For millions of people, who groaned under the gross, lumbering stupidity of the Bush years, the advent of the Obama administration seemed like the rising of a sweet springtime sun after storms of bleak chaos.
Who knew that the rise of Barack H. Obama would echo, in some ways, the Bush years?
Bush reveled in war, and boasted of being a ‘War President.’
Obama, by contrast, seldom speaks of war, never brags of it, and wages it with an intensity that can only be called chilling.
According to a recent New York Times article, Obama has become a secret warrior, unleashing drone attacks on suspected (!) enemies of the State at a rate that would have dizzied his bellicose predecessor, George W. Bush.
In Afghanistan, in Pakistan, in the Federated Territories (bordering both countries), in Yemen, in Somalia the drone wars reign, silent, computerized death from the skies, killing ‘suspects’, their clansmen, families and neighbors.
President Barack Obama greets U.S. troops in Afghanistan; the slaughter of Afghanis, Pakistanis, and U.S. troops as well continues unabated.
The wonder is that anyone could claim surprise, for Obama said exactly what he would do –attack terrorist suspects no matter where they were; and capture or kill Osama bin Laden.
His giddy supporters, so sick of Bush’s clumsiness and malapropisms, ignored Obama’s promises, or pretended not to hear them.
But Obama at war is more martial that Bush, more technological, more targeted – and less oral.
One wag, offered the view that Obama was Bush on steroids—quieter, more aggressive, more ruthless.
And that – albeit unwittingly—is the world we voted for.
VALERIE BURRIS, WHOSE SISTER KILLED HERSELF IN DESPAIR JUNE 19, TELLS COUNCIL TO SUPPORT KRYSTAL CRITTENDON AT THEIR MEETING THE SAME DAY.
Public Council session Fri. June 22, 2 pm, CAYMC 13th floor
Court hearing on Judge Wendy Baxter’s TRO barring shutdown of city’s Health, Human Services, and Workforce Depts. same day, 11:30 am.
By Diane Bukowski
June 21, 2012
DETROIT – Buckling to pressure from Wall Street banks, the daily media, and state politicians, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing has called a special session of the City Council for Friday, June 22 at2 p.m. He wants at least six Council members to vote for the discharge “without cause” of the city’s Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon.
Detroit Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon
The meeting, to be held in Council chambers on the 13th floor of the Coleman A. Young Center at 2 Woodward Ave., is open to the public.
“We need to stand behind Krystal Crittendon,” Valerie Burris told City Council members at their evening community meeting June 19 on the day her sister died.
“It seems like she’s the only one following the law,” Burris explained. “The other day, I went outside. It was pitch black, and all these people were out in the streets. I asked my husband, ‘What are they doing?’ and he told me they live there, they’re homeless. Today, my sister shot and killed herself because she was so depressed. It is the policy of those who runDetroitthat is creating this situation – no streetlights, no jobs, no parks, nothing for the people.”
Mayor Dave Bing and minions listen intently to Atty. Michael McGee, a co-author of Public Act 4, during council session June 11.
The City Charter requires a supermajority vote of the Council to fire Crittendon. Bing has repeatedly said that Crittendon was doing her duty as she saw fit when she filed a complaint for declaratory relief against the city’s Public Act 4 “Fiscal Stability [consent] Agreement.”
Ingham County Circuit Court Judge William Collette, saying he had his mind made up from the beginning, dismissed the complaint June 13. He did not address Crittendon’s contention that the consent agreement is void because the state owes Detroit over $230 million. Instead, he opined that the Mayor is in charge despite Charter language which gives Detroit’s Corporation Counsel broad powers, including taking judicial action.
Angela Armstrong tells Council they should take action against Mayor Dave Bing.
“The Mayor hired outside counsel to advise him without getting permission from Corporation Counsel in violation of the Charter,” Angela Armstrong told the Council June 19. “Everybody else is running renegade, not Krystal Crittendon. The mayor himself said the state owes us money, but she picks up the gauntlet and SHE’s the one in trouble.”
Bing hired Michael McGee of the law firm of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone to argue for the consent agreement prior to council’s approval of it June 4. McGee is a co-author of Public Act 4, along with other conflicts of interest.
Bing also used McGee’s firm to represent him in Collette’s court against the Corporation Counsel’s complaint.
Edith Lee Payne marched on Washington with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a young girl in 1963.
“Under the Charter Section 7.5-201, the Corporation Counsel was duly authorized to take court action,” Edith Lee Payne told the Council. “I resent Mayor Bing’s scare tactics. If you should choose to deal with any issue, you need to bring Bing up on charges for violating Section 2.106.1 of the Charter by willfully and grossly neglecting to discharge his duties. If Gov. [Rick] Snyder wants to runDetroit, let HIM resign and just TRY to run for Mayor!”
“It is Dave Bing who needs to be brought up on charges and resign,” Cecily McClellan, a member of “FreeDetroit-No Consent,” said.
Free Detroit-No Consent placard
In a campaign sponsored by the group, Detroiters have so far filed 11 ethics complaints against Bing, Deputy Mayor Kirk Lewis, Chief Operating Officer Chris Brown, and City Council members Charles Pugh, Gary Brown, Saunteel Jenkins, Kenneth Cockrel, Jr. and James Tate, the “Fatal Five” who voted for the consent agreement.
Tyrone Travis called on Detroiters to take the issue to people at the offices of the Detroit Departments of Health and Wellness Promotion, Human Services and Workforce Development. The three departments have been slashed from the city’s 2012-13 budget, except for temporary transition funding while they are privatized.
A follow-up hearing on a temporary restraining order granted by Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Wendy Baxgter against the closure of the three departments, which are almost wholly federally-funded, is also set for Friday, June 22 at 11:30 a.m.in Baxter’s courtroom at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center.
Children wait for medical assistance at Herman Kiefer Health Center, part of the Detroit Department of Health and Wellness Promotion. It is slated to be shutdown in this year’s city budget.
“We REFUSE to consent to the hostile takeover of Detroit by the state,” Sandra Hines told the Council. “We are determined to get our city back and will continue to fight. We haven’t seen YOU fighting for us, in the back room negotiating deals. We are fighting to maintain our constitutional rights, which our fathers, mothers and their forebears fought and died for.”
Hines said she was “standing on the shoulders” of Zeline Richards, a prominent Detroiter who addressed the Council at length.
Prominent Detroiter Zeline Richards tells Council to STAND UP FOR THE PEOPLE.
“I was born Jan. 12, 1927 here in Detroit,” Richards said. “Kenneth Cockrel, Sr. was among my students during my teaching career. They are taking us back to sharecropping days. My father was from Waynesboro, Georgia and used to plant for his father, who sharecropped. He left and came here and worked at Ford’s. I was 15 years old when the first riot in Detroit happened in 1943, and we were put out on Belle Isle. They wouldn’t let my mother teach in the Detroit Public Schools back then, but later I became Executive Director of the DPS Human Resources Department and I put a stop to all of that. I challenge you all to STAND UP AND FIGHT FOR US!”
The Detroit Free Press’ Daniel Howes condemned Bing today for allegedly not being able to get the six votes needed on City Council, calling concerns of Detroiters over the consent agreement “silly.” Several Council members including Pugh and Jenkins have said in published remarks that they will not vote to remove Crittendon.
Fitch Ratings, which along with the other Wall Street bond ratings agencies is paid by the banks, downgradedDetroit’s debt to “C” last week, citing Crittendon’s lawsuit, but also stating that the state had the means to resolve the matter.
Council members have said that the state could have just paid what it owed the city out of its surplus funds and laid the issue to rest.
PNC: Return the Cruz Family Home PNC: Reverse Jerome Jackson Foreclosure
Note from Alejandra Cruz:
Friends and Supporters,
Our family can’t believe how much support we have received from around the country in our fight to save our home. We are so thankful for each and every one of you.
Jerome Jackson (in wheelchair) at GE shareholders meeting protest April 25, 2012.
After PNC committed to working with our family to resolve this issue 23 of our supporters were arrested during 5 eviction attempts in one week and PNC stopped returning our calls. That’s when we decided it was time to raise the stakes.
In just a couple hours, my brother David and I will embark on a caravan to PNC Bank’s national headquarters in Pittsburgh to attempt to hand deliver our family’s loan modification documents to Jim Rohr, the CEO. We hope to give him a chance to personally correct PNC’s mistake and make things right for our family.
Over 15 cities across have committed to rallying at PNC Bank branches in support of our family as part of the #J21 national day of action, and we believe that we are on the verge of finally getting justice for our family.
Can you take a few minutes to support our family and share my petition with 5 friends?
In addition, please like and share this #J21 facebook image which was shared over 1,000 times in under 24 hours! http://ow.ly/bGBDE
You can also follow: www.twiitter.com/OccupyHomesMN and hashtags #J21 and #CruzHome for more updates on our trip.
We are in need of support to finance the caravan and week of action. If you are able, you can donate to our efforts here: www.wepay.com/occupyhomesmn
Thank you so much for your support.
Si se puede,
Alejandra Cruz
Sign the petition supporting HR 4848, which calls for a MORATORIUM on FORECLOSURES for THREE YEARS; http://nationalmoratorium.org/
The Moratorium NOW! Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions, and Utility Shutoffs is open to all those who want to fight for a moratorium on foreclosures, evictions, layoffs, and utility shutoffs. We meet every Monday, 7 PM, at 5920 Second Ave., Detroit.
Rev. David Bullock speaks at right as Pastor Ed Rowe, Attorneys Julie Hurwitz and Butch Hollowell, and Rev. Wendell Anthony listen outside Detroit COA offices June 20, 2012
Motions for Appeals Court to order ballot placement filed today (Links to all court actions at story conclusion)
By Diane Bukowski
June 20, 2012
DETROIT – A broad coalition of community groups, churches and unions declared today that there will no longer be “business as usual” in Michigan unless the State Board of Canvassers places a referendum to repeal Public Act 4, known as the “Dictator Act” on the ballot during its meeting Tues. June 26.
Former Detroit school board member Marie Thornton holds Democracy Emergency sign as supporters listen to leaders against PA4 June 20 outside the Detroit office of the state Court of Appeals.
Backed by a hallway full of supporters, attorneys for Stand Up for Democracy filed two motions with the State Court of Appeals (COA) in Detroit’s Cadillac Building on W.Grand Blvd.
The motions ask that the COA give immediate effect to its June 8 order which the attorneys say mandates that the state’s people be allowed to vote on the PA 4 referendum in November.
“A quarter of a million voters signed this petition,” Attorney Melvin Butch Hollowell of the Detroitbranch of the NAACP said. “The Court of Appeals ordered that it should be on the ballot. Now, nearly a week later, there has been no movement to comply with the law.”
As major TV and print media covered the event, Hollowell said the coalition is already organizing alternate plans.
Atty. Melvin Butch Hollowell points out type size smaller than 14 pts. on petition accepted for state ballot.
“We have a full arsenal of options [if court action is not taken], including the right of appeal at both state and federal court levels, and direct action by the people. We intend for this t0 be a full court press.”
The state-wide coalition supporting Stand Up for Democracy has formed committees and is training some members in civil disobedience tactics, according to their literature. Their D-Day for action is June 28, two days after the BOC meeting. Petition language must be ready for the ballot by Aug. 27.
Attorneys Hollowell, Herbert Sanders, Julie Hurwitz, William Goodman and John Philo signed the motions and accompanying briefs.
In their pleadings, they cite the June 8 decision of the Court of Appeals on a challenge to the referendum by Michigan Citizens for Fiscal Responsibility.
Atty. Hollowell files pleadings at COA as crowd of supporters watches.
“Defendants [Board of Canvassers] have a clear legal duty to certify the petition for the ballot because the petition has the requisite number of signatures and meets all other statutory requirements,” the COA ruled. “Under all of the circumstances presented here, the act of placing the petition on the ballot is ministerial . . . .we direct the Board [ofCanvassers] to certify plaintiff’s petition for the ballot.”
The COA panel, however, still ruled that the print font size on the petitions was not legal, but declared it a minor matter. They stayed their order until all 28 Court of Appeals Judges could be polled to determine whether a special panel of seven judges should hear the case. On June 14, the Court of Appeals en banc ruled that it would not do so.
"Free Detroit-No Consent" members Valerie Glenn, Tyrone Travis and Sandra Hines were present in crowd of supporters.
Demonstrating with an outsize petition, Hollowell said the coalition’s attorneys have examined numerous petitions allowed on the ballot, and found that many of them did not comply with a “14 point” type font size. He said that in fact the PA 4 referendum petition does, according to an expert whose testimony the Board of Canvassers and the COA barred.
Public Act 4, passed in 2011, gives unelected “emergency managers” and s0-called “consent agreements” enforced by Wall Street dictatorial powers. It is rapidly dismantling the cities of Detroit, BentonHarbor, Pontiac, Flint,and Inkster, as well as school districts in Muskegon Heights and Highland Park, among other mainly majority-Black entities across the state. It has in effect disenfranchised over half ofMichigan’s African-American voters.
“Governor Snyder should not just be the governor of corporateMichigan,” Rev. David Bullock, director of the Detroit chapter of Rainbow PUSH, said.
Protest demanding moratorium on Detroit’s debt to the banks May 9, 2012.
“Detroit and Michigan represent a battleground for the soul of the nation. We will not stand by while they destroy democracy and lynch liberty. Some seek to take us back to the days of slavery, racism, and no unions, but we intend to move not onlyMichigan, but our whole country, forward. WE SAY NO!”
Gerald Thompson, President of AFSCME Local 1220, told VOD June 19, “The Detroit [PA4] consent agreement was an opportunity to continue to pay the banks at enormous interest rates and treat life-long Detroiters, poor and working people, as the problem, when in fact they are the solution. Instead of laying off 2566 city workers, why not renegotiate the bank debt? We continue to give Third World countries billions in assistance and then forgive their debt, but why can’t Detroit, a Third World city, be forgiven as well?”
The City of Detroit paid $596 million to the banks this year alone, with a total debt of $12.6 billion. Fitch Ratings downgraded Detroit’s debt to a “C,” the lowest rate possible and the lowest of any major city in the country. They did so simply becauseDetroit’s Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon challenged the consent agreement in the Ingham County Court of Claims.
Detroit Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon
On Friday, Detroit’s City Council is scheduled to meet in a closed session at 11 a.m. to hear Crittendon’s June 20 opinion on parts of the consent agreement that may survive even if Michigan voters void Public Act 4. She had warned the Council regarding that issue in an opinion issued April 1, but the Council’s “Fatal Five” members still voted for the agreement.
It is unclear whether Crittendon will appeal Ingham County Circuit Court Judge William Collette’s order dismissing the lawsuit, not on legal grounds, but on his personal opinion that the mayor, not the corporation counsel, is in charge regardless of Charter provisions.
(See upcoming VOD story on Mayor Dave Bing’s request for Crittendon’s resignation, which she refused, and subsequent support for her at community City Council meeting June 19.)
Click on the following links to read motions and briefs filed June 20.
Aiyana Jones' grandmother Mertilla Jones holds her sleeping grandchildren after police assault; she was resting on the living room couch with them when police assaulted her home June 16, 2012.
By Diane Bukowski
June 16, 2012
DETROIT – On the night of a motion hearing in the case of Detroit police officer Joseph Weekley, who shot seven-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones to death two years ago during a violent raid, police in riot gear again invaded her family’s new home on Detroit’s side.
Rafael Jones, 14, shows where he defended his grandmother after police struck her in the face with a flashlight and called her sexist names.
Family members said they were struck, shoved and called racist and sexist names as police officers, some in plainclothes, forced their way into the home on Detroit’s far east side.
Five children were there at the time, including a one-month old baby, a two-year-old toddler, and a five-year old.
“I was just sitting here watching my grandson,” Mertilla Jones, Aiyana’s paternal grandmother said. “Four cop cars pulled up and then they were coming from all over. They tried to grab Bobbie (Aiyana’s cousin), but he came in the house and me and Lakiya and R. J. [Rafael Jones] went out on the porch. The Black cop hit me in the mouth with a flashlight, and pushed and shoved me.”
Bobbie Williams III said he had been outside sitting next to a small fire the family has been burning on the sidewalk to keep the mosquitoes away for some weeks. He said police officers had driven by before and said nothing. But this time, he said, one of the cops told him to put the fire out, saying, “What are you n—–s doing, trying to burn down the city?”
AIyana’s aunt LaKrystal Sanders shows camera phone which she used to film police assault on her family’s home June 16, 2012.
Bobbie said he complied and doused the fire with water but a white cop jumped out, calling to his sergeant to follow him, and pursued him anyway. Bobbie warned them he had a permit to carry a concealed weapon for self-defense, then retreated into the house.
Jones’ 14-year-old grandson Rafael went to the defense of his grandmother, he said.
“They hit my grandma in the mouth and the white cop called her a whore and slut, and when I said something to him, he tried to grab me off the porch, and he called me a little shit and a bastard.”
Rafael demonstrated exactly where he and his grandmother were standing on the porch. He said he was on the right of the steps while his grandmother was on the left (facing the house), when he went to her defense.
Meanwhile, Jones’ daughter LaKrystal Sanders videotaped the events on her camera.
Killer cop Joseph Weekley (l), Aiyana Stanley-Jones (r) and depiction of her killing after attorney Geoffrey Fieger obtained new autopsy results showing she was shot in the head, not the neck on May 16, 2010.
“I told them one of you cops just went to court today because he murdered my niece,” Sanders said. “I screamed that Aiyana Jones was murdered by the cops. I told them you better call your lawyers, because I’m recording you all. I told them I want your badge numbers after they hit my mother with the flashlight. They started backing off then.”
She said the cops were “pulling on their guns” as if about to shoot. She said the family was concerned about Bobbie and other young Black males in the house.
Detroit Gang Squad members in 2009; many have been cut since then due to complaints of excessive force.
Family members said a white female officer who knows the family finally told the cops to leave after at least ten minutes of terror, but the cops still kept shining lights into their faces and into the house, blinding them.
“The cops have known where we lived ever since we moved here,” Jones said. “They drive by here all the time shining their lights into the house.”
Family members said the officers were in blue-and-white marked cars, some of them in plainclothes and some in uniform. They said they appeared to be from the gang squad in the seventh precinct, riding four to a car.
Detroit Police Department Assistant Chief Ralph Godbee addresses the media about the shooting of Aiyana Stanley-Jones in 2010.
Jones said she had just been at the hospital a couple of days before; her health has been deteriorating since the day Aiyana was killed. The incident happened on the anniversary of her sister JoAnn Robinson’s death. Robinson was present in the room on May 16, 2010, when the Detroit Police Special Response team, being filmed by A&E’s First 48 show, threw an incendiary grenade into the house and then shot Aiyana in the head.
Her health had also declined since that time.
Voice of Detroit contacted Mayor Dave Bing’s chief of communications Naomi Patton, who said she would “try” to get back with a response from his office. A message was left with the Police Department communications office for Chief of Police Ralph Godbee’s spokesperson Eren Stephens. A week later, neither has responded.
Family members said neither Bing nor Godbee has ever apologized to them in person for Aiyana’s death.
To watch LaKrystal Sanders’ video of the police raid, click on
14-year-old Rafael Jones leads march April 23 at Frank Murphy, with his grandmother Mertilla Jones, aunt LaKrystal Sanders holding signs behind him.
Judge considers “flash-bang” demo to show Weekley’s “disorientation;” defense and prosecution agree to delete parts of audio from video
By Diane Bukowski
June 16, 2012
Aiyana Stanley-Jones with baby brother before her death in 2010; she had six young brothers.
DETROIT – Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Cynthia Gray-Hathaway, Prosecutor Robert Moran, and Stephen Fishman, defense attorney for Detroit cop Joseph Weekley, who shot seven-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones to death two years ago in a violent raid. appeared to collude on Weekley’s behalf during motion hearings in the case June 15.
Weekley shot the child in the head, after a so-called “flash-bang” stun grenade was thrown through the window under which Aiyana and her grandmother were sleeping.
The diminutive Weekley, who appears no taller than five feet, faces involuntary manslaughter charges for negligently executing a search warrant, and perjury charges.
Aiyana Jones' father Charles Jones (r) is comforted by his aunt JoAnn Robinson May 16, 2010, the morning of her killing by Weekley; Ms. Robinson passed a year later. Hole from flash-bang grenade is to the left of Robinson's head; Charles Jones sits on bloody couch where his daughter died.
Gray Hathaway took “under advisement” the possibility of providing a real-life demonstration of the impact of the stun grenade on the individuals inside, including Weekley. She scheduled a “trial run” for judge and attorneys only on July 27 at 11 a.m. Press would not be permitted at the trial run, while it remains unclear whether press coverage will be allowed if the jury sees the demonstration.
“I ask the court to be able to allow the jury to experience the impact of a flash-bang [grenade],” Moran said. “The grand juror asked that this be done for him, to understand the effects of the device on people in the house as well as police officers in the home. He said it was ‘enlightening.’”
Moran said the device is intended to disorient people in the home.
Grand juror Wayne County Circuit Court Judge TImothy Kenny, a member of the right-wing Federalist Society.
Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Timothy Kenny was the grand juror who took secret testimony in the case.
Mertilla Jones, Aiyana’s grandmother who was sleeping on the couch below the window with Aiyana at the time, told VOD later that day that Weekley did not enter the home until after the grenade went off, so could not have been affected by it. She said it did not even stun her.
“I heard the flash bang hit the window, and a lot of light came through,” she said. “I hit the floor before it could hit me, but my grandbaby jerked when it hit her blanket and set it on fire. Weekley came in after that with his gun pointed down at her head. I told him, hold on, don’t shoot, that’s a seven-year-old baby girl, but he just went POW.”
Jones said she saw the look in his eyes as he shot Aiyana.
Detroit SRT cop Joseph Weekley, featured on A&E website nicknamed "Brain."
“He didn’t look shocked or stunned or even remorseful,” she said. “They came there to kill, not to arrest someone.”
Moran is also prosecuting Aiyana’s father Charles Jones on first-degree murder charges in a case that was the pretext for a Special Response Team assault on the Jones’ family’s home on Lillibridge May 16, 2010, It was filmed in the dead of night by a camera crew from A&E’s The First 48. Some have questioned whether this is a conflict of interest.
“My client is facing charges for being grossly negligent, but this didn’t have anything to do with him,” Fishman said.
P.O. Kata-Ante Taylor, who executed teen in front of Cantrell funeral home in 2008, carried Aiyana's body out of house; neither he nor anyone else on the SRT team or in police command has been charged in the child's death.
“He didn’t make the decision to have a camera following them, it was made by [then Police Chief] Warren Evans. He didn’t come up with the idea of let’s go out in the middle of the night and use a flash-bang grenade. He was not the person who threw the grenade. That person was inept. He was supposed to have thrown it earlier. I would hate to defend the department in a civil lawsuit on this case.”
Moran said Weekley and other SRT officers have been trained to operate properly while a stun grenade is going off, even nearby.
The Jones’ family’s attorney Geoffrey Fieger said in 2010 that a police car was outside their home during the day and could have arrested the person they had the warrant for, Chauncey Owens, peacefully when he exited the upper flat of the house during the day.
Fishman delayed asking for dismissal of the charges against Weekley, but indicated he would do so in future hearings. A trial date for Weekley was set for Oct. 22, 2012.
Moran and Fishman also agreed to delete certain audio potions of the two videotapes taken by the A & E crew when they are shown to the jury.
Fishman said afterwards there are dogs barking, and crying and wailing from the family on the tapes, but also comments from police officers. He said he could not see whether Weekley was already in the house by looking at the videos.
The case against Allison Howard, a producer for A&E, for committing perjury by claiming she did not show or provide copies of the videotapes to a third party, has been severed from Weekley’s case. She is expected to go to trial in December.
New information came to light during the hearing June 15 on Howard’s case.
Allison Howard at arraignment.
Howard’s defense attorney Robert Harrison said one witness who refused to testify against Howard spent three months in Wayne County jail on contempt of court charges before acquiescing. He said another witness was threatened with the same, and eventually agreed to comply.
Later, he named the two as John Cassar, who runs Italio Collision and Auto at 19049 W. Warren in Detroit, and Lee O’Brien. During the hearing, he implied that some of the witnesses may have criminal records related to “theft and dishonesty.”
“It was common knowledge that she [Howard] went out to a party going on in the Canton home of one of the witnesses that night, with a police officer friend, and that she sold a copy of the tape to a third individual for $2500,” Moran said. Harrison said afterwards that there was no party.
Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway with husband Deputy Sheriff Dewayne Hayes
Gray Hathaway granted a joint motion made by Moran and Harrison for a “bill of particulars” detailing the exact elements of the charges brought against Weekley and Howard.
Jones family members later noted the dissimilar treatment of Weekley, who has been out on personal bond since his arraignment and was allowed to have his trial severed from Howard,” and that of her son Charles Jones and Chauncey Owens. The two face first-degree murder charges in the death of Je’Rean Blakely, 17, during a contentious incident two days before the police raid on the Jones house.
They are being held without bond in Wayne County Jail. Owens has been incarcerated there for two years, after making statements admitting to the killing, while Jones was arrested after an investigation that took more than a year and a half.
Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Richard Skutt, while barring the third-person testimony of jail-house snitch Jay Schlenkerman against Jones, did not sever the cases. Jones has said he had nothing to do with the Blake shooting, and did not provide Owens with the gun as contended by Schlenkerman. Owens refused to testify at his preliminary hearing and was held in contempt of court by 36th District Court Judge E. Lynise Bryant-Weekes.
Stephen Murphy of Standard and Poors and Joe O’Keefe of Fitch Ratings (center) lobbied for $1.5 billion pension bond deal at City Council table in 2004; with Detroit CFO Sean Werdlow at left; Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams at right; now Fitch has downgraded Detroit’s ratings once again over worries it will not pay; Wall Street as a whole engaged in maasive predatory lending to governments during that period, leading eventually to the historic collapse of 2008, signaled by the fall of Lehman Brothers
June 12, 2012
(VOD: note the article below says the state as well as Detroit could have prevented downgrade; it was the state which threatened to withhold the money Detroit’s CFO Jack Martin was counting on to pay the bond debt, in violation of the Fiscal Stability Agreement.)
(Reuters) – Concerns that Detroit may miss a payment due Friday on its pension debt led Fitch Ratings to lower the city’s already junk-level ratings into the C category on Tuesday, denoting a higher chance of default.
Snyder and Bing are colluding to dismantle Detroit.
Fitch analyst Amy Laskey cited statements by Mayor Dave Bing that the city may not be able to make a payment on $1.5 billion of pension debt as it may run out of cash by Friday.
Michigan reached an agreement with Detroit in April to provide the city with some budget relief in exchange for more state oversight over the city’s finances.
But a lawsuit challenging the legality of that agreement has bottled up plans to raise $137 million through a debt sale to keep city operations going.
Detroiters demanded moratorium on debt to banks in march on May 9, 2012.
Michigan’s deputy treasurer said last week that the lawsuit needs to be withdrawn this week or the city will lose $82.5 million in state revenue-sharing payments. With the bond deal on hold, these payments would be diverted to pay off an interim debt issue placed privately in March.
On Monday, Bing sent a letter to Detroit Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon directing her to drop the lawsuit she filed earlier this month. The letter also said he is consulting with “outside legal experts in this matter in order to execute my duties.” Crittendon has not commented so far.
“All of the events in the last week point out the impressive challenges they face,” Laskey said.
Fitch said “there are actions available to both the city and the state of Michigan that would ensure the payment is made but that the current level of uncertainty so close to a bond repayment date is consistent with a higher probability of default than the prior B-category ratings implied.”
Crittendon’s complaint, which was filed against the state in Michigan’s Court of Claims, challenges the validity of the financial stability agreement on a claim that Michigan owes the city more than $230 million. A motion for an expedited hearing in the case is up before Judge William Collette on Wednesday, according to his office.
Ahead of signing the pact, the city and state agreed to a deal to provide some breathing room in Detroit’s budget by restructuring some outstanding debt to push $37 million in debt-service payments into the future.
The longer-term debt issue would also include $100 million of new bonds to fund the city’s fiscal 2012 and 2013 self-insurance payments.
The first step was an $80 million interim financing that was privately placed in March. The second step is issuing a longer-term bond issue later this month to raise $137 million and replace the interim debt.
But Tom Saxton, Michigan’s deputy treasurer, advised the city last week that the lawsuit was derailing issuance of the longer-term bonds and as a consequence $82.5 million in state revenue sharing due to Detroit between this month and December would instead be used to pay off the interim debt issue.
Fitch lowered the city’s unlimited tax general obligation rating on about $511 million of bonds to CCC from B and cut the rating on about $453 million of limited tax GO bonds to CC from B-minus.
The rating on Detroit’s pension obligation certificates of participation was downgraded to CC from B with a warning that the rating could fall to the lowest level of D if the city misses a debt service payment. The city’s GO bond ratings “will likely be adjusted to a level somewhat above D,” Fitch added.
The city has suffered a staggering population decline in recent years, causing its revenue base to shrink. Companies that once paid hefty taxes, including General Motors Co (GM.N), have reduced their presence in a city synonymous with the auto industry.
Naomi Patton, Bing’s spokeswoman, said earlier on Tuesday city officials were working to ensure money is available to make the $34.2 million debt service payment on the pension bonds.
As for the downgrade, Chris Brown, Detroit’s chief operating officer, said in a statement that the downgrade was not unexpected given the outstanding litigation.
“Ultimately, we are working to restore our financial reputation with the rating agencies by stabilizing the city’s finances,” Brown said.
Sara Wurfel, a spokeswoman for Governor Rick Snyder, said the lawsuit is creating uncertainty and delaying needed reforms.
“Governor Snyder and the state are continuing to stay focused on partnering with, and doing everything possible to work with the city to address its historic fiscal crisis, move forward and ensure Detroit succeeds,” Wurfel said.
In March, Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services downgraded Detroit’s GO rating to B with a negative outlook from BB, while Moody’s Investors Service dropped the rating to B2 from Ba3 and warned of a further downgrade.
There was no trading in the pension COPs in the U.S. municipal bond market, according to a Municipal Market Data analyst.
In the meantime, the situation led Detroit’s Water and Sewerage Department to postpone a $596 million sewer revenue bond issue that was slated to price this week, said Matt Schenk, the department’s chief operating officer.
“We want to get past the looming deadline on Friday,” he said, adding there was no firm date when the bonds, which are a separate credit from Detroit, will be priced. “There is some headline risk going on right now.”
(Reporting by Karen Pierog, additional reporting by Caryn Trokie in New York; Editing by Richard Chang and Carol Bishopric)
Cindy Darrah, Sandra Hines, and James Cole Jr. express their opinion of Judge William Collette’s decision on the Ingham County Circuit Court steps June 13, 2012.
Supporters of Detroit Corporation Counsel say judge ignored “rule of law”
By Diane Bukowski
June 14, 2012
Judge William Collette appears disgruntled from the beginning, as Asst. Corp. Counsel James Noseda presents his arguments June 13, 2012.
MASON, MI – “I never saw a situation like this before, where the Corporation Counsel operates independently of the Mayor and City Council,” Ingham County Circuit Court Judge William Collette said June 13 as he summarily dismissed Detroit Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon’s legal action against Detroit’s Public Act 4 consent agreement.
Asst. Corp. Counsel James Noseda argues Charter is rule of law.
“This is such an obvious situation,” he continued. “I saw it from the moment it happened. People just need to learn to live with this and move this ahead. I don’t know how anybody else can sue the state. Dave Bing is the mayor and he has the authority.”
Detroit’s Assistant Corporation Counsel James Noseda responded, “I object to having a motion for summary disposition decided this way, instead of on the rule of law.”
Earlier, he argued that the newly revised City Charter gives Crittendon the authority to take independent judicial action, under various provisions of Section 7.5 Chapter 2 as follow
Atorneys for the state and for Mayor Bing argued that Crittendon had no authority to file suit on her own, based primarily on Section 7.5-203:
During his commentary, Collette referred to the fact that his rulings holding that Public Act 4 financial review teams should be open to the public have been overturned. His entire demeanor since those actions clearly had changed.
He never addressed Corporation Counsel’s arguments expressed in the complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief.
Corporation Counsel contended the agreement is void because the State of Michigan owes the City of Detroit at least $230.4 million in revenue-sharing funds, water and electric bills, and other outstanding invoices. Both state and city statutes bar contracts with entities in monetary default.
Collette’s only reference to those contentions was to scoff at a bill for state employees; parking ticket included in the invoices.
The state actually owes the City hundreds of millions more, due to the actions of Department of Human Services Director Maura Corrigan, who withheld federal funds for Detroiters’ emergency needs from the city’s Human Services Department, Two lawsuits filed by city workers from APTE an AFSCME are pending regarding her actions and plans to close and privatize the departments of Detroit Health and Wellness Promotion and Workforce Development.
On June 11, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Wendy Baxter issued a temporary restraining order against the shutdowns of the three federally-funded departments. A hearing on that matter is to take place on Fri. June 22 in her court at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center.
A busload of Detroiters organized by Free Detroit-No Consent and the Rev. David Bullock traveled to the hearing to support Crittendon’s action.
WWJ radio's Florence Walker interviews Rev. David Bullock after hearing.
“[Judge Collette] decided based on his opinion, not the rule of law,” Rev. Bullock told reporters. “Since the rule of law is no longer going to be respected in our courts, I hope that the people of Detroit and other cities affected by Public Act 4 like Benton Harbor, Pontiac and Flint do not decide to be lawless as well.”
He predicted “a long hot summer.”
The group remained defiant after the hearing, holding up their fists and waving placards on the court house steps. As they stepped off the bus in Detroit, they chanted, “Free Detroit-No Consent.” They also called on people to protest at Bank of America Fri. June 15 at 4 P.M (see announcement above.)
Part of Free Detroit-No Consent busload remained defiant on Ingham County Courthouse steps after hearing.
For the hearing, Bing again retained the law firm of Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, represented this time by Hogan. Their attorney Michael McGee, a co-author of Public Act 4 who continues to advise the Mayor and Council, hovered behind Hogan as he spoke to reporters.
Bing’s attorney (side to camera) is interviewed as Michael McGee stands by; Rev. Bullock is at right.
Under terms of the Charter as cited above, their hiring should have been subject to Crittendon’s approval, as well as the consent agreement. Crittendon, as the attorney who officially represents the City of Detroit as a corporate entity, and its citizens, was completely kept out of the loop on those matters.
City officials including (l to r) CFO Jack Martin, COO Chris Brown, Mayor Dave Bing and Deputy Mayor Kirk Lewis listen intently as attorney Michael McGee, co-author of Public Act 4 and city/state/MFA advisor on $137 million loan, argues that Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon has no authority to sue on behalf of Detroit.
$13 million paid out to vendors in one week despite alleged cash shortfall;
Council stands up to Big 5 June 11, but to meet in closed sessions June 13
By Diane Bukowski
June 12, 2012
DETROIT – Did the City of Detroit’s new “Big Five” deliberately engineer a fiscal crisis to get Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon to “stand down” from legal action challenging the validity of the June 4 Public Act 4 consent agreement?
So far, Crittendon has refused to back off, pending a hearing in the State’s Court of Claims before Ingham County Circuit Court Judge William Collette Wed. June 13, at 10 a.m.
Mayor Dave Bing demands Council stop Corporation Counsel legal action, in meeting June 11, 2012.
The Big Five took the stage at a joint meeting with City Council June 11. They are (in alphabetical order, not necessarily order of dominance), Mayor Dave Bing, Chief Operating Officer Chris Brown, Deputy Mayor Kirk Lewis, Chief Financial Officer Jack Martin, and last but by far not least, attorney Michael McGee, co-author of Public Act 4, as shown above.
“I demand that Corporation Counsel withdraw her lawsuit, and I demand that the City Council make the Corporation Counsel withdraw her lawsuit,” Bing stormed. Later he told the Council to vote to dismiss the lawsuit.
Councilman Kwame Kenyatta blasts Big 5 at Council meeting June 11, 2012.
“There is a $32 million bond payment on the pension obligation certificates due this Friday,” Chief Financial Officer Jack Martin, newly installed after joint approval by Michigan Governor Rick Snyder and Bing, said. “We were planning to make it based on $35 million in the escrow account from the state, but they will not advance it so long as the lawsuit is in place.”
In fact, the Fiscal Stablity [Consent] Agreement says the following about the loan.
“The anticipated aggregate size of the refinancing is approximately $137 million, of which approximately $33 million will be used to refinance existing debt, and approximately $104 million will be placed in an escrow account and used to pay for costs of the Reform Program and for City operating expenses.”
Attorney Jerome Goldberg said, “This is outrageous. Here we had city employees worried about whether they would be paid Friday, but the city was really worrying about paying off its POC debt.”
On June 12, City Council Fiscal Analyst Irvin Corley told Council that $13 million was mysteriously missing from the city’s cash flow forecast of May 24, which had the city in the black.
Corley told VOD later in the day that he has now discovered the $13 million was paid out to city vendors in just one week, money not included in the May 24 projection. Martin claimed June 11 that the city could “barely pay” its vendors and was not paying some.
Fiscal Analyst Irvin Corley at Council session March 29, 2012.
“The question I am asking the administration now is what prompted them to spend an additional $13 million in one week’s time on vendors?” Corley said.
Martin said June 11 that global accounting firm Ernst & Young generated the deficit figures. The states of New York and New Jersey are suing Ernst & Young for cooking Lehman Brothers’ books before its historic collapse in 2008. Is this a repeat performance? Is this criminal malfeasance on the part of the Big 5?
Council President Charles Pugh confronted them immediately June 11, telling Bing that the city’s lawyer is Corporation Counsel Crittendon, not McGee, when Bing said he had taken McGee’s advice.
“The Corp Counsel says she has a charter-mandated responsibility to do what she is doing,” Pugh said. “We cannot interfere. You, Mayor Bing, and you Jack Martin, and you Chris Brown and you Kirk Lewis, the four of you should be able to negotiate with the state to preserve our fiduciary responsibility to the citizens.”
Free Detroit-No Consent members turned out in force at council meeting June 11.
Bing began, “The Charter . . . .” then paused and said “Mike would you explain?”
Council members Kwame Kenyatta and JoAnn Watson erupted in outrage.
Councilwoman JoAnn Watson says state is guilty of extortion at meeting June 11, 2012.
“I find it appalling that we would bring in an outside attorney in to interpret the Charter,” Kenyatta said. “On that bond, he represented the city, the state and the Michigan Finance Authority. He got paid three ways. He wrote Public Act 4 and then advised us on Public Act 4. The City should have demanded that the Governor not violate the state’s bullying law. Until the court says the consent agreement is invalid, we should tell the GOVERNOR to stand down. I support the Corporation Counsel—how are you going to demand that someone not follow the law?”
Watson followed.
“This amounts to not just bullying—it sounds like extortion,” she said. “The state should not be in the business of engaging in that kind of behavior. It is outrageous, particularly given that the consent agreement never had any money on the table in the first place. That $137 million was a loan, money our grandchildren will be paying back. It is outrageous to make the high-demanded and then have threats of dismissal of the Corporation Counsel running on the media this weekend.”
Corporation Counsel Krystal Crittendon warning Council against PA4 consent agreement March 29, 2012.
Remaining Council members, except for President Pro-Tem Gary Brown, agreed that they had no power over Crittendon and refused to take any action against her. Crittendon can only be dismissed by the Mayor and a supermajority of the Council.
Bing, appearing to be taken aback by the Council’s response, said he himself did not intend to fire her.
Councilwoman Saunteel Jenkins said the state could resolve Crittendon’s legal action by simply paying at least part of the debts it owes Detroit. She and several other Council members downplayed the $224 million in revenue-sharing that Crittendon raised.
However, her legal action is in the Court of Claims, the only entity with the authority to handle monetary claims against the state. It will be up to Judge Collette to determine the validity of the $224 million debt as well as the others Crittendon listed in her request for a declaratory judgment.
Ingham County Circuit Court Judge WIlliam Collette
Payment of those debts would eliminate the alleged necessity for the pending $250 million city budget cuts, 2566 lay-offs, and elimination of entire departments.
Crittendon’s challenge to the consent agreement is that the city, under both state and federal laws, cannot enter into a contract with any entity in default to it. The state would remain in default if Collette determines the $224 million is a valid debt.
Willie Mae Hampton tells Council to stand firm in support of Crittendon.
Detroit residents packed the meeting, many of them members of Free Detroit-No Consent. They waved “We do not consent” placards and spoke forcibly in favor of Crittendon. They pointed out that the newly revised Charter not only gives her the power to take legal action against violations of the Charter, but also assigns her the duty of approving all contracts, bond issues, and other matters.
They also said the Council should have listened to Crittendon, not McGee, and voted the consent agreement down in the first place, on June 4. Only Council members JoAnn Watson, Kwame Kenyatta, Brenda Jones and Andre Spivey voted NO.
Council Pres. PT Gary Brown was angry that he could not get Council to go forward with consent agreement June 12 by voting to Financial Advisory Board designees.
The situation, however, remains in flux. On June 12, the Council voted unanimously to hold two closed sessions June 13, one at 10:30 am and one at 2 pm. In the morning, the joint session will involve the Big 5, the Council and Crittendon, who evidently will not appear herself in Collette’s courtroom. In the afternoon, the Council will meet separately with Crittendon.
Brown moved unsuccessfully June 12 to vote that day to go forward with the terms of the consent agreement by appointing the Council’s two designees to the Financial Advisory Board. He said the legal dispute will not be resolved immediately.
Councilman Kenneth Cockrel, Jr. said he agreed with Brown. Jenkins said they could hold an adjourned session June 14 to deal with a possible vote on the matter.
APTE President Dempsey Addison during first Occupy Detroit march in 2011.
During public comments June 12, Dempsey Addison, president of the Association of Professional and Technical Employees (APTE), asked Council not to allow the dismantling and privatization of the federally-funded departments of Human Services, Health and Wellness Promotion, and Workforce Development. She said hundreds of lay-offs are scheduled to begin shortly.
“If the city is broke, why are we giving away hundreds of millions in federal grants?” she asked.
The Council voted unanimously June 1 only to temporarily fund the three departments while privatization progresses. They put the finishing touch on the budget June 12 by voting to approve the last outstanding item involving property taxes.
Below:
City Council, Mayor & Consent Crisis! – – A No Struggle, No Development Production! By Kenny Snodgrass, Activist, Photographer, Videographer, Author of From Victimization To Empowerment…
