K as the violations in their final report, which is described as “supplemental” to the actual report, so far unseen.
Section 12J says, “The local government has violated the requirements of sections 17 to 20 of the uniform budgeting and accounting act, 1968 PA 2, MCL 141.437 to 141.440, and the state treasurer has forwarded a report of this violation to the attorney general.”
Michigan AG Bill Schuette
Noting this, VOD contacted Sara Wurfel of Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s office, Terry Stanton of Dillon’s office, and Joy Yearout of Attorney General Bill Schuette’s office to request a copy of that letter. So far, nothing has been produced.
Section 12K says, “The local government has failed to comply with the requirements of section 21 of the Glenn Steil state revenue sharing act of 1971, 1971 PA 140, MCL 141.921, for filing or instituting a deficit recovery plan.”
But the review team “report” says “On December 27, 2011, City officials filed an audit report that reflected a $196.6 million cumulative deficit in the General Fund, a $97.2 million cumulative deficit in the Transportation Fund, and a $17.1 million cumulative deficit in the Automobile Parking Fund. However, City officials did file, as legally required, an adequate or approved deficit elimination plan with the Department of Treasury.”
The 21-page “review” document begins with the statement, “This document is supplemental to our report of February 19, 2013, and is intended to constitute competent, material, and substantial evidence upon the whole record in support of the conclusion that a financial emergency exists within the City of Detroit.”
(VOD filed Freedom of Information Act requests for the ACTUAL review on Feb. 15, but so far, not surprisingly has heard nothing from the state within and since the five days they are given to respond under state law.)
Dillon said the FRT “poured” over Detroit’s finances.
The review team purports to have “poured” in depth over the city’s finances. However, most of the figures in the report are taken directly from city financial statements and audits. The team says they did this “pouring” during a series of meetings, for instance:
“On December 20, 2012, Review Team members Andy Dillon, Darrell Burks, Ronald E. Goldsberry, Frederick Headen, and Thomas H. McTavish conducted a series of meetings in the City of Detroit with Linda Bade, City Assessor; Charles Pugh, City Council President; Gary Brown, City Council President Pro Tem (by conference telephone); Kenneth V. Cockrel, Jr., Councilmember; Irvin Corley, Jr., Fiscal Analyst, Fiscal Analysis Division (City Council); Mary Anne Langan, Deputy Fiscal Analyst, Fiscal Analysis Division (City Council); Mark Lockridge, Deputy Audi-tor General; David Whitaker, Director, Research and Analysis Division (City Council); Jerry Pokorski, Financial Consultant; Jack Martin, Chief Financial Officer; William Andrews, Program Management Director; Cheryl Johnson, Finance Director and City Treasurer; Gaurav Malhotra and Daniel Jerneycic, of the certified public accounting firm Ernst & Young; Donald Austin, Fire Commissioner; Edsel Jenkins, Deputy Fire Commissioner; Chester Logan, Interim Police Chief; Charles Wilson, Chief of Staff; Todd Bettison, Commander, Communications Operations; Scott Hayes, Director, Technology Services Bureau; Tina Tolliver, Second Deputy Chief, Budget Operations; Patrick Aquart, Human Resources Director; and Lamont Satchel, Labor Relations Director; Dave Bing, Mayor; and Kirk Lewis, Deputy Mayor and Chief of Staff.”
FRT l to r Andy Dillon, Darrell Burks, Kenneth Whipple, Ron Goldsberry, Joseph McTavish.
WHEW! What a day! One wonders how thorough could any of those meetings have been, and why didn’t the Review Team meet with the other six members of the Detroit City Council? It appears likely that the meetings were conducted so the Review Team could give orders to the City officials involved.
Later, the following two series of meetings took place which included representatives of Miller Buckfire, which counts Review Team and FAB member KennethWhipple among its advisory board members. Whipple was even present in the Feb. 1 meeting.
Kenneth Buckfire at gala event, where much was likely “poured.”
“On January 16, 2013, Review Team members Andy Dillon (by conference telephone), Darrell Burks, Ronald E. Goldsberry, Frederick Headen, and Thomas McTavish (by conference telephone), met with William Andrews, Program Management Director; Jack Martin, Chief Financial Officer; David Brayshaw, of First Southwest Company; Lamont Satchel, Labor Relations Director; Suzanne Taranto, Milliman Company; Cheryl Johnson, Finance Director and City Treasurer; Donita Crumpler, Manager, Debt Management Division; Gaurav Malhotra, of the certified public accounting firm Ernst & Young; and Kenneth A. Buckfire, of Miller Buckfire and Company.
James Doak of Miller Buckfire
“On February 1, 2013, Review Team members Andy Dillon, Ronald E. Goldsberry, Frederick Headen, Thomas McTavish (by conference telephone), and Kenneth Whipple met with Lamont Satchel, Labor Relations Director; William Andrews, Program Management Director; Jan Anderson, Program Management Deputy Director; Jack Martin, Chief Financial Officer; Gaurav Malhotra, Daniel Jerneycic, and Juan Santambrogio, of the certified public accounting firm Ernst & Young, and James Doak, of Miller Buckfire and Company.
So much for impartiality and thoroughness. And from where did First Southwest pop up?
Bloomberg Business says, “First Southwest Company (FSC) is an investment banking and financial advisory firm. The firm provides private placement, underwriting of public offerings of debt or equity securities, mergers and acquisition, divesture, debt refinancing, and valuation advisory services. . . . FSC was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Dallas, Texas. It has more than 20 offices in United States. First Southwest Company operates as a subsidiary of PlainsCapital Bank.”
First Southwest is also a founding member of the Bond Dealers Association. Getting ready to issue some more debt and slurp up some huge interest rates, are we? Thought Detroit’s problem was that it already has too much debt.
“Headquartered in Dallas, PlainsCapital Corporation is one of the largest independent financial institutions in the U.S. with 330 locations in 42 states and over 3,700 employees,” says Wikipedia. But wait, other reports say Hilltop Holdings just acquired PlainsCapital.
So where’s the cowboy with the ten-gallon hat associated with this deal, riding in from Dallas, and what does he have to do with the interests of the people of Detroit? We’ll wait and see. It is more than evident that all these big fish gobbling up smaller fish are intent on gobbling up Detroit and its people as well, by any means necessary.
Let’s conclude by listening to Malcolm X’s version of “By Any Means Necessary,” given to the people of Harlem, another Black city like Detroit.
FRT members (l to r) Andy Dillon, Darrell Burks, Kenneth Whipple, Ron Goldsberry, Thomas McTavish
State fails long-term liability test it demands Detroit pass
Burks’ Pricewaterhousecoopers guilty of fraud across globe
Whipple on Miller-Buckfire board; co. hired to be Detroit’s investment banker, sell assets, refinance; parent co. Stifel charged in fraud cases
By Diane Bukowski
Feb. 24, 2013
VOD: This article examines the six DFRT members’ backgrounds; a second article will examine its report.
State Treasurer Andy Dillon looking frazzled at previous Financial Review Team meeting in March, 2012, during which the public shouted down its members. FRT meetings are now closed to the public.
DETROIT — Who created the City of Detroit’s alleged financial crisis? Members of Detroit’s “Financial Review Team,” which just sent its report to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, ignored the real culprits, and for good reason—they and their employers or previous employers are among those who devastated Detroit and the global economy.
“This review team spent two months pouring (sic) over the city’s finances, taking careful consideration of both long and short-term issues, including recent actions by the administration and City Council,” said State Treasurer Andy Dillon, a member of the Detroit Financial Review Team’s six-person panel, in an official release.
“While we appreciate the steps the city has taken over the past number of weeks, key reform measures have not occurred quickly enough, if at all. The team collectively believes the city needs assistance in making the difficult decisions necessary to achieve the significant reforms that are so crucial to the city’s long-term viability.” (Full release at Review Team Finds Financial Emergency in Detroit.)
Was Dillon downing dirty martinis as he “poured” over Detroit’s books?
Perhaps Dillon was “pouring” dirty martinis instead of “poring” over Detroit’s books. One thing is sure, however. Dillon, Michigan Auditor General Michael McTavish, and Budget Director Frederick Headen, who sit on the Review Team, held Detroit to far more rigorous accounting standards than those the state of Michigan meets.
The Institute for Truth in Accounting (IFTA) reported in 2012 that 46 states, including Michigan, use “outdated accounting policies to calculate state budgets and financial reports,” resulting in the failure to report “more than $900 billion of promised retirement benefits.”
The IFTA said, “They only focus on what is payable in the current year, so setting money aside to pay for future benefits is not required in the states’ budget planning. It notes $425 million is missing from Michigan’s debt statements. Wall Street ratings agencies recently gave the state glowing reports after meeting with Dillon and Gov. Rick Snyder.
But the Snyder-appointed Detroit Financial Review Team hammered at the city for exactly the same situation.
It reported, “City officials have projected that over the five-year period 2013 through 2017, expenditures for health-care benefits for active employees, healthcare benefits for retirees, pension benefits, principal and interest for pension certificates, and debt service, will total approximately $1.9 billion. Therefore, these long-term liabilities will pose an ongoing challenge to the City’s financial condition.” (Chart below is included in report.)
That said, let’s take a look at the six men sitting in allegedly “impartial” judgment on the City of Detroit. The list is in alphabetical order, since the story of Darrell Burks’ company is the lengthiest.
DARRELL BURKS of PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS (AIG AUDITOR)
PwC London HQ.
Darrell Burks is also a member of the “Financial Advisory Board” (FAB) appointed under the city’s Public Act 4 consent agreement. Never mind that PA 4 was repealed, the FAB has proceeded merrily on its way, recently ordering that Detroit’s unionized workers take more pay cuts.
Burks is currently a board member of the Greektown Casino along with Mike Duggan and Freman Hendrix, among others. He previously was a member of former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s “Turn-around Team,” which recommended downsizing of city government and privatization of services.
Burks’ employer, Pricewaterhousecoopers (PwC) headquartered in London, is the world’s largest professional services firm, with revenues of $31.5 billion in 2012. It has offices in 776 cities in 159 countries. But likely more numerous than the countries it occupies are its fraudulent schemes. Following are only a few of those cited in Wikipedia:
Protest against AIG bailout.
AIG collapse— Most glaringly, PwC was the auditor for the American International Group, Inc. (AIG), a U.S. based global insurance firm, which suffered a “liquidity crisis” in Sept, 2008 (i.e. collapsed). The AIG and Lehman Brothers’ collapses triggered the 2008 global economic meltdown. The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank and the U.S. Treasury (tax dollars, remember) bailed the company out to the tune of $182.5 BILLION, including a $60 billion credit line. The company continues to sell many subsidiaries and other assets to pay down loans received. PwC has paid a fine of $97.5 million so far to settle AIG-related lawsuits.
ChuoAoyama Suspension – In 2006, the Financial Services Agency (FSA) of Japan suspended PwC’s Japanese affiliate ChuoAoyama from providing some auditing services for two months, the first suspension ever imposed on a major accounting firm in Japan. The FSA linked ChuoAoyama to the collapse of cosmetics company Kanebo, claiming the PwC affiliate falsely reported $1.9 billion in Kanebo earnings over five years.
Tyco Exec Dennis Kozlowski
Tyco settlement — In July 2007, PwC paid $229 million to settle a class-action lawsuit brought by shareholders of Tyco International Ltd. over a multibillion-dollar accounting fraud. The chief executive and chief financial officer of Tyco were found guilty of looting $600 million from the company.
Satyam case –In January 2009 PwC was connected, along with the promoters of Satyam, an Indian IT firm, to a $1.5 billion fraud. PwC faces lawsuits in the U.S. as a result. Two of PwC’s partners in India were charged by India’s Central Bureau of Investigation.
Run on India’s Global Trust Bank
Global Trust Bank Ltd and DSQ Software — India’s accounting standards agency cited PwC partners for “professional negligence,” in the now-defunct Global Trust Bank Ltd. case of 2007. The Reserve Bank of India then banned PwC from auditing any financial company for over a year. PwC was also associated with an accounting scandal at DSQ Software in India. The country’s Small Investor Grievances Association (SIGA) has requested the Indian stock market regulator SEBI to ban PwC permanently and seize its assets in India, alleging more scandals.
Transneft Russia case – PwC was the auditor for Transneft, a company involved in the construction of the $13 billion ESPO (East Siberia-Pacific Ocean) pipeline. The Audit Chamber of the Russian Federation reported that over $4 billion was stolen and siphoned from the company during the project. PwC denied wrongdoing.
House of Lords inquiry in the UK –In 2011, a House of Lords inquiry criticized PwC for its failure to report risky business practices of its client Northern Rock, which the UK government bailed out during the financial crisis.
Anti-water privatization protest in Delhi, India.
JP Morgan Securities audit— In 2012, the Accountancy and Actuarial Discipline Board (AADB) of the UK fined PwC a record £1.4m ($2.2m) because the company neglected to report that JP Morgan failed to hold clients’ money separate from JP Morgan’s money.
World Bank Favoring PwC for Water Privatization in Delhi –The World Bank chose PwC to handle the privatization of Delhi, India’s water distribution system, despite the repeated failure of PwC’s bids. The privatization scheme collapsed after an investigation revealed that exorbitant salaries for administrators would increase the budget by 60 percent, and raise water taxes by nine times.
ANDY DILLON, STATE TREASURER, FORMER BUSINESSMAN
Dillon has been in charge of Public Act 4 takeovers since the Act’s initiation, and has continued them after the act’s repeal by reverting to PA 72. He has authorized the takeovers of Benton Harbor, the Detroit Public Schools, Ecorse, Flint, Highland Park Public Schools, Inkster and Pontiac, all but Ecorse majority-Black cities or school districts.
Rev. Edward Pinkney leads first protest against EM takeover of Benton Harbor.
He is an attorney who was president of DSC (Detroit Steel Co.) Ltd. until 1999. His company bought the closed McLouth Steel plant in Trenton in 1996 after an employee stock-ownership plan failed, leaving thousands jobless. DSC Ltd. never got the plant up and running. Current Wayne County Tax Records show the property owes $4, 219,201.19 in delinquent taxes. Although it has not paid for at least five years, it has never faced foreclosure.
Dillon also worked as the managing director of Wynnchurch Capital, vice president of GE Capital and as a financial analyst at WR Grace. The last is a chemical company allegedly involved in asbestos contamination of workers and residents of the entire towns of Libby, N.Y. and Troy, Montana., and Woburn and Acton Massachusetts. The book and film “A Cilvil Action,” were based on these cases.
Dillon, formerly Democratic Speaker of the House, went over to Snyder’s side after Democratic progressive candidate Virg Bernero, Mayor of Lansing, won the gubernatorial nomination. Bernero had advocated standing up to the state’s corporations and banks.
RONALD GOLDSBERRY
Demolition of Ford Wixom Assembly Plant.
Goldsberry currently works for Deloitte Consulting and lives in Bloomfield Hills, MI. Like fellow Review Team member Kenneth Whipple, Goldsberry spent the major part of his life working for Ford Motor Company, one of the Big Three automakers which devastated Detroit by moving its plants elsewhere and destroying the city’s main source of employment and tax base. Although Ford did not directly receive a bail-out from the U.S. government, it has admitted it profited from the $34 billion GM and Chrysler got in taxpayer-funded loans. UAW workers, however, say they have suffered from mass lay-offs, and drastic concessions in wages and benefits, retiree health care, and working conditions.
Goldsberry began work for Ford in 1983 after the company outbid his effort to buy his previous employer, Parker Chemical. Beginning as general manager of the Plastic Products division for Ford’s Automotive Components Group, he eventually ascended to global vice-president in 1997. He was a captain in the U.S. army and sits on the boards of the Rockefeller Foundation, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Central State University, and UNUM Corporation, an insurance company.
FREDERICK HEADEN
Headen has been director of the state Treasury’s local government services division since 1997. Headen has been appointed by Governors John Engler, Jennifer Granholm and now Rick Snyder to serve on at least 15 review teams. He has authorized the takeovers of Benton Harbor, Ecorse, Flint, Highland Park, Inkster, and Pontiac.
He formerly was legal counsel to the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, which frequently advocates privatization of public services. Its board members represent AT&T, Blue Cross, BorgWarner, Citizens Bank, CMS Energy, Comerica Bank,Compuware, Deloitte LLP, Detroit Economic Club, Dickinson Wright PLLC, DTE Energy, Dykema Gossett PLLC, Ernst & Young LLP (being sued for helping Lehman Brothers cook its books before its collapse); Hennessey Capital LLC, Hudson-Webber Foundation, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Kelly Services, Inc., Manoogian Foundation, Meritor, Inc. Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, PLLC, PNC Financial Services, Rockbridge Growth Equity, LLC, W. E. Upjohn Institute and Wells Fargo Bank .
THOMAS MCTAVISH, STATE AUDITOR GENERAL
McTavish has served as State Auditor General since 1989, when he was first appointed by the Michigan State Legislature. Previously, the position was elected. Dillon and State Senator Michael Bishop (R), wrote recommendation letters for him, saying he helped build the OAG into “one of the country’s most effective and highly regarded state audit departments.” He has focused on producing more audit reports of performance than of financial operations. He is a former president of the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers.
The Institute for Truth in Accounting rates Miichigan “Timely” in filing the state’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), but does not consider the state’s CAFRs, and those of the other states, to be accurate representations of the state’s financial condition because the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) basis does not include significant liabilities for the pension plans and for other post employment benefits, such as health care.
KENNETH WHIPPLE
Whipple is listed here last, but he is by far not the least influential of the DFRT team members. He is vice-chair of the city’s “Financial Advisory Board,” whose continued existence is legally questionable. He is listed as CEO of Korn/Ferry International, a global executive search corporation. But he is also CEO and director of Ford Holdings, LLC, which has approximately $1 billion in revenues annually. He was previously chairman and CEO of CMS Energy.
Significantly, he also sits on the advisory board for the New York-based Miller, Buckfire and Co, recently taken over by St. Louis Missouri-based Stifel Financial. As Miller Buckfire, the company was awarded a $1.8 million “investment banker’ contract with the city of Detroit in January as part of the Bing/Snyder “Milestone Agreement. (Conflict of interest, anyone?)
Executives of Stifel Financial, which bought out Miller Buckfire.
“Miller Buckfire will act as the City’s investment banker and will provide financial advisory services, including possible strategic asset sales and related refinancing actions,” City Council Fiscal Analyst Irvin Corley said in a report.
As VOD earlier reported, Stifel manages $91 billion in assets world-wide and has been gobbling up dozens of other companies. It has been sanctioned for violating securities laws in Florida, fined for running a fraudulent Ponzi scheme in Missouri, and charged with securities fraud in Indiana. The Securities and Exchange Commission is now conducting hearings on charges filed in 2011 alleging the company defrauded five Wisconsin school districts by selling them risky investments, causing the districts to lose $200 million.
Whipple spent the main part of his career with Ford. He is currently CEO and Director of Ford Holdings, LLC., which averages approximately $1 billion in revenue annually. He spent almost 40 years as a Ford executive, from 1959 through 1999, holding various positions including president of Ford Credit. He was also vice president and head of corporate strategy. chairman and CEO of Ford Europe, and president of Ford Financial Services Group.
To download two-sided flier in PDF and print it, click on Cleveland police murders. Video below is from December march and includes interviews with family members.
VOD editor Diane Bukowski, then a reporter for the Michigan Citizen, under arrest Nov. 4, 2008, the day Pres. Barack Obama was first elected.
(VOD editor: I first made contact with photographer Carlos Miller in 2008, when I was assaulted by Michigan state troopers, arrested and eventually convicted because I took photos of the scene where two Black Detroiters died as a result of an illegal state trooper chase. Miller had been assaulted previously for photographing cops, and established a national website, “Photography is not a Crime.”)
Last night our good friend Carlos Miller was assaulted and given a 100FRN ransom note by 50 State Security employees on the platform and escalator of the Miami-Dade Metrorail.
Carlos Miller
While waiting for their train, Miller was giving his friend visiting from out of town some background on the area. After his friend took a picture of the nearby courthouse, they were first told via the speaker mounted on the platform, then in-person by hostile 50 State Security employees, that they were not allowed to film.
Miller rightly questioned where such a dictate stemmed from. His question was answered with force, as he was eventually tackled, choked, and handcuffed, by three men. His friend was taken as well.
Let the folks over at 50 State Security know your thoughts:
I was attacked, choked, suffocated and handcuffed by 50 State security guards for shooting video on the Miami-Dade Metrorail Sunday night, escalating a pending state lawsuit into a possible federal suit.
Carlos Miller’s photo of friend shooting a photo of the Dade County courthouse.
As you will see in the above video, they tried to push me down the escalator and I shoved back in order to defend myself, which prompted at least three security guards to pounce on me, including one security guard named R. Myers who violently choked me to the point where I thought I was going to die.
I was video recording on my iPhone and my friend was recording on his camera. Both of us ended up handcuffed and detained until City of Miami and Miami-Dade police arrived, both who knew right away who I was.
We were released an hour later with a $100 citation accusing us of “producing loud or excessive noise,” which is a lie.
My friend, who is visiting from California, was taking a picture of the Dade County Courthouse as we were waiting for the southbound train to go back to my place.
I was taking a photo of him, taking a photo of the building for possibly uploading to Facebook. We were joking that it probably looked real gay, me kneeling in front of him as he took a photo.
Photo of Dade County Courthouse taken by Mlller’s friend.
I was taking a photo of my friend taking a photo of the Dade County Courthouse from the platform of the Miami-Dade Metrorail Government Center when we were ordered to stop through a loudspeaker.
We were not yelling or making any kind of noise.
A 50 State security guard announced on the loudspeaker to stop taking photos. He then came out to confront us. I switched my iPhone to video record and walked up to him.
He said it was illegal to photograph the rail portion of the train, which, of course, is complete hogwash. He then accused me of being drunk. I had three drinks in two hours while watching football and I am not a lightweight.
The photo my friend was taking
They then told me I had to leave the Metrorail because I was drunk and I refused because I had not done anything illegal. I just wanted to take the train home.
And I wasn’t drunk. He didn’t notice I had been drinking until he got close to me and he smelled something.
But as they started crowding me, I started walking towards the escalator.
At the top of the escalator, one of them shoved me hard as if to push me down the escalator, which is when I shoved back.
Then three of them piled on top of me, including one choking me where I couldn’t even breathe, leaving me gasping for air.
When R. Myer walked up to us, I was hoping he would de-escalate the situation but he escalated completely.
He is a tall black man who wears a USMC logo on his name badge. He was the one choking me. He wouldn’t have hesitated to kill me.
I can only imagine how many complaints he has had against him. Continue reading →
PREDATORY LENDING: Jan. 31, 2004: Wall Street ratings agenices reps Joe O’Keefe of Fitch Ratings (speaking), and Stephen Murphy of Standard and Poor’s (to his left), foistied $1.5 BILLION loan on city of Detroit. Also shown in photo (l) then Detroit CFO Sean Werdlow, who left the Kilpatrick administation later that year to take a job with UBS ‘minority partner Siebert, Brandford & Shank as managing director, and (r) then Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams. Photo by Diane Bukowski
VOD: The global LIBOR scandal, ongoing for over two years, is just now hitting the pages of U.S. daily media such as USA TODAY. VOD has all along been publishing articles about LIBOR and the banks involved, including UBS, mentioned in this article. Along with ratings agencies Standard and Poor’s and Fitch, UBS foisted a $1.5 BILLION loan on Detroit in 2004, which has been a major souce of the city’s debt crisis since. Other banks mentioned here have also loaned money to Detroit. If Gov. Rick Snyder’s “Financial Review Team” is going to “pour” over anyone’s books (as Treasurer Andy Dillon misspelled the word in a press release), it should be the books of these banks.
By Kevin McCoy — USA TODAY
February 24, 2013
Tom Hayes in 2005 photo, worked for Citigroup and UBS before his arrest in London in December 2012 connected to the LIBOR probe.
Financial trader Tom Hayes needed help with the Japanese yen as he worked in his Tokyo office on March 3, 2010.
Hayes, who was a Citigroup employee then, messaged a friend at a brokerage firm and explained that his trading would benefit from a low Libor rate for Japanese yen — a reference to one of 10 currency-based rates British banks set daily based on their estimated cost of borrowing from each other.
Would the broker ask a contact at Royal Bank of Scotland to submit an artificially low Libor estimate for yen the next day, thus helping keep the rate down?
Sandra Pierce, chair of Detroit’s “Financial Advisory” Board, was previously CEO of Charter One Michigan. Charter One is a subsidiary of the Royal Bank of Scotland.
“Any favours you can get … would be much appreciated,” the British-born Hayes messaged, according to transcript excerpts in a recently filed U.S. federal court record.
“I’ll give him a nudge later, see what he can do,” the unidentified brokerage trader responded.
“Thanks mate … really really would appreciate that,” messaged Hayes.
Royal Bank of Scotland’s yen submission edged lower the next day. The brokerage trader messaged “good work!!!!” to the Royal Bank of Scotland bank contact, the transcript shows.
The exchange is one of the first documenting the involvement of a trader at a U.S. bank in a widening scandal that so far has produced admissions of improper collusion from Royal Bank of Scotland, London-based Barclays and Swiss giant UBS. Collectively, the three have been fined more than $2.5 billion.
Authorities in the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada and elsewhere are investigating the suspected manipulation because trillions of dollars in mortgages, loans and other financial instruments are pegged to Libor rates.
A U.S. federal court complaint filed in December accused Hayes of conspiracy, wire fraud and other charges related to his trades between September 2006 and September 2009 while he worked for Royal Bank of Scotland or UBS before joining Citigroup.
Hayes, who was arrested in England in December but remains free there pending further investigation, could not be reached. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that Hayes texted “this goes much much higher than me.” A friend named Jennifer Arcuri said Hayes was cooperating with U.K. authorities, the paper reported.
Citigroup spokeswoman Danielle Romero-Apsilos confirmed that Hayes worked for the global bank from December 2009 to September 2010, when he was fired over an incident that was reported to financial regulators.
She declined to comment on that incident or Hayes’ exchanges in the March 2010 transcript, which was part of the court complaint against the trader and the deferred prosecution deal U.S. prosecutors reached with Royal Bank of Scotland earlier this month.
However, several U.S. banks are under examination by regulators and prosecutors in the interest-rate-fixing scandal. Citigroup filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission disclosed that it is cooperating with requests for information and documents from the bank’s subsidiaries.
Citigroup also disclosed that its Global Markets group in Japan was suspended from yen trading between Jan. 10 and Jan. 23, 2012, because of communications between two traders involving Libor rates and a similar Tokyo rate.
The suspension action, imposed by Japan’s Financial Services Agency, said the Citigroup traders’ actions had been “seriously unjust and malicious, and could undermine the fairness of the markets.”
JPMorgan Chase reported in an August 2012 SEC filing that it had received Libor-related subpoenas and requests for documents and/or interviews from the Department of Justice and financial regulators in the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada, Switzerland and elsewhere.
Bank of America similarly reported in August that it had received Libor-related subpoenas or information requests from the Department of Justice and financial regulators in the U.S. and United Kingdom.
Both banks said they were cooperating with the inquiries.
Gary Gensler, Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
U.S. and global banks have also been barraged by putative class-action lawsuits over suspected Libor rigging. More than 40 cases, filed by cities, labor unions, financial funds and individuals, have been consolidated in a federal multidistrict litigation matter in Manhattan federal court.
At its simplest, Libor is an acronym for London Interbank Offered Rate. It is an internationally used standard set each morning based on what global banks operating in London say they would expect to pay for short-term loans from each other in various monetary currencies.
“It’s embedded in the wiring of our financial system,” Gary Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, told a Feb. 14 hearing by the Senate banking committee.
Mortgages, car loans, student loans, credit card rates and commercial loans are often pegged to Libor. So are complex financial derivatives contracts.
Subprime mortgages may have been the most lucrative bet of 2012 for hedge funds, with some gaining more than 20% by buying up troubled financial crisis era mortgages./CNN Money
The Bank for International Settlements estimated that outstanding interest rate contracts linked to Libor were valued at about $450 trillion in the second half of 2009. Nearly all 2008 subprime adjustable rate mortgages in the U.S. were similarly pegged to Libor, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland report.
For instance, someone taking a mortgage on a new home would be required to pay interest costs a certain percentage above Libor.
The Libor-setting process has been criticized because it is based on estimates submitted by small groups of bankers, rather than on a known and transparent financial standard. Federal court records show how and why the rate can be improperly manipulated.
Demonstrator smashes window at RBS branch in London.
Royal Bank of Scotland, for instance, acknowledged in the deferred prosecution agreement that from 2006 to 2010 some of its traders “requested and obtained Libor submissions that benefited their trading positions” rather than the accurate rate.
That type of strategy allegedly enabled Hayes to increase trading profits for him and the banks where he worked. He made trading bets on derivatives tied to the yen Libor, and allegedly was able to generate profits from minuscule rate changes.
While working at UBS in 2008, Hayes allegedly pressed a junior employee who submitted the bank’s daily yen Libor estimate to submit a falsely high rate. The employee complied, resulting in $793,000 in extra profit for Hayes and the bank on one trading day, according to the court complaint against the former trader.
Marchers proceed from Bank of America headquarters in Detroit to the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center May 9, 2012.
“mate yur getting bloody good at this libor game … think of me when yur on yur yacht in monaco won’t you,” a broker messaged Hayes in a June 2009 electronic chat, according to the complaint filed against Hayes and the UBS court settlement filed in December.
Hayes generated about $40 million in profits for the bank in 2007, $80 million in 2008 and $116 million during the first nine months of 2009, the settlement shows.
Some banks may have had at least one other rationale for the alleged manipulation. Beginning around 2007, UBS told employees who submitted the bank’s daily Libor estimates to “err on the low side” because high rates could create the impression the Swiss giant “had a credit problem,” a federal court complaint charged.
Of course, if traders and banks profited from illegal Libor-rigging conspiracies, some counterparties paying mortgages and other loans may have lost by being forced to pay artificially high rates pegged to the benchmark.
BOA demonstration in Detroit May 9, 2012.
A 2011 lawsuit filed by Baltimore officials alleged that the city had purchased tens of millions of dollars in complex derivative contracts known as interest rate swaps from eight major banks. The city “was injured” financially because those contracts were tied to Libor rates tainted by suspected rigging, the lawsuit alleged.
Similarly, Mobile, Ala., homeowner Annie Bell Adams and other nearby residents alleged in a 2012 federal lawsuit that they were financial victims of suspected Libor collusion by numerous major banks.
“It was not only foreseeable but obvious that by manipulating the (U.S. dollar) Libor rate … the defendants were able to maximize the value of their holdings and thereby unjustly enrich themselves to the detriment of the plaintiffs,” the putative class-action lawsuit charged.
In his Senate testimony, Gensler said the manipulation confirmed to date by the ongoing investigations underlines the need for a stronger, transparent benchmark.
“When a reference rate such as Libor — central to borrowing, lending and hedging in our economy — has been so readily and pervasively rigged, it’s critical that we discuss how to best change the system,” said Gensler. “We must ensure that reference rates are honest and reliable reflections of observable transactions in real markets.”
Rev. Al Sharpton, head of the National Action Network, discusses Voting, N.A.N, Freedom March – – A No Struggle, No Development Production! By KennySnod * –Videographer for Voice of Detroit
Kenny Snodgrass at 2011 Detroit demo.
Rev. Al, Sharpton, President of National Action Network (NAN) was in Detroit Feb. 16, 2013 to 1) discuss the need and importance of going to Washington, D.C., to support the National Voting Rights Act against a challenge in Shelby County, Al v. Holder . The Supreme Court is to hear oral arguments on the case February 27, 2013 2) To discuss the National Action Network’s upcoming Convention in New York – April 3 – 6, 2013 and 3) “The Commemorative March Toward Freedom” June 22, 2013. – –
A No Struggle, No Development Production! By Kenny Snodgrass, Activist, Photographer, Videographer, Author of 1} From Victimization To Empowerment… www.trafford.com/07-0913 eBook available at www.ebookstore.sony.com
2} The World As I’ve Seen It! My Greatest Experience! {Photo Book}
YouTube: I have over 370 Video’s, over 127,321 hits averaging 4,100 a month on my YouTube channel @ www.YouTube.com/KennySnod
SHELBY COUNTY V. HOLDER
By Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights
Young member of Lawyers’ Committee.
In April 2010, Shelby County, Alabama (a largely white suburb of Birmingham) filed suit in federal court in Washington, DC asking that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act be declared unconstitutional. Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, No. 1:10-cv-00651 (D.D.C.). The county asserts that Congress exceeded its constitutional authority when, in 2006, it reauthorized Section 5 for another 25 years.
Map of Alabama; Shelby County in green.
Section 5 requires that certain States and localities, located primarily in the South and Southwest, obtain federal preclearance for all voting changes before they may be implemented. To obtain preclearance, a jurisdiction must demonstrate that the change neither has a discriminatory purpose nor a discriminatory effect.
On August 25, 2010, the Lawyers’ Committee intervened in the lawsuit to defend the constitutionality of Section 5. The Lawyers’ Committee is representing Bobby Lee Harris, a former council member of the Town of Alabaster, Alabama (located in Shelby County). Attorney General Holder is the named defendant in the case and other Shelby County residents also have also intervened as defendants (represented by the NAACP LDF and the ACLU Voting Rights Project).
On September 21, 2011, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia upheld the constitutionality of Congress’ 2006 reauthorization of Section 5, rejecting Shelby County’s challenge. The opinion can be found here. An analysis of this opinion can be found here.
On May 18, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the district court ruling, by a vote of two to one. The court summarized its decision as follows: “Congress drew reasonable conclusions from the extensive evidence it gathered and acted pursuant to the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, which entrust Congress with ensuring that the right to vote-surely among the most important guarantees of political liberty in the Constitution-is not abridged on account of race. In this context, we owe much deference to the considered judgment of the People’s elected representatives.” The opinion can be found here.
Bobby Harris (center) was previously assistant principal of Thompson High School in Alabaster, AL. He is shown here with others opening school time capsule.
Shelby County then appealed to the Supreme Court, and the Court accepted the case. On January 25, 2013, the Lawyers’ Committee filed its brief in support of the lower court rulings. We argued that Congress appropriately found in 2006 that pervasive discrimination in voting has persisted in the areas subject to Section 5, and therefore Congress properly concluded that there is a continuing need for the preclearance remedy. We further argued that Congress also appropriately determined that voting discrimination elsewhere in the country is much less severe, and therefore Congress properly concluded that the Section 5’s geographic coverage should not be altered. Oral argument will occur on February 27, 2013, and a decision is expected by the end of June. Continue reading →
Rev. David Bullock addresses crowd at Kick-Off Rally to Stop Government Foreclosures of Our Homes, Feb. 13, 2013.
U.S. govt. agencies behind majority of 16 million foreclosures, evictions
Ground-breaking federal ‘due process’ Mandry case to be heard Wed. Feb. 20, 2 pm, before U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Edmunds
By Diane Bukowski
February 15, 2013
DETROIT – Foreclosed homeowners, community leaders, and activists from the metropolitan Detroit area rallied Feb. 13 against what they called “Hurricanes Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” the federal agencies currently responsible for most foreclosures and evictions. They demanded that President Barack Obama issue an executive order declaring a moratorium on all such actions.
The group also announced a ground-breaking federal lawsuit demanding Fifth Amendment “due process” hearings before foreclosures, which can expose bank fraud and predatory lending. U. S. District Court Judge Nancy Edmunds will hear a motion by federal agencies and the Bank of America to dismiss the case on Wed. Feb. 20, at 2 p.m. at 321 W. Lafayette. The case was filed by Attorney Jerry Goldberg on behalf of Ray Mandry of Canton, Michigan, a disabled Vietnam veteran.
Attorney Vanessa Fluker
“This was a set-up,” Attorney Vanessa Fluker told a packed auditorium at the Metro Detroit AFL-CIO headquarters in downtown Detroit. “The government bailed out the banks during the mortgage meltdown, then gave them the power over loan modifications instead of giving it to the people. It took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which then insured toxic, predatory loans so that the banks would get paid the full mortgage balance instead of the market value of the homes.”
Fluker, whose practice is devoted to foreclosures and evictions, testified before a House Judiciary Committee panel in Washington, D.C. in 2010.
“People are still being thrown out on the streets every day,” Fluker explained. “We don’t go to court with them because we will win through litigation, we go to court to fight what is being done with our tax dollars by the Federal Housing Finance Agency [FHFA—the conservator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac] to evict millions of people. Entire communities are being destroyed. I challenge everyone to take this another step. We need people in the streets. There have been 10.9 million foreclosures since 2007, and it is estimated there will be another six million from 2012-13.”
Homeowner Angela Crockett
The rally featured personal testimonials from homeowners who have fought foreclosure and eviction, assisted by the Moratorium NOW! Coalition, People Before Banks, Detroit Eviction Defense, Occupy Detroit, and others.
Angela Crockett of Detroit said she was making payments on her mortgage through an assistance program beginning in June, 2011, with the promise she would not be subject to foreclosure.
“Then the insurance agent told me they were not making payments into escrow any more against foreclosures,” Crockett said. A Sheriff’s deed was issued at the end of 2011, but Crockett said she began a court fight with the assistance of attorneys Fluker, Jerry Goldberg, and Bob Day.
Homeowner Ray Mandry
“Don’t ever sign a consent agreement in court,” Crockett warned. “You give up all your rights. You have a right to fight and defend yourself against eviction, against losing your home. I thought about the fact that mine and my mother’s tax dollars were being used to put us in the street. I encourage people not to be afraid, to be warriors.”
Ray Mandry’s lawsuit, to be heard Feb. 20, says that because Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are governmental agencies, they are subject to the Fifth Amendment, and therefore must give due process before foreclosure and eviction.
Homeowner Bob Goss
“I lost my job in 2010,” Mandry said. “I was looking for work. We sold my wife’s car, furniture and jewelry, did whatever we could to pay the mortgage. In March 2011, we contacted the Bank of America for a loan modification. They wanted everything, W-2’s, tax returns, blood samples, but when they asked for stool samples, I decided to fight,” he added sarcastically.
“They sent me a letter they were not going to meet with me or grant a modification. Then they snuck the sheriff in in the middle of the night, but we’re still fighting. The bank did not provide everything they were supposed to do by law. They don’t have the right to take our homes and property without due process. You are warriors, fight, don’t roll over.”
Homeowner Jerome Jackson
Bob Goss of Troy said he asked his bank for a loan modification, supposed to be guaranteed under President Barack Obama’s TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program), which bailed out the banks. He said he repeatedly sent all the documents required, but the bank kept claiming they had lost various pages. He contacted numerous government officials to no avail, and his house was sold five days before he even knew there was a sheriff’s deed on it. He and attorney Fluker are continuing to fight his case in court.
Other homeowners speaking were Jennifer Britt and Jerry Cullors of Detroit, as well as Jerome Jackson of Inkster. Their struggles have been covered in Voice of Detroit. For the sake of brevity, links to those stories are included at the end of this story.
Homeowner Jennifer Britt
Attorney Joe McGuire and Steve Babson of Detroit Eviction Defense and People Before Banks said the coalition has been conducting weeks-long encampments in front of homes, to physically stop evictions as masses of people did during the 1930’s Great Depression.
They said they organize neighbors, who have carried out actions like parking their cars all over the streets and property to stop a dumpster from being placed, and filling dumpsters with debris. In one case, a homeowner laid in her doorway until a representative of the bank involved agreed to meet with her.
Attorney Joe McGuire
“The best lawyers can do is fight in court while we fight in the streets,” McGuire said. “We get the public as well to pressure the banks through emails, fliers, phone calls and the internet. The banks don’t want their dirty laundry aired in public.”
He noted that homeowners in Spain just won a two-year moratorium on foreclosures during this global economic meltdown.
Attorney Jerry Goldberg of the Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclores, Evictions and Utility Shut-offs, analyzed the struggle to date. He said the group first asked former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm to declare a state of emergency in Michigan so a moratorium could be declared, but that Granholm responded, “The banks wouldn’t like it.”
Groups blocked eviction of homeowner Dec. 6, 2011.
“In the 1930,’s, Michigan had a five-year moratorium on foreclosures and evictions,” Goldberg said. “Such moratoriums were enacted in 25 other states as well. They involved an automatic stay on foreclosures, with a mandate that a judge hear the case to give the homeowner an affordable payment schedule.”
Attorney Jerome Goldberg
Goldberg said Hurricane Fannie-Freddie is chiefly responsible for the devastation of Detroit.
“Detroit wouldn’t have lost 250,000 people, neighborhoods wouldn’t look like bombs had been dropped on them, if Granholm had enacted our demand for a moratorium in 2007,” Goldberg said. “Today, the case for a moratorium is stronger than ever. In 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the federal government. The Federal Reserve spent $2 trillion dollars to buy out defaulted mortgages; there has been $180 billion of taxpayers’ money paid to the banks. This is a complete government takeover of the mortgage industry.”
He reiterated a demand that the Moratorium NOW! Coalition has been making for several years, that President Barack Obama issue an executive order declaring an emergency moratorium on all foreclosures and evictions because housing is a “fundamental human right.”
To see the enormity of the government’s effort to stop Ray Mandry’s precedent-setting 5th Amendment countersuit, click on Ray Mandry federal docket. Copy of initial complaint will be appended shortly.
DETROIT – Foreclosed homeowners, community leaders, and activists from the metropolitan Detroit area rallied Feb. 13 against what they called “Hurricanes Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” the federal agencies currently responsible for most foreclosures and evictions. They demanded that President Barack Obama issue an executive order declaring a moratorium on all such actions. 
