Cox again linked to Manoogian Mansion stripper party

The truth always comes out, and ethically challenged Michigan Republican Gubernatorial candidate “Manoogian” Mike Cox is finding that out.

After months and months of denials about the rumored stripper party at the Manoogian Mansion in 2002 and a murdered dancer at the party, a witness has come forward to place Cox at the party, according to Fox 2 News.

The party has become an urban legend, but there is no doubt Cox gave special treatment to convicted former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Michigan State Police Detectives said in a deposition that as Michigan Attorney General, Cox and the Detroit police may have obstructed an investigation linked to Kilpatrick and the 2003 murder of a Detroit stripper.

He threw those detectives under the bus calling them liars because they did not work in Lansing, but then his campaign ad he has a retired cop say this is just a political ploy to smear Cox. I’m at a loss as to why we should believe that retired officer and not the other two.

No doubt Cox will try to discredit and smear this witness as well
But, here’s Fox2’s report:

LIVONIA, Mich. - It's the story that haunted former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's administration -- the rumored, wild party at the Manoogian Mansion. Now, a witness has come forward with explosive testimony. He says the party did indeed happen and at least one other high ranking official was there.

"He came to us. He contacted us several months ago," said attorney Norman Yatooma. "Each time his story has had the exact same explicit detail. I believe he's telling the truth."

Yatooma says an affidavit represents an enormous break in proving an alleged cover-up. For the first time a witness on the record is saying he was at the rumored but never proven Manoogian Mansion party thrown by former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in the fall of 2002.

"He witnessed lap dances occurring for both Mike Cox, as well as for Kwame Kilpatrick. He knew Tammy Greene, so he knew that to be Tammy Greene who was providing Kwame Kilpatrick a lap dance," Yatooma said. "He says that Carlita came in, assaulted Tammy Greene. I think the word he used was that she punched her and that they collapsed on a coffee table, broke the table and that Carlita used a leg of that table to beat Tammy Greene with."

Yatooma calls this a motive for a murder cover-up by the ex-mayor since dancer Tamera Greene was shot to death in April of 2003.

Cox has a history of problems with honesty, and he also has a history of only coming clean when busted. In 2005 he called a press conference to tell the state that he cheated on his wife. But it was a preemptive move because he falsely accused high profile Oakland County lawyer Geoffrey Fieger of blackmail, and he believed Fieger would rat him out. He also has a long history with the jailed former Mayor.

Hansen Clarke increases his lead in the 13th Congressional District

Hard work by the Hansen Clarke for Congress campaign has put him 13 percentage points ahead of incumbent Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick for the Democratic nomination in the 13th Congressional District, according to an EPIC-MRA on July 6.

The polls shows State Sen. Hansen Clarke, D-Detroit, ahead 44 to 31 percent among likely voters in the Aug. 3 Democratic primary for the 13th Congressional District. The four other Democratic challengers got a total of 9 percent among them with no one at more than 3 percent. Clarke has increased his lead from a poll by Practical Political Consulting and Inside Michigan Politics last month that gave Clarke a 27 to 19 percent lead.
According to the Detroit Free Press, “nearly half of the poll respondents who weren’t choosing Kilpatrick cited Kilpatrick family scandals as their reason for not wanting to keep the seven-term incumbent in office” The scandals with her son, former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, are well documented. “Another 15 percent said it was time for a change from Kilpatrick, who was first elected to Congress in 1996.”

The campaign got even more good news when the Free Press announced its endorsements for the primary on Sunday, and Clarke got the nod as he continues to rack up endorsements and supporters.

Time to send a politician with integrity to Congress

Disgraced former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was indicted this afternoon on 19 fraud-related charges by a federal grand jury, including 10 counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud, five counts of filing false tax returns and one count of tax evasion.

According to the Detroit News, the indictment, the most high profile of a City Hall corruption investigation that has spanned more than five years, alleges that Kilpatrick used the nonprofit Kilpatrick Civic Fund to pay for his mayoral campaigns in 2001 and 2005, as well as personal items for him, his family and friends.

The news also said, “although sources and some court documents have indicated that investigators have looked at the role Kilpatrick's father Bernard played in his son's administration, he was not named in today's indictment.,“ however, the investigation is still ongoing.

“A federal grand jury subpoenaed records and testimony related to possible abuses in fundraising and expenditures connected with the former mayor's nonprofit foundation, the Kilpatrick Civic Fund. U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Detroit, the mother of the former mayor and ex-wife of Bernard Kilpatrick, was twice subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury, first in March and again this month.”

As far as I’m concerned, Kwame Kilpatrick is old news, and I’m more concerned with his mother. We simply need someone in Congress who is above reproach, like State Sen. Hansen Clarke, D-Detroit. Last year’s primary showed Kilpatrick was vulnerable because of the scandal that sent her son to jail, and she was almost unseated in the primary after 13 years in Congress.

I want Democrats to be above reproach. Democrats like Eliot Spitzer resign, but Republicans like David “Hooker” Vitter, Mark “Appalachian Trail” Sanford and John Ensign continue to serve.

You can’t fault a mother for defending her son, but when so many people are involved in the scandal - from associates and family to friends - it’s hard to believe she is 100 percent clean. But the perception is there

But Clarke took the high ground, and he was quoted in the Detroit News saying, “
said the indictment is "sad news for (Kilpatrick) and his family."

"Even though it's just an indictment, it reinforces the perception that Detroit politicians are self-serving and dishonest," he said, who added he won't make the indictment a campaign issue. "That image we must change in order to change the region economically. Detroit is the brand for the entire region, if not the state."

Clarke gets a boost in Congressional race to unseat incumbent

The campaign of State Sen. Hansen Clarke, D-Detroit, for U.S. Congress in the 13th District is picking up steam, and according to Politico, incumbent Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick is in for a tough race.

In an article in Tuesday’s edition called “Incumbent watch: Who's next to go?” Kilpatrick is among the “list of incumbents who should be looking over their shoulders.”

“If Kilpatrick thought she had seen the end of her political difficulties after narrowly fending off two primary challengers in 2008, she was wrong. Kilpatrick, who has come under sharp criticism for her fierce defense of her embattled son, former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, waved off concerns about the looming intraparty fight during her campaign kickoff speech Monday, telling reporters, “We’re ready for the challenge.”

U.S. Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, was the first incumbent to lose his party’s nomination this year after he lost last Sunday, and the article lists nine other incumbents besides Kilpatrick who could lose in a primary. Those are Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo.; Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va; Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah; Rep. Bob Inglis, R-S.C.; Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif.; Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa.; Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark.; and Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa.

Clarke has picked up some early labor endorsements, and he has steadily been picking up supporters. The negative is that there also four other Democrats in the race besides Clarke, and the Rev. Glenn Plummer is the most notable. Two years ago there were two candidates in the primary race besides Kilpatrick, and they split the vote giving Kilpatrick a narrow victory. In fact, the two Democratic challengers took more than 32,000 votes, and Kilpatrick only received 21,000 votes.

Tomorrow, Friday, is the deadline to withdraw, and in Detroit it’s common for candidates to file for the price of the filing fee just to see who else will file. Most likely some will withdraw by the deadline.

Cloud still hangs over ‘Manoogian’ Mike Cox

The trouble continues for the ethically challenged Michigan Republican Gubernatorial candidate “Manoogian” Mike Cox.

Subscription only MIRS is reporting that former Detroit area trash king Anthony Soave’s personal PAC has contributed more than $42,000 to Cox since 2005.

Soave has a shady past; “including unproven allegations that he had links to organized crime. Soave's City Management was once the largest trash hauling and landfill company in Michigan. In 1998, he sold it to Waste Management for a reported $750 million. Soave is now CEO of Soave Enterprises, one of the nation's largest private holding companies with annual revenues of $1.6 billion a year. The company has real estate holdings, scrap yards, recycling facilities, landfills, beer distributorships, car dealerships, construction companies and taxi fleets.”

According to an article published by the Traverse City Record Eagle on Oct. 15, 2006, “Soave had been investigated by the FBI, Michigan State Police, and New Jersey State Police. He has been indicted just once, in 1971, on federal gambling conspiracy charges, along with several known gamblers and bookies. The case was later dismissed after a judge tossed out wiretap evidence. Past allegations that Soave made loans to members of Detroit organized crime families and in 1999, described the loans to The Detroit News as money he'd given to his old neighborhood when they were down on their luck.”

But Soave has close ties to disgraced former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, as does Cox who obstructed an investigation linked to Kilpatrick and the never-proven 2002 Manoogian Mansion stripper party and murder of dancer Tamara Greene.

Detroit area TV stations have reported that Soave flew Kilpatrick around in his company jets - including a trip to Tallahassee and back after Kilpatrick's text message scandal broke. Along with the flights, Detroit area TV station WXYZ speculated that Soave or entities connected with him paid for Kilpatrick's publicized 2007 family vacation at the Ritz-Carlton Resort in Naples, Florida, including a nearly $10,000 hotel bill.

Despite his best attempts at killing the case, the Greene case continues to haunt Cox.

MIRS is also reporting that on Monday the Capitol was abuzz with the news that “a former assistant to Cox was deposed in the Tamara Greene civil case. Three Detroit-area TV stations reported that Brooke Jordan, whose maiden name was Brooke Liszak when she worked as an assistant AG in the special litigation division of Cox's office from 2004 to 2006, was disposed by the plaintiffs' attorney in the civil case. MIRS reported that Liszak married one of Cox's former drivers and the couple moved to Arizona so he could pursue a career in law enforcement.”

Howell Education Association (HEA) email case may have far reaching effects

LANSING -- The email case involving the Howell Education Association (HEA) representing the teachers and Howell Public Schools could set precedent and have far reaching effects.

The Michigan Court of Appeals took oral arguments today on the case involving a Freedom of Information Request (FOIA) for some 5,500 emails sent and received on HPS computers between union members. The district contends that because they were using an email box owned by the school, they are public record and subject to FOIA.

The teacher’s union contends that they are not subject to FOIA because they do not meet the scope of FOIA in that they do not affect the performance of a public body. The school district had said all along that the teachers have a recognized right to use the computers, but any written communications on a public computer is subject to public disclosure.

“Certainly, this does not do what the FOIA was intended to do,”said the attorney representing the HEA.”Thousands of these emails are a personal and harmless as ‘I’ll meet you at McDonalds.’”

The hearing before the three judge panel was a lively debate on the future of technology and FOIA, and it may come down to defining how electronic communications and technology fits into FOIA. The issue was broached in the text messages scandal that brought down Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

“What you are telling me is that this is a question of technology,” said Judge Douglas B. Shapiro. “Private communications are private if it’s put in a mailbox, but it’s not of it’s in an email.”

The case came about when rightwing blogger and anti-union activist Chet Zarko went on a fishing expedition in May of 2007 when he submitted a FOIA request in cahoots with Howell school board member Wendy Day to find dirt to embarrass the union with. He accused the HEA of abusing taxpayer-funded resources to promote union causes, but the district said the union had a recognized right to use the computers and email.

In October of 2008 Livingston County Circuit Court Judge Stanley Latreille determined that the e-mails written by union leaders on school computers are public record, but he appointed a special master to review the emails to be released. The HEA appealed that decision to the Court of Appeals.

The HEA said the district’s claim that just because they are on pubic computers maintained and owned by the district they are public record was faulty by comparing it to a student’s locker. Student lockers are owned and maintained by the school district, but the written record by students - including love letters - are not public record. The HEA also said union members have used the old-fashioned office mailboxes in the school office to pass personal and union messages, but those are also not public record. Emails should not be either.

“For years the union has used the school mail box to send notes, letters and newsletters that are not subject to FOIA,” said the attorney representing the HEA.

Under the school district’s position, even emails sent from and to personal lap top computers would be subject to FOIA if they used the district Wi-Fi.

The Court took testimony and written briefs, but they did not rule on the issue.

Clarke may challenge Cheeks-Kilpatrick for Congressional seat

State Sen. Hansen Clarke, D-Detroit, may be running to unseat U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Detroit.

The term-limited Senator told subscription only MIRS last week that has been approached to run against the long-time Congresswoman. He has not made a final decision but he has not ruled it out. I hope he makes a run.

Kilpatrick has represented the 13th District for seven terms. But after her son – former disgraced Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick - was embroiled in scandal, she faced two challengers last year, and she was almost unseated in the primary. The two Democratic challengers basically split the vote, and Kilpatrick squeaked by. The 13th District represents most of the east side of Detroit, as well as some of the northern portion of the Downriver area. Clark’s 1st Senate District is located within most of the 13th District where he is very popular. Clarke also challenged her son for Detroit Mayor in 2005, but failed.

MIRS reported that polling has indicated that Kilpatrick is vulnerable once again in 2010. Although Kilpatrick has never been involved in a scandal, that I’m aware of, it would be great to have someone as upright as Clarke in the office.

Clarke serves as the minority vice-chair of the Health Policy Committee and the Commerce and Tourism Committee. He also serves on the Judiciary Committee, the Banking and Financial Institutions Committee and the Government Operations and Reform Committee. He has been an outspoken champion of foreclosure protection and insurance reform, and he has spoken passionately about it on the Senate floor.

Livingston County Democrats are familiar with Clarke after he spoke at the annual Edwin B. Winans Dinner in 2007. He told the story of how his political career began as an undergraduate at Cornell University when he beat another undergraduate from a rich, well-connected family named Ann Coulter for a student council seat.

Clarke grew up from humble beginnings in a working class neighborhood on Detroit's lower east side to attend an Ivy League university and become an attorney. He was raised alone by his mother, who worked as a school crossing guard, after his father passed away when he was just 8 years old. While in the third grade, an observant teacher recognized his artistic ability that promoted him to take art classes at the Detroit Institute of Arts, and it eventually led to a scholarship to Cornell University where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

Clarke then attended Georgetown University Law School. After he received his law degree he returned to Michigan to practice law. He was elected to his first of three terms in the Michigan House in 1990. Clarke is not afraid to challenge an incumbent. He unseated an incumbent in the Senate in 2002, and he took on the incumbent Detroit Mayor in 2005.

Another ethically challenged GOP Gubernatorial candidate

The Citizen’s watchdog group Progress Michigan sent a letter last week to the U.S. Attorney for eastern Michigan calling for the U.S. Justice Department to conduct an independent investigation of allegations that Attorney General Mike Cox and the Detroit police may have obstructed an investigation linked to former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and the 2003 murder of a Detroit stripper.

“It’s time to clear the air and have, at last, an outside, uncompromised investigation into the events leading up to and surrounding the death of Tamara Greene,” said David Holtz, executive director of Progress Michigan, in a press release. “These longstanding allegations are more than just “gum on the shoe” of Mike Cox, they’re a black eye on a state that can ill afford it.”

The Michigan State Police detectives involved in the investigation said in a deposition last month in the wrongful death civil lawsuit that they believed the DPD was destroying evidence in the case. But one investigator’s testimony also said because of actions by Cox, they were powerless to stop them. They also claimed Cox met with Kilpatrick privately off the record, and that he refused to allow the detective to interview the mayor’s wife.

Cox, a Republican candidate for Michigan governor, has told every news outlet he can that the long rumored party at the Detroit Manoogian Mansion never happened and the detectives are lying. However, he has never gone on record. That will change Dec. 11 when Cox will give a deposition in the federal lawsuit against the City of Detroit brought by Greene’s family.

However, that deposition will be sealed. Cox made the grandstand ploy of asking the judge that his deposition be made in public and his deposition unsealed. But he, as an attorney, knew the answer before he asked, or he would not have asked.

“The common-sense solution here is to have an outside organization take charge of the investigation,” . Holtz said. “With corruption being one of the Justice Department’s top investigative priorities, it seems U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg is the right man for the job.”

Cox has a history of problems with honesty, and he also has a history of only coming clean when busted. In 2005 he called a press conference to tell the state that he cheated on his wife. But it was a preemptive move because he falsely accused high profile Oakland County lawyer Geoffrey Fieger of blackmail, and he believed Fieger would rat him out.

In 2007 Cox tried to build a personal gym in his office at taxpayer expense, but he had to back off only when he got caught.

Progress Michigan’s mission is to provide a strong credible voice that holds public officials and government accountable, assists in the promotion of progressive ideas and uses state-of-the-art web based new media to creatively build grassroots support for progressive ideas.

Ward calls in sick for 94tth Legislative session

After the 2006 campaign where he was as scare as snow in July in Livingston County, it came as no surprise that state Rep. Chris Ward, R-Brighton, missed more votes and more days of work than any lawmaker during the 94th Legislative session that just ended on Dec. 30.

Ward missed 385 votes out of a total of 1,500 roll call votes for the two-year session that ran from January 2007 until Dec. 30, 2008, according to an annul report by Michigan Votes, maintained by the conservative Mackinac Center for Public Policy. The outcome for the term-limited Republican was never in doubt because he led the Legislature with the most missed votes in 2007, trailed closely by fellow Livingston County Republican Sen. Valde Garcia, R-Howell.

But Ward was given a run for his money in the session by Detroit Democrat Rep. Marsha Cheeks, the aunt of imprisoned Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. Cheeks missed 358 votes in the session, but she edged out Ward for the annual lead in 2008, missing 288 votes to Ward's 252 votes in 2008.

With the Legislature only meeting three days a week it seems a little odd that Ward would miss so much. Many state employees live in Livingston County and work in Lansing, and they make the commute up and down I-96 everyday, myself included. The only difference is we are not paid mileage to commute like Ward is.

Kilpatrick blasts text-scandal critics in State of the City address

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick laid out his vision for the City of Detroit in his seventh State of the City Address Tuesday night. But he took the last five minutes to take shots at his critics, including TV stations, for what he called “a hate-filled, bigoted attack on his family” over the growing text-messaging scandal.

“In the past 30 days I have been called a n----- more than anytime in my entire life,” he said. “In the past three days I have received more death threats than I have in my entire administration. I've heard these words before, but I've never heard people say them about my wife and children. I don't believe that a Nielsen rating is worth the life of my children or your children. This unethical, illegal lynch-mob mentality has to stop.”

Kilpatrick was greeted by a standing ovation and shouts of “We love you Kwame” from the crowd of some 3,000 inside Orchestra Hall when he was introduced, in sharp contrast to the 50 or so protestors outside demanding his resignation. An emotional Kilpatrick ended his 70-minute speech to a standing ovation as well.

Kilpatrick has been under fire since text messages, revealed in a lawsuit by police whistleblowers, showed he had an affair with his then-chief of staff even though he denied it in court testimony. Next week the City Council plans to vote on a resolution asking him to resign over the scandal, in part because the council says it received false information from attorneys about why the mayor abruptly decided to settle the whistleblower case, costing the city millions of dollars.

On Monday, the scandal took on a new dimension as a retired police clerk swore in an affidavit that she saw a 2002 police report in which dancer Tamara Greene claimed she was attacked by the mayor's wife during a party at the city-owned Manoogian Mansion. Kilpatrick has denied such a party took place. Greene was later found murdered.

Adding more fuel to the Kilpatrick resignation chorus were comments Tuesday from Michigan Speaker of the House Andy Dillon, like Kilpatrick a Democrat, that the city can’t wait for the results of a criminal investigation and trial to resolve the text-messaging scandal.

But Kilpatrick tried to put that all behind him during his speech. While he made a few offhand references to the scandal -- at the beginning of the speech he referred to "the Kwame Kilpatrick roller coaster ride” -- he attempted to paint a picture of hope and optimism.

“Tonight we are at the dawn of an era of a new Detroit,” he said. “Detroit, this is our moment, and we are here to examine the state of Detroit.”

Kilpatrick highlighted the huge development projects that are transforming downtown, including the renovation of some 75 blighted buildings with millions of dollars in new investments. He also addressed the problems facing the city’s neighborhoods, offering a program called the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund. He plans to sell $300 million in new bonds to finance improvements.

He also highlighted police protection, saying he plans to deploy six new mobile police stations in recreational vehicles, and put 300 new police officers on the streets. “We are using technology to bring the police station to you,” he said.

He also outlined addressed juvenile crime with a plan for a residential boarding academy for troubled students, at the old Belle Isle Boat Club site, that would include a Navy ROTC program.

But at the end of his speech he appeared to catch many by surprise when he attacked his critics and said: “I humbly ask that we say 'no more' together."

Governor’s Inaugural speech inspires

Only Gov. Jennifer Granholm can make the oath of office sound lively and exciting, and she did just that today when she was sworn in for her final term by her mentor, Judge Damon Keith, on the Capitol steps in Lansing in front of some 1,000 brave but cold souls.

I was one of those brave souls, and I had a front row SRO perch, thanks to the place-saving ability of Liberal Lucy of Liberal, Loud and Proud. Following the swearing in of the Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, the trustees of the state’s public universities and judges we made our way across the Grand River to the warmth of the Lansing Center to hear the inaugural speeches.

The theme of the scaled down inauguration was “Celebrating the Next Michigan,” and the governor laid out the problems facing Michigan and her slow but study success at diversify our economy by attracting high-tech companies to the state and maintaining our still much needed auto manufacturing base in the face of the disastrous unfair national trade practices.

“We have seen, and we have fought alongside entire communities that have been hollowed out by the ravaging pull of cheap labor from distant lands,” she said. “We all know that our challenges have been decades in the making. And we know that full transformation doesn't happen overnight.”

Her speech was interrupted by applause about a dozen times, especially when she urged legislative and political leaders to put politics aside and act now to begin undoing the problems that the ebbing market share of our state's largest employer has caused over the years and act now.

“Because it will take time, we cannot waste time,” she said. “Feel the urgency. You feel it too. We must act and act now.”

I had the privilege of hearing Anita Baker sing her rousing rendition of the National Anthem, and Whitney Houston has nothing on her. I was a little disappointed at the Invocation of Pastor Dan Miller of St. Joseph. He took an inappropriate shot at newspaper Op-Ed pages in a prayer.

Sen. Carl Levin was the MC, and he acknowledged the great job the governor has done with the mess that was dropped in her lap four years ago.

“She has trimmed more money from the budget than any governor in history, but she still managed to extend health care to 300,000 people, diversified our economy and attracted new businesses to the state,” he said.

Lt. Governor John Cherry highlighted the administration’s fight to bring health care to all Michigan citizens and give every child the means to go to college if they desire. He compared the administration to a ship sailing on the Great Lakes with the governor as the commanding officer, and she has sailed us through some story waters over the past four years.

“She made the tough, gut-check decisions that had to be made to erase the budget deficits we were facing,” he said.

Mayors George Heartwell of Grand Rapids and Kwame Kilpatrick of Detroit led off the remarks. I have heard Kilpatrick speak in the past, but he seemed to me much more mature and more of a leader, and his remarks reflected the theme of Celebrating the Next Michigan when he pointed out the citizens of Michigan have more similarities than differences.

The speech by Attorney General Mike Cox was uninspired at best, and there was good reason why the more than 3,000 people in the Lansing Center sat on their hands during his remarks.

Secretary of State Terri Land’s speech was also unremarkable, but I was intrigued by some of her proposals. I liked her proposal to pre-register 16-year-olds to vote when they get their DL, so that when they are 18 they are already registered. The no response early voting sounded interesting. Perhaps it’s just the verbiage that’s different, but I would prefer no reason absentee voting instead of early voting. Anything that encourages young people to vote and increases voter turnout I support. She also proposed having the Michigan DL serve as the passport, and that will ease problems going to and from our neighbor to the north.