Michigan Enjoyer
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Is El-Sayed's Campaign Funded by Elderly Fake Donors? ActBlue says an 88-year-old widow has given over $150k to Dems over the past five years, but she says that's not possible By Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff Milan — Out in the country on a rutted dirt road lined with corn lives an old woman and her dog. Elizabeth Waffle, 88, was forced to move into a shabby trailer two years ago after her house burned down. She owns an old pickup truck but no computer. Nevertheless, Waffle, who lives on a modest pension, is a true believer in liberal causes and continues to make small political donations by way of ActBlue—the Democrat online fundraising platform. But somehow, those few dozen small donations she has made over the past five years have transmogrified into 14,696 donations totaling more than $150,000—the equivalent of eight donations a day, every day for the past five years, averaging $9.18. “One hundred and fifty thousand?” Waffle said with real surprise. “Hell no. I don’t have that kind of money.” She says she has contributed to Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Socialist running for Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat, but not 47 times spanning the last two years, as federal filings show. El-Sayed promises to get money out of politics. He makes a great show of refusing corporate PAC money. But that’s just wordplay. El-Sayed does take special interest money. He takes money from his father-in-law. Most concerning, he takes money from ActBlue. The subject of multiple investigations, the fundraising platform is accused of “rinsing” foreign money and massive private donations by using the stolen names and addresses of real, often elderly Americans to fabricate hundreds of small-dollar donations. Names like Elizabeth Waffle. ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones recently invoked her Fifth Amendment rights 22 times during a congressional hearing regarding foreign contributions. According to FEC campaign contributions compiled by Bob Cushman, ActBlue shows Waffle donating from her trailer, even though she has no computer and spotty internet access. It also shows her donating from an apartment she rented in town two years ago after her house burned down. Sometimes it shows Waffle donating from both the trailer and the apartment on the same day. It shows her donating to out-of-state candidates she’s never heard of. “This is very abnormal,” said Waffle, who sat in the trailer threshold looking over the paperwork I had brought. “I think it’s wrong, and I think there’s something in there that’s off.” El-Sayed’s campaign brags that he’s the top Michigan fundraiser off the ActBlue platform, having raised 10 times the money from small-dollar donors than his primary opponent, Haley Stevens. Stevens has also taken ActBlue money. As has Slotkin, Whitmer, Nessel, Benson, Gilchrist, and the entire Democrat gang. But it is Abdul who plays the sanctimony card. If he is really serious about getting corrupt money out of politics, then he ought to get off ActBlue and return the money. Anything else is elder abuse.
Michigan Enjoyer1,826,541 просмотров • 2 месяцев назад
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Mary Sheffield's Ex-Lover Alleges Sex Tapes and Drug Work In a new lawsuit, Marvin Walker claims he gave Detroit's new mayor a job in a marijuana grow house while she served on City Council By Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff Detroit City Hall is on fire. It is no longer a question of if—but when and how—Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield and Police Chief Todd Bettison will be removed from office. The latest: a titillating lawsuit from Sheffield’s former lover and partner in municipal crime, Marvin Walker. In his 47-page complaint, expected to be filed next week in Circuit Court, Walker contends Sheffield was involved in sex tapes, a drug house, and illicit payments. According to the lawsuit, which seeks damages of $50 million, the romantic relationship between Sheffield and Walker began in December 2020 when they “created private recordings depicting consensual intimate moments” and “also exchanged private text messages and other communications concerning personal matters, financial matters, business dealings, and other matters not intended for public dissemination.” Michigan Enjoyer can confirm the existence of these materials. Walker claims that after he and Sheffield had a falling out, Sheffield sent a goon squad to harass Walker into deleting the evidence. That goon squad included Chief Bettison, Deputy Mayor Brian White, and top aide Ray Simpson. After Enjoyer published photographs of Walker delivering obscene bundles of money to Sheffield’s mailbox, Sheffield told the public that Walker was simply repaying her “tens of thousands of dollars” she had loaned him over the course of their relationship. In his lawsuit, Walker claims he never loaned Sheffield any money. In fact, Walker said he got Sheffield a job in a drug house so she could make some cash on the side. An early draft of the complaint promises “videos depicting DEFENDANT SHEFFIELD working inside a marijuana grow facility while she served on the Detroit City Council.” Further, Sheffield allowed Walker to use her city-issued automobile so that he could travel around the Midwest to conduct “business.” Walker also alleges that Bettison, White, and Simpson conspired to strong-arm him into deleting a text message that detailed how Sheffield would write checks from her political charity to Walker’s company for work he never provided. Walker would then cash the checks and give the money to Sheffield. Enjoyer published that story earlier this month. When Walker refused to delete the material, Bettison allegedly told him “that he had friends at the FBI,” according to the lawsuit. Walker understood that to be a threat. Walker refused to delete the damning material. That’s when Sheffield and Bettison launched a war of harassment and subterfuge against Walker—according to the lawsuit—going so far as to padlock his rental property and shop bogus rape cases to the county prosecutor and state police. Neither agency would grant an arrest warrant against Walker. Enjoyer has also learned that the FBI and the Detroit Office of the Inspector General have opened public corruption and abuse of office cases on both Mayor Sheffield and Chief Bettison. Then there is this: Chief Bettison has ordered an internal affairs investigation into the source of the leak of the timeline of the entire Walker affair that was given to Enjoyer. Police investigators have confiscated cell phones and computers from every police employee who had access to the timeline document, including senior command staff. Suffice it to say, Chief Bettison has lost the respect of the department.
Michigan Enjoyer64,089 просмотров • 4 дней назад
John James Commits to Help Fix Detroit's Poisoned Holes I asked all the leading candidates to come visit Detroit's most toxic demo hole, and only he and Jay DeBoyer showed up By Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff Detroit — It’s the second-most famous hole in the city, and Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield can’t get it filled. The hole is on 25th Street on the city’s west side, where a house once stood. The house had a piano. And on that piano, in that house, Little Stevie Wonder learned to play music. There should be a historical plaque there. Instead, there is a massive open pit of super-contaminated dirt that’s been pooling with rainwater for nearly two months. The house was demolished a few years ago, and the contractor filled it with dirt poisoned with lead at levels so high it puts Flint’s water to shame. Another contractor won a bid of nearly $93,000 to dig up the dirt, dump it at a landfill, and then re-fill the hole with clean dirt. The hole is so contaminated that the contractor wrapped the neighboring home entirely in plastic sheeting. The contractor dug a little bit out, saw a swamp of subterranean water running from some unknown origin, and promptly abandoned the project, leaving his excavator parked on the sidewalk. That’s illegal. The swamp water poured into the cellar of the neighboring home owned by Izellia Smith. Now, Smith’s house is contaminated with lead and the city is going to have to pay her. Smith’s councilwoman Gabriela Santiago-Romero decided to continue with her summer vacation rather than help her beleaguered constituent. Mayor Sheffield has not returned Smith’s phone calls, either. Her Honor continues to hide, caught up in a swirling scandal of graft and sex. A seedy scandal entirely of her own making. One of Sheffield’s former lovers faces federal indictment for poisoning hundreds—if not thousands—of other demolition holes. Sheffield, as a member of city council, voted to award millions in contracts to her lover, Brian McKinney, “while they were getting to know each other”—as her handlers put it. When the relationship was exposed by The Enjoyer, Sheffield’s first instinct was to claim she never voted on her loverboy’s contract. That was a lie. Nothing spells municipal C-O-R-R-U-P-T-I-O-N like a dirt hole that can’t be filled by a mayor who can’t be found. So I called Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrat candidate for U.S. Senate. He used to work at the Detroit Health Department. He claims to be an “expert.” I called three times. Crickets. Too busy with Meet the Press to come out and meet the people of Detroit. I called his Republican opponent Mike Rogers. His people said he’s more than willing to come check out 25th Street. I called Jocelyn Benson, the Democrat candidate for governor, who alleges that she lives in Detroit. Nada. Nothing. No dice. No dirt. Nice handbags. I was going to call her Republican opponent, John James, but he called me first. He’d seen our stories about the Stevie Wonder hole and he wanted to know more. I told him I’d be happy to show his staff around, just as I would with Sheffield’s or El-Sayed’s or Benson’s. Or Rogers’. But his campaign is being run from Washington. It ain’t politics to me. It’s people. To my surprise, James himself showed up on 25th Street last week—without security. I introduced him to Izellia Smith. She talked and he listened. Then he did a TikTok video, naturally. The congressman promised in the short term he’d do what he could to get her situation straightened away. Then James promised that if elected governor, he’d find the money to clean up the entire city, where undoubtedly thousands of holes have been filled with toxic soil under the leadership of Mike Duggan and Mary Sheffield. James called the fiasco another Flint. He’s right. I’m not endorsing anybody. But Detroit will need $200 million—minimum—to clean up this crime scene. Only the federal government has that kind of money. It’d be good to have a governor in Lansing who has decent relationships in Washington. And it’d be good to have a governor who isn’t afraid of Detroit.
Michigan Enjoyer32,479 просмотров • 6 дней назад
![Detroit Mayor's Ex-Lover Says She Used Him for Kickbacks Detroit cops are scouring the city trying to kill the story, which feels like Kwame 2.0 By Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff Detroit — Mayor Mary Sheffield has man troubles. First, there is the demolition contractor being investigated by the FBI for allegedly poisoning the city with toxic dirt. Sheffield’s first instinct was to tell the public she didn’t vote to give her former lover city contracts. That turned out to be a $59 million lie. Now comes her latest Himbo eruption. And this one threatens to burn down City Hall. Sheffield’s handlers do not deny her relationship with businessman Marvin Walker. There are too many salacious photographs and videos for that. But Sheffield’s minions are quietly whispering to reporters that if any money changed hands between the two, it was Sheffield helping out her former lover when his funds were short. For his part, Walker claims that he was Sheffield’s bagman while she was a member of city council, acting as the courier who collected illegal kickbacks on her behalf and deposited them in her mailbox. Walker came to meet me with a heavy portfolio of videos, text messages, and screenshots. Walker described an ornate scheme—one of many—where Sheffield used her public position and municipal contacts to help steer lucrative real-estate deals to a pair of prominent businessmen. Those men, in turn, would provide Walker with the quid-pro-quo: wads of cash as thick as a head of cabbage. Walker estimates that he collected and delivered at least $200,000 to Sheffield. In one screenshot, Walker is sitting in his car with a bundle of high-denomination currency. “7,000. In your mailbox,” he wrote along with a photo of the cash. “Thank you,” she replied. The rationale for his alleged criminality? “I loved her, man,” Walker said. “I would have done anything for her. But now she’s throwing me under the bus.” Then Walker showed some wedding photographs of him and Sheffield taken in Las Vegas in 2022. It wasn’t a real wedding, said Walker, who is married with children. They were just “playing house.” As he was talking about the Vegas getaway, Walker’s telephone rang. It was Detroit Chief of Police Todd Bettison. Photographs and videos of Walker and Sheffield were starting to appear on social media, and the Chief wanted Walker to take them down. “How am I supposed to take them down when I didn’t put them up?” Walker asked the top cop. “I don’t got nothing to do with that.” City Hall refuses to answer questions about Walker’s relationship with Mayor Sheffield, except to say, “[We] highly recommend you consider the source and motivation behind what is being said.” Detractors paint an unsavory portrait of Walker. He’s been called slum lord, a car thief, and a manipulator who uses his properties to house homeless women and then use them as his own personal harem. Walker denies it all. Nevertheless, police confirm that they have asked the county prosecutor for an arrest warrant against Walker for criminal sexual conduct. And last week, Detroit police came 12 deep to lock and shutter Walker’s midtown building for code violations. Also, plain-clothes detectives have been scouring local car dealerships inquiring about whether Walker had engaged in title fraud. But car titles were not the only thing detectives inquired about. “They asked us if we knew anything about his and the mayor’s relationship,” one surprised salesperson recalled. “It was fucking crazy. I mean, we’re just a car dealership, what were we supposed to know about that?” In response, Walker’s lawyer has made overtures to the FBI. They’re looking to cut a deal. “I did whatever she asked of me,” Walker said, as we spoke in the parking lot of one of his moldering properties. Clay-faced women stared from their porch stoops. “Now, when I needed her help, she turns on me. I’m not going out like that,” he said. But this story doesn’t end with Walker. Earlier this month, Chief Bettison phoned Jahdante Smith, a high-strung and hard-charging activist who had posted intimate images of the couple online. Smith recorded the call with the Chief. “I did see some of the posts you made, the post with Mary kissing Marvin,” Bettison said. “What I would like for you to do, I would like for you to take those pictures down off your Facebook page. I would like for you to do that. I’m asking you.” Smith refused. Then last week, as Smith was walking downtown with his 7-year-old son, four uniformed cops jumped out of their squad cars, cuffed Smith, and seized his cellphone. “They never presented a warrant, didn't articulate suspicion, they just snatched my phone,” Smith said. “This administration is off the hook, man. Not good.” When contacted by telephone, Chief Bettison said, “It’s an open investigation, I cannot comment on it.” This shouldn’t be taken as a story of lust, but rather a story about the lust for power and money. It’s a story about judgment and the company Mary Sheffield keeps. A scorned and sleazy lover trying to settle a score. A mayor using the police force as a personal palace guard. It’s fair game for the public to ask if their city is being run like an organized crime racket. Are we going back to the bad old days in Detroit? Maybe. Or maybe the bad old days never left and we just couldn’t see it.](https://image.24vids.com/tw-2092612091379151239/amplify_video_thumb/2092611122343845889/img/IE6DVRRGE6JX9zNG.jpg)
Detroit Mayor's Ex-Lover Says She Used Him for Kickbacks Detroit cops are scouring the city trying to kill the story, which feels like Kwame 2.0 By Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff Detroit — Mayor Mary Sheffield has man troubles. First, there is the demolition contractor being investigated by the FBI for allegedly poisoning the city with toxic dirt. Sheffield’s first instinct was to tell the public she didn’t vote to give her former lover city contracts. That turned out to be a $59 million lie. Now comes her latest Himbo eruption. And this one threatens to burn down City Hall. Sheffield’s handlers do not deny her relationship with businessman Marvin Walker. There are too many salacious photographs and videos for that. But Sheffield’s minions are quietly whispering to reporters that if any money changed hands between the two, it was Sheffield helping out her former lover when his funds were short. For his part, Walker claims that he was Sheffield’s bagman while she was a member of city council, acting as the courier who collected illegal kickbacks on her behalf and deposited them in her mailbox. Walker came to meet me with a heavy portfolio of videos, text messages, and screenshots. Walker described an ornate scheme—one of many—where Sheffield used her public position and municipal contacts to help steer lucrative real-estate deals to a pair of prominent businessmen. Those men, in turn, would provide Walker with the quid-pro-quo: wads of cash as thick as a head of cabbage. Walker estimates that he collected and delivered at least $200,000 to Sheffield. In one screenshot, Walker is sitting in his car with a bundle of high-denomination currency. “7,000. In your mailbox,” he wrote along with a photo of the cash. “Thank you,” she replied. The rationale for his alleged criminality? “I loved her, man,” Walker said. “I would have done anything for her. But now she’s throwing me under the bus.” Then Walker showed some wedding photographs of him and Sheffield taken in Las Vegas in 2022. It wasn’t a real wedding, said Walker, who is married with children. They were just “playing house.” As he was talking about the Vegas getaway, Walker’s telephone rang. It was Detroit Chief of Police Todd Bettison. Photographs and videos of Walker and Sheffield were starting to appear on social media, and the Chief wanted Walker to take them down. “How am I supposed to take them down when I didn’t put them up?” Walker asked the top cop. “I don’t got nothing to do with that.” City Hall refuses to answer questions about Walker’s relationship with Mayor Sheffield, except to say, “[We] highly recommend you consider the source and motivation behind what is being said.” Detractors paint an unsavory portrait of Walker. He’s been called slum lord, a car thief, and a manipulator who uses his properties to house homeless women and then use them as his own personal harem. Walker denies it all. Nevertheless, police confirm that they have asked the county prosecutor for an arrest warrant against Walker for criminal sexual conduct. And last week, Detroit police came 12 deep to lock and shutter Walker’s midtown building for code violations. Also, plain-clothes detectives have been scouring local car dealerships inquiring about whether Walker had engaged in title fraud. But car titles were not the only thing detectives inquired about. “They asked us if we knew anything about his and the mayor’s relationship,” one surprised salesperson recalled. “It was fucking crazy. I mean, we’re just a car dealership, what were we supposed to know about that?” In response, Walker’s lawyer has made overtures to the FBI. They’re looking to cut a deal. “I did whatever she asked of me,” Walker said, as we spoke in the parking lot of one of his moldering properties. Clay-faced women stared from their porch stoops. “Now, when I needed her help, she turns on me. I’m not going out like that,” he said. But this story doesn’t end with Walker. Earlier this month, Chief Bettison phoned Jahdante Smith, a high-strung and hard-charging activist who had posted intimate images of the couple online. Smith recorded the call with the Chief. “I did see some of the posts you made, the post with Mary kissing Marvin,” Bettison said. “What I would like for you to do, I would like for you to take those pictures down off your Facebook page. I would like for you to do that. I’m asking you.” Smith refused. Then last week, as Smith was walking downtown with his 7-year-old son, four uniformed cops jumped out of their squad cars, cuffed Smith, and seized his cellphone. “They never presented a warrant, didn't articulate suspicion, they just snatched my phone,” Smith said. “This administration is off the hook, man. Not good.” When contacted by telephone, Chief Bettison said, “It’s an open investigation, I cannot comment on it.” This shouldn’t be taken as a story of lust, but rather a story about the lust for power and money. It’s a story about judgment and the company Mary Sheffield keeps. A scorned and sleazy lover trying to settle a score. A mayor using the police force as a personal palace guard. It’s fair game for the public to ask if their city is being run like an organized crime racket. Are we going back to the bad old days in Detroit? Maybe. Or maybe the bad old days never left and we just couldn’t see it.
Michigan Enjoyer121,235 просмотров • 27 дней назад
The Mary Sheffield Scandal Lights Detroit City Hall on Fire The hallmarks of her short tenure are dirty money and dirty cops By Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff It’s fascinating to watch Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield bury herself while trying to dig herself out of quicksand. And take it from me, the authorities are circling. Sheffield told on herself last week. She said she took the cash. She admitted as much in a grammar-mangled statement before running away from TV cameras. The scandal only grew larger. “During the course of our relationship, I personally loaned him tens of thousands of dollars,” she wrote. “Any funds he provided me was (sic) repayment for money he owed me.” All that on a city council salary. Her former lover, Marvin Walker, would bring the cash in the middle of the night. We know that because Walker made videos of himself fanning wads of cash before depositing them in her mailbox. Sheffield admitted as much. The money was druggie looking, wrinkled and weathered. The bills were not bundled with paper bank bands, but rubber bands. Walker told me they were kickbacks from local businessmen, and that he acted as the middleman. Emails exist memorializing the relationships. Walker told me this, and then Walker told the languishing local papers that they were not kickbacks, and that he hadn’t seen Mary Sheffield in years. Maybe we should release some audio tape, Marvin? It’ll give you a hot minute to pack your bags and get gone. Sheffield and her crisis handlers declined to provide bank statements documenting the unusually large deposits and withdrawals. There’s no going back on the story now. Sheffield is stuck with the Fani Willis defense. Then there are the claims Walker shopped around that he was being paid by Sheffield for doing nothing and kicking back the money to her. Sheffield’s statement addressed that accusation, too. “I want to be crystal clear,” she wrote. “NO city funds were ever provided to Mr. Walker, nor has he ever received any city contract. In 2019, he received a total of $1,800 from a non-profit for services he provided for community events like all others.” That nonprofit is a 501(c)(3)—the kind of political charity account that Kwame Kilpatrick used as a personal slush fund to pay for spa treatments, yoga lessons, and a Cadillac DeVille. Because of that, he spent seven years in federal prison and still owes the government nearly a million dollars in restitution. For her part, Sheffield’s charity “Detroit Donates” was awarded tax-exempt status in 2019. One of the directors for “Detroit Donates” in 2019 was Paris Blessman, a longtime political aide for Sheffield. Blessman listed Sheffield's City Hall office suite as her address on Detroit Donates’ tax filings that year. Today, Blessman is listed as the charity’s president, and the office has relocated to a community center operated by Rev. Horace Sheffield, the mayor’s father. “Detroit Donates” raised about $10,000 in 2019, and its revenues exploded to more than $180,000 by 2024. It still managed to run a deficit of $20,000 that year. Walker estimated that he got at least $7,000 in checks from Sheffield’s charity, but did not work for it. She’d give him the check, he’d cash it and give her the money. Sometimes he wouldn’t cash the check, he said. He’d just give her the money. “It ended up in her pocket,” Walker said. Walker showed me a string of text messages outlining the scam. One text comes from Mary Sheffield’s cell phone and carries the time stamp April 9, 2023: “I have a 2k check as well I’ll give you that and you give me 2k back” Then a few minutes later: “Do you have the 2k cash? I can meet you and give check before I leave” Again, Sheffield and her handlers have refused to provide copies of the checks or open the charity’s books. Then there are the cops. In her statement, Sheffield claimed she had nothing to do with Police Chief Todd Bettison’s freelance antics trying to tamp down the growing scandal. Tactical police were used to detain a man. Surveillance was used to track him. Rape charges were cooked up against Walker but later dropped. Phone calls were made by Bettison asking people to remove risqué photos of Sheffield and Walker posted online. Those videos and photographs were leaked by Walker himself. “I have never used the power of my office to instigate any action or inaction involving Mr. Walker, including through the Detroit Police Department,” Sheffield wrote. If that is true, then how does Bettison still have a job? That kind of policing is precisely what ignited the riots in 1967. In his zeal to protect the boss and teach Walker a lesson, Bettison sent a platoon of cops to shutter one of Walker’s rental properties using building code violations as the excuse. The residents at the property were kicked out without warning and were not allowed to gather their belongings. A 67-year-old Army veteran came home that evening to find his door and windows boarded up. Locked inside were his walker and medications. With no place to go, our veteran was forced to sleep in his car. It took two days to get his door opened by city officials. But the place is so hot, one Sheffield aide actually suggested we break in and get his belongings ourselves.
Michigan Enjoyer77,739 просмотров • 20 дней назад
Jocelyn Benson MUST be de-certified. The law says so. Charlie LeDuff
Michigan Enjoyer114,461 просмотров • 1 месяц назад
![Abdul El-Sayed's House of Horrors After he "fixed" a juvie jail, kids suffered rape, beatings, and were given expired meds By Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff Abdul El-Sayed, the unlicensed doctor, says he’s got the chops and experience to govern from D.C. But does he? On the campaign trail, on television, and online, he talks about his tenure as the Wayne County Health Director and his miraculous turn around of the fetid and violent juvenile detention facility. “We had to rebuild it from the ground up,” he told a crowd of black pastors. “We rebuilt it from the studs up,” he told a group of black Democrats. “When the juvenile detention facility was in shambles, I declared a public health state of emergency to rebuild it,” he told CBS. But those claims don’t hold up when you examine the officials records, court filings, or talk to people who actually worked at the juvenile jail. Those employees paint a picture of horror, abuse, and incompetence. “Nothing was fixed,” said Jalal Malik-Ikram, a retired Detroit cop and former security officer at the juvenile jailhouse. “It was like prison. The kids called the shots, and their care and safety were beyond terrible.” Malik-Ikram was fired for taking secret photographs to document the abuse. El-Sayed may have built the studs, but he forgot to lay a foundation. “They were giving the kids expired medications,” Malik-Ikram said. “Or we couldn’t give the meds at all because it wasn’t safe. School? Education? There wasn’t none to speak of.” El-Sayed came to work for Wayne County in 2023. His resume listed few professional jobs beyond his 16 months as the Detroit Health Director. He quit that job in 2017, ran for governor, and lost. From there he became a paid talking head for CNN during the Covid pandemic. Citing standard talking points, El-Sayed got most things wrong, including the benefits of school lockouts, masking outdoors, and the efficacy of the vaccine. But El-Sayed was a “get” for the scandal-plagued county, whose Covid nursing home response was under intense scrutiny as was the plummeting life expectancy of Detroiters. In El-Sayed, they had themselves a real life TV doctor. Wayne County paid him big—about $280,000 a year. That was $100,000 more than his predecessor, a black female, and $100,000 more than his successor, also a black female. This disparity came despite El-Sayed’s social justice position decrying the pay gap between white men and black women. The month El-Sayed came aboard full-time with the county—March 2023—a 12-year-old boy was gang raped in the juvenile jail. Squalid and overcrowded, the deteriorating facility with overflowing sewage was a dumping ground not just for Detroit and Wayne County delinquents, but also for juveniles from across the state. It was the embarrassed County Executive Warren Evans—not El-Sayed—who declared a three-month state of emergency. It was Evans who appointed El-Sayed his juvenile jail czar and handed him $10 million. El-Sayed spent the money. The kids got fresh underpants, the guards got a pay raise, but little else changed. “[We] reorganized healthcare at the facility, raised salaries and wages by 35% to retain staff, and provided daily access to to hygiene products and clean underwear,” he told the Detroit News. And it was Evans, the county executive, who lifted the emergency declaration in June 2023, calling El-Sayed’s 10-week tenure a great success. But it wasn’t a great success. A week later, another kid was raped. Another week, and another beating. A few months later, the facility’s license was downgraded to a “provisional” status—requiring state supervision. The findings by a state investigator were appalling—violence, irregular meals, 22-hour lockdowns. In December 2023, two nurses filed a whistleblower lawsuit, alleging that they were fired after complaining to superiors that the children were being given expired medications. In February 2024, the juvenile jail was given a second “provisional” license after a boy was savaged by other inmates. Weeks later, a detention worker was charged and later convicted of the sexual assault of two boys. She is currently serving a 6-to-15-year prison sentence. One of the victims is now suing the county in federal court. That’s when Malik-Ikram began snapping his photographs. He tells the story of a gay teenager so distraught about being left in the general population that he pulled the florescent light bulbs out of the ceiling to harm himself. “The kid ate the glass so they’d take him to the hospital,” Malik-Ikram recalled. “That way, he figured, when he come back to lock-up, he’d get placed on the safe floor. But they wouldn’t put him on the safe floor, so the kid would eat glass again. When that didn’t work, he got violent, and that’s when security officers slammed the kid’s head into the wall. I saw that, and I took pictures.” Malik-Ikram was fired. He, too, has an active whistleblower lawsuit. Last year, the children were moved into the new Wayne County Criminal Justice Complex, a project engulfed in corruption and cost-overruns. Violence and staffing levels remain serious issues there. El-Sayed is now asking voters to consider his record at the juvenile jail as he pushes for Medicare for All when the truth is that he couldn’t manage medical care in a juvenile jailhouse. But on the upside, he got kids toothbrushes and underpants.](https://image.24vids.com/tw-2090079654384112038/amplify_video_thumb/2090078303369469953/img/qP0Z0FK6nu9hkYBt.jpg)
Abdul El-Sayed's House of Horrors After he "fixed" a juvie jail, kids suffered rape, beatings, and were given expired meds By Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff Abdul El-Sayed, the unlicensed doctor, says he’s got the chops and experience to govern from D.C. But does he? On the campaign trail, on television, and online, he talks about his tenure as the Wayne County Health Director and his miraculous turn around of the fetid and violent juvenile detention facility. “We had to rebuild it from the ground up,” he told a crowd of black pastors. “We rebuilt it from the studs up,” he told a group of black Democrats. “When the juvenile detention facility was in shambles, I declared a public health state of emergency to rebuild it,” he told CBS. But those claims don’t hold up when you examine the officials records, court filings, or talk to people who actually worked at the juvenile jail. Those employees paint a picture of horror, abuse, and incompetence. “Nothing was fixed,” said Jalal Malik-Ikram, a retired Detroit cop and former security officer at the juvenile jailhouse. “It was like prison. The kids called the shots, and their care and safety were beyond terrible.” Malik-Ikram was fired for taking secret photographs to document the abuse. El-Sayed may have built the studs, but he forgot to lay a foundation. “They were giving the kids expired medications,” Malik-Ikram said. “Or we couldn’t give the meds at all because it wasn’t safe. School? Education? There wasn’t none to speak of.” El-Sayed came to work for Wayne County in 2023. His resume listed few professional jobs beyond his 16 months as the Detroit Health Director. He quit that job in 2017, ran for governor, and lost. From there he became a paid talking head for CNN during the Covid pandemic. Citing standard talking points, El-Sayed got most things wrong, including the benefits of school lockouts, masking outdoors, and the efficacy of the vaccine. But El-Sayed was a “get” for the scandal-plagued county, whose Covid nursing home response was under intense scrutiny as was the plummeting life expectancy of Detroiters. In El-Sayed, they had themselves a real life TV doctor. Wayne County paid him big—about $280,000 a year. That was $100,000 more than his predecessor, a black female, and $100,000 more than his successor, also a black female. This disparity came despite El-Sayed’s social justice position decrying the pay gap between white men and black women. The month El-Sayed came aboard full-time with the county—March 2023—a 12-year-old boy was gang raped in the juvenile jail. Squalid and overcrowded, the deteriorating facility with overflowing sewage was a dumping ground not just for Detroit and Wayne County delinquents, but also for juveniles from across the state. It was the embarrassed County Executive Warren Evans—not El-Sayed—who declared a three-month state of emergency. It was Evans who appointed El-Sayed his juvenile jail czar and handed him $10 million. El-Sayed spent the money. The kids got fresh underpants, the guards got a pay raise, but little else changed. “[We] reorganized healthcare at the facility, raised salaries and wages by 35% to retain staff, and provided daily access to to hygiene products and clean underwear,” he told the Detroit News. And it was Evans, the county executive, who lifted the emergency declaration in June 2023, calling El-Sayed’s 10-week tenure a great success. But it wasn’t a great success. A week later, another kid was raped. Another week, and another beating. A few months later, the facility’s license was downgraded to a “provisional” status—requiring state supervision. The findings by a state investigator were appalling—violence, irregular meals, 22-hour lockdowns. In December 2023, two nurses filed a whistleblower lawsuit, alleging that they were fired after complaining to superiors that the children were being given expired medications. In February 2024, the juvenile jail was given a second “provisional” license after a boy was savaged by other inmates. Weeks later, a detention worker was charged and later convicted of the sexual assault of two boys. She is currently serving a 6-to-15-year prison sentence. One of the victims is now suing the county in federal court. That’s when Malik-Ikram began snapping his photographs. He tells the story of a gay teenager so distraught about being left in the general population that he pulled the florescent light bulbs out of the ceiling to harm himself. “The kid ate the glass so they’d take him to the hospital,” Malik-Ikram recalled. “That way, he figured, when he come back to lock-up, he’d get placed on the safe floor. But they wouldn’t put him on the safe floor, so the kid would eat glass again. When that didn’t work, he got violent, and that’s when security officers slammed the kid’s head into the wall. I saw that, and I took pictures.” Malik-Ikram was fired. He, too, has an active whistleblower lawsuit. Last year, the children were moved into the new Wayne County Criminal Justice Complex, a project engulfed in corruption and cost-overruns. Violence and staffing levels remain serious issues there. El-Sayed is now asking voters to consider his record at the juvenile jail as he pushes for Medicare for All when the truth is that he couldn’t manage medical care in a juvenile jailhouse. But on the upside, he got kids toothbrushes and underpants.
Michigan Enjoyer91,941 просмотров • 1 месяц назад
Bright Ideas From the Dimmest Bulbs Will Ruin Us Everyday Michiganders go without power despite all the talk about "infrastructure modernization" By Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff When the power goes out, the light bulb goes on and the political candidates scramble to make dumb videos. This proves, once again, that a fool and her money are soon elected. It rained a little bit last week, and more than a million Michiganders found themselves in the dark. What does Jocelyn Benson do? She makes a freakish selfie from a bluff at a lake house somewhere, commiserating with the hoi polloi who—yet again—were baking in the darkened streets of Detroit. “I have a plan to change these unfair profit driven rate hikes,” she said dressed in a black blazer in 95 degree heat accessorized with a splendid view of a lake and beach behind her. “But also ensuring we’re investing and modernizing our energy grid.” She said that last week, too, in different lame video about high-speed trains. Her buzzwords seem to be: “modernizing infrastructure.” But that’s exactly how DTE and Consumers make their profits. Investing in “modern infrastructure.” What the monopolies do not do is upkeep the current infrastructure. There’s no profit in it. What we really need is for the power companies to cut the trees and maintain the existing grid. Benson instructs us to go to her website to see the plan. Go to the website. There’s no plan at all. Dumb. Then there’s Perry Johnson. He’s got a video. He’s got lots of videos. One of my favorites is him standing in an open collar, remembering how a hundred years ago his parents used to be poor. That’s why the mega-millionaire wants to return $4,747 to our pockets. Nice number. Johnson says he’s going to do a mega-audit and find the waste to give us the money. But how do you settle on a dollar amount before you do an audit to find the money? Dumb. Haley Stevens wants to be your senator. So there she stands on the Detroit River, claiming that the Gordie Howe Bridge is being shanghaied by Matty Moroun, a corrupt billionaire crony of Donald J. Trump. Moroun, who owns the rival Ambassador Bridge, is Trump’s biggest contributor, she says in a cringy voice. Trouble is, Matty Moroun died six years ago. This proves once again that Stevens knows little about international affairs or Michigan. Again, dumb. “Doctor” Abdul El-Sayed—he of little professional accomplishment—can be found on Instagram, prancing about in a suburban cowboy costume. He wants to expand Obamacare into Medicare for All. The problem there is that Obamacare exploded medical costs and now there are more uninsured people than ever before. They’re not the poor. They’re the middle class. And the country is broke. Dumb. I like social media as much as the next guy. I can’t afford cable. Or health insurance. Or air-conditioning at peak hours. But it’s going to take more than some yard signs and lame videos to convince me they know what’s going on out here.
Michigan Enjoyer160,458 просмотров • 2 месяцев назад
The Democrat Treasurer Allegedly Ripped Off an Old Lady. The Media Ignored the Scandal by Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff Traci Kornak, the former treasurer of the Michigan Democratic Party, was hauled into probate court this week, suspected of embezzling from her ward, a brain-damaged elderly woman. I caught Kornak feasting on the woman’s finances nearly four years ago and have written many stories about it since. I’ve made TV appearances. I even lost my newspaper job over it. After my first story was published, Attorney General Dana Nessel, a close friend of Kornak, opened a superficial investigation that was no investigation at all. Her detectives made a few cursory phone calls before Nessel prodded them into shutting down the criminal case. And Kornak, it is alleged, continued to suck the old woman dry. At least that is what a special fiduciary attorney, Morgan Maul, believes. Using phrases like “significant discrepancies” and “missing assets” and “concerns about charges,” Maul asked Jolene Clearwater, the chief probate judge of Allegan County, for a six-month extension of his investigation into Kornak’s decade-long conservatorship over the woman’s finances. The old woman died last April, and now the judge wants to know what happened to her money. Her condominium? Her insurance settlement from the car accident? Her trust? Her estate plan? Who made debit card purchases on the day of her death? Not only did Clearwater agree to Maul’s request, she also ruled that Kornak—a slip-and-fall attorney by trade—must pay for Maul’s time. Kornak, for her part, said nothing in defense of herself. What began as a story about a simple insurance scam perpetrated by Kornak in the name of the old woman has morphed into a scandal implicating Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and threatening the impeachment of Dana Nessel. Kornak was a suspected embezzler, and Whitmer and Nessel knew about the allegations. Nevertheless, they allowed her to continue in her political position as treasurer of the state Democratic Party. In fact, Whitmer was planning to appoint Kornak to a judgeship as soon as the criminal investigation went away. But Kornak was never given a judicial robe, because I would not let the story die. After Nessel complained about a column I published in the Detroit News chronicling her unethical interference in the Kornak investigation, I replied to her on social media with the phrase “See You Next Tuesday”—a euphemism for female genitalia. My pearl-clutching colleagues at the News feigned outrage, tarred me as a misogynist, and I was forced to resign. Professional jealousy is an ugly thing. Not another word was written in the paper about the scandal, and I canceled my subscription. But I kept publishing. First online, and now with Michigan Enjoyer. And so here we are. Tuesday has arrived. The Kent County Sheriff’s Office has completed its own two-year investigation into Kornak’s stewardship of the old woman’s financial affairs. Among its recommendations are charges of felony embezzlement, which carries a 20-year prison term. That report now sits on the desk of Chris Becker, the Kent County prosecutor, who is considering charges. Most nauseating about this whole affair—beyond the alleged abuse of an elder who could not fend for herself —is that those in power knew all along. I called them. I shouted questions at them. I mocked them online, in print, and on TV. Who are THEY? THEY are those who were in a position to protect the old woman. The governor. The attorney general. The Democratic Party brass. The Attorney Grievance Commission. The Probate Court. The Media. THEY only proved themselves to be what THEY accused me of being—misogynists, abusers of women. Worse, THEY proved themselves to be cowards. There is a light in this dark story. Enjoyer has learned that the FBI has begun making inquiries into the sordid affair. If justice can prevail, then things might be better for the next old lady.
Michigan Enjoyer376,107 просмотров • 8 месяцев назад
How Detroit's Police Chief Became Mary Sheffield's Thug Bettison launched a secret investigation to tamp down Sheffield's growing scandals, and federal indictments are coming By Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff The mayor of Detroit, Mary Sheffield, ordered her chief of police to make it all go away. The men. The photographs. The illegalities. And her chief of police, Todd Bettison, obeyed. But Bettison’s tactics were so obscene, so obviously unconstitutional, that it may be the chief, himself, who goes away. Bettison had officers and command staff strong arm both the Mayor’s former lover and that former lover’s one-time protege. Bettison did this without informing his officers about the origins or political consequences of his commands. Now Bettison has lost control of his department. Leaks are coming from all levels, inside and outside the Detroit Police Department. Michigan Enjoyer has obtained a timeline for the chief to help him keep his story straight. There are at least six public corruption investigations involving City Hall, at least two of those directly focused on Bettison. And the FBI has cut off communications with the police department over the scandal. Bettison wants the public to believe that it was his personal code of honor that compelled him to step outside the boundaries of the law after risqué photographs of Sheffield and her former lover, Marvin Walker, made their way onto the internet in July. And it was Walker’s former protege, Jahdante Smith, who posted many of them. Department insiders say the order to silence the men came directly from City Hall. Bettison made calls to Walker and Smith asking them to remove the materials from the internet. When they did not, Bettison turned the department on them. That's when Walker came to me. He explained in great detail—and with voluminous documentary evidence—a web of corruption and kickbacks involving then-City Councilwoman Sheffield. Since then, Bettison has turned up the heat. Walker and Smith are now the targets of intimidation, secret surveillance teams, and trumped-up felony charges. Consider: On July 17, Bettison, from his office, began a secret criminal investigation into both Walker and Smith, according to the timeline. The investigation was to be kept off the books and top secret, according to multiple sources across law enforcement agencies. The mission was to pin crimes on the two men so that arrests could be made and mouths would be quieted. Bettison wasn't investigating complaints, as he has stated publicly. He was shopping for them. The Cyber Crimes Unit contacted Facebook asking that the photographs and videos of Sheffield and Walker be blocked on the grounds of "bullying." Facebook complied. The dark-ops investigation only lasted six weeks. Little was found against the two men. Instead, investigators followed leads that brought them to Sheffield and a possible web of corruption stretching from the Police Commission to the city’s buildings, housing, and demolition departments. It appears to involve cash, cars, cannabis, pay-to-play contracts, and a sexual merry-go-round. Afraid the investigation would be buried by Bettison, a whistleblower in the police department contacted the FBI. Federal agents came unannounced to police headquarters on August 26 to retrieve the report, according to three sources who exchanged their candor for confidentiality. The internal timeline corroborates the exchange. About an hour before federal agents descended on police headquarters to obtain the report, a special police tactical squad was waiting outside Smith’s home. Bettison had authorized a probable-cause arrest of Smith on suspicion that Smith had used a cellphone to make threats against another social media gadfly. The order was unusual considering it was just text message chatter between two high-strung Facebook activists with no actual violence having been committed. It was more unusual still, since the tactical squad is normally used to apprehend murderers, drug-runners, and cartel members. The Smith takedown was called off just before noon, because we at the Enjoyer had just published our first article chronicling the sexploits of Sheffield and Walker. Nevertheless, Bettison continues to shop to outside law enforcement agencies flimsy rape charges against Walker and equally nonsensical threat charges against Smith. “Nobody is interested in this fucking mess,” one official said. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know how Bettison survives this.” Again, the internal timeline corroborates the facts. Bettison and Sheffield did not respond to requests for interviews. For his part, Jahdante Smith continues to post, and Bettison has now referred him to the Attorney General’s Office for cyber crimes after Smith doxxed the Chief, posting his home address on social media. Marvin Walker is mulling a lawsuit against Sheffield, Bettison, and the city for the treatment he’s endured. Walker further claims he was intimidated by city hall last week after our story chronicling the alleged scheme that Sheffield used to skim money from her political charity. Enjoyer has also learned that the first federal indictments against Sheffield’s inner circle may drop as soon as January.
Michigan Enjoyer20,385 просмотров • 13 дней назад
Tommy “Hitman” Hearns Is Missing The boxing champ earned $40 million in prize money, but fraudsters and grifters sapped his wealth as his health declined By Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff Southfield — Tommy Hearns was once the greatest prize fighter in the world. Today, his family worries. Where in the world has the Champ gone? Tommy Hearns is missing. Hearns, 67, saw his Southfield estate foreclosed upon in April due to unpaid property taxes. The estate was then auctioned off to an investment company in September. Hearns was served eviction papers and told to get out by November. The problem is that Hearns isn’t aware of any of this, according to his daughter Natasha Hearns-Barnes. “He’s not doing well,” she told me. “You tell him something one day and he understands what you’re saying. But the next day it goes unremembered what you told him.” For the past number of years, according to his daughter, Hearns’s affairs have been handled by his son, also named Thomas Hearns. She says her half-brother may have spirited their father away to some unknown location. Attempts to reach the younger Hearns proved fruitless. Phone calls and knocks on doors at affiliated addresses went unanswered. Hearns-Barnes showed me recent photographs chronicling the squalid conditions her father was living in before he disappeared. The refrigerator was nearly empty except for some bottled water and stale pizza slices. The basement was coated in black mold. I paid a visit to the Champ’s former home. Through the cracked and dirty windows, I could see that the ceilings were collapsing and many of Hearns’s possessions had been abandoned. His daughter filed for guardianship, citing mental deficiency, physical disability, and concern that her father’s property would vanish without proper management. But the Oakland County Probate Court, itself embroiled in scandal and incompetence, failed to protect the boxing legend. The court rejected her application via email due to a missing ZIP code. Tommy Hearns, who grew up in Detroit, won world titles in five different weight classes, making history as the first prize fighter to accomplish the feat. His bouts with Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Haggler, and Roberto Duran are remembered as some of the greatest and most savage fights ever. Hearns’s blinding speed and raw power earned him the sobriquets “Hit Man” and “Motor City Cobra.” Over the course of his 30-year career, Hearns earned more than $40 million in prize money. But relatives, hangers-on, and poor investments sapped Hearns of his wealth. In 2010, he was forced to auction off his robes, gloves, and classic cars to satisfy a $450,000 federal tax-lien. The Champ attended the auction and watched as his life was sold to the highest bidder. But he still had the 8,700 square-foot estate in Southfield sitting on two acres surrounded by woods. The mortgage was paid in full in 2020. So what happened? How did he lose a home he owned outright? A deep dive into the property tax records show that the elderly and dissipated Tommy Hearns may be an unwitting victim of fraud. In early January 2014, a second mortgage was filed against Hearns’s home, which was worth more than $1 million at the time. Less than 10 months later, that same mortgage was foreclosed upon. The amount of that mortgage? Just $90,000. A company called C & S Management filed a claim to the home. The man who controlled C & S Management is also the man who issued the mortgage. He then foreclosed on the mortgage and even drafted the business paper work on Tommy Hearns’s behalf. His name is Jack Wolfe. Wolfe is currently serving time in the state penitentiary for forging dead people’s signatures, creating fake deeds and property documents to steal people’s homes. Following the 2014 “mortgage” foreclosure, there were a flurry of transactions between Wolfe’s shell corporations and the Hearns estate with no apparent purpose other than to squeeze equity from the home. The last transaction involving a Wolfe shell company and Hearns’s Southfield home was in October 2019, in which the younger Tommy Hearns was deeded a percentage of his father’s home. The scams Wolfe perpetrated against Hearn’ came to an end in 2020 when Wolfe was busted by television reporter Rob Wolchek of Fox 2 News. That’s the same year when the true mortgage issuer—CitiBank—discharged the loan to Hearns, making him the outright homeowner. That’s also the last year that property taxes were paid for Tommy Hearns’s estate. There is a ray of hope in all of this. The county auctioned off Hearns’s home for $226,000. But the tax arrearage was only $100,000. By law, Hearns is entitled to the remaining proceeds, which would be $126,000. According to property records, it does not appear that the money was ever collected. The legal time window to collect that money has closed. But according to a probate lawyer who has offered to represent the Champ’s interests pro bono, there is a chance he could at least collect that money. At most, he might be able to get his home back. The problem is Tommy Hearns has gone missing. Where are you Champ? We’re here and want to help you.
Michigan Enjoyer311,675 просмотров • 9 месяцев назад
We're Not Allowed in the Ren Cen Anymore GM moved out, keeping a skeleton crew at the new Hudson's building, while Dan Gilbert and GM angle for $350 million in public money to redevelop the complex By Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff Detroit — One of my favorite things to do in Detroit on a drizzly spring afternoon is to drop into the food court at the Renaissance Center. Normally, I will shake off the cold and relieve myself before ordering a cup of coffee and a moist cinnamon bun dripping with glaze and watch the fishermen troll for walleye along the river. So imagine my surprise earlier this week to find that the Renaissance Center is now completely closed to the public. Locked in perpetuity. The cafe is gone. The Burger King. The tables. The napkins. The salt shakers. General Motors has removed its name plate from the facade, and its rotating display of classic cars has been towed away. “Where you going?” barked a sleepy-eyed security guard. “It’s closed. Can’t you read the signs? Unless you’re going to the hotel or Joe Muer’s, but they’re not open yet.” “How about the Italian consulate?” I said somewhat hopefully. The remaining tenants in the Renaissance Center, besides the Marriott and three restaurants, are the Italian and Japanese diplomatic attachés. Apparently, no one told the Italians and the Japanese that the war was over. “Okay, but you can’t take no professional video,” he warned. We ignored him. The cultural impact of an icon abandoned in the middle of the night simply required documentation. Imagine walking up on the Empire State Building or the St. Louis Arch and being told to pound cement. It’s no secret that the building’s owner, General Motors, beat it out of its five towered headquarters on the Detroit River. With much fanfare, the 117-year-old automobile company announced last month that it had moved its world headquarters into a veritable broom closet of suites in Dan Gilbert’s half-finished, publicly financed Hudson’s Tower complex just a few blocks up on Woodward. GM has all but turned its back on the Motor City. The company has collected billions of dollars over the years from the state to keep its employees in Michigan. To smother the criticism, General Motors is keeping a skeleton crew of a few hundred employees downtown so the locals don’t feel disrespected. Executives with General Motors and Gilbert’s development team have convinced the public that they are going to transform the 5 million-square-foot riverfront property into condominiums, retail space and open parkland just as long as the public kicks in $350 million. Gilbert and GM are lobbying Lansing hard for the cash and prizes but a spokesman for Matt Hall, the speaker of the Michigan House who holds the dice in this game of Municipal Monopoly, was surprised to learn the public has been locked out of the building. “That’s the first we’re hearing of it,” the spokesman said. Representatives for General Motors did not immediately respond to questions. The Renaissance Center, financed with private money, took four years to build and opened in 1977. The public was always welcome to ride the 700-foot outdoor elevator. As a comparison, the Hudson two-tower complex—financed in part with public money—broke ground nine years ago. Even so, the main 49-story tower still lacks pipes and walls. The shorter block, where GM now rents four floors, is closed to the public. Unable to get an audience with either Consul General, we left the Renaissance Center with security tailing us at a respectful distance. Over at the GM headquarters, a security guard snapped our photograph through the plate glass window.
Michigan Enjoyer139,583 просмотров • 6 месяцев назад
Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, Charlie LeDuff DENIED entrance into the Mackinac Policy Conference! Charlie LeDuff
Michigan Enjoyer84,061 просмотров • 3 месяцев назад
The Gordie Howe Bridge Was a Giant Mistake The state could have just allowed the expansion of the Ambassador Bridge at no cost to taxpayers, but that would’ve been too simple By Charlie LeDuff (Charlie LeDuff) Detroit — Someone suddenly flipped on the lights at the still unfinished Gordie Howe International Bridge last week, and the town went berserk! And why not? We’ve been kept in the dark about almost everything else on the multi-billion-dollar boondoggle. The bridge is a joint-venture between the state of Michigan and the Canadian government. Canada fronted all the money to build it and will collect all the tolls until it recoups its investment. Only then will Michigan share in the proceeds. When the deal was first announced back in 2012, the estimated cost was $2 billion. Then it was $4 billion. Then it was $4.8 billion. Then it was $5.7 billion. It was supposed to be completed last year at a cost of $6.4 billion. It’s still not done, and the smart money puts the final costs north of $7 billion. (This does not include the unspecified millions the U.S. will shell out for customs and border inspections each year.) Traffic across the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel has fallen by nearly 60% since the year 2000 as auto manufacturing has shifted to the Southern U.S. and Mexico. At that rate, according to an independent study from 2018, the Gordie Howe Bridge will never pay for itself. Never. That means Canada’s grandchildren will get all the debt, and Michigan’s grandchildren will get all the smog. Oh, Canada! To date, no one has clearly explained how the bidding process worked. How could a consortium of companies win the design, construction, and maintenance contracts when it includes a Spanish firm that has paid more than $100 million in fines for fraud and bid-rigging? Canada is our neighbor. Spain isn’t. Doesn’t that present a security risk? And where did the steel for the bridge come from? Was it made in the U.S.? Canada? China? A mix of Canada and China? Again, we haven’t been told. Isn’t that what the tariff war is all about? And how did Justin Trudeau’s infrastructure minister get his job overseeing construction of the 1.5-mile, six-lane span across the Detroit River? The man—a former bus driver—had no college degree, no construction experience, and spent nearly two years in an Indian prison for suspected ties to terrorism. Why wasn’t the Moroun family, who owns the Ambassador Bridge, allowed to build a new span with private money as they had offered? Taxpayers wouldn’t have paid a nickel. Americans would have had jobs. It’s all so absolutely Michigan. When will government learn to get out of the way? Whitmer tried throwing billions at multinational corporations, and all we got were parking lots. The bright side here? At least we get some tasteful LED lighting twinkling on the Detroit River.
Michigan Enjoyer182,939 просмотров • 1 год назад
Did GM Get Taken for a Ride? The million-dollar masterpiece hanging in the new world headquarters was spray-painted, former employees allege By Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff General Motors is the victim of what is possibly the largest art heist in Detroit history. Embarrassed executives have been silent about the alleged fraud. Now they’ve got some explaining to do to shareholders. At issue: the massive sculpture hanging in the atrium of GM’s new world headquarters downtown in the Hudson’s Building. Nicknamed “Sunlit Straw,” the untitled steel and bronze behemoth was created in 1970 by Harry Bertoia, the postmodern Monet of Motown. The sculpture originally hung in Flint’s Genesee Valley Mall until 1980 when it was moved into the basement of Northland Mall for temporary storage. Time went by, and the masterpiece was forgotten until the city of Southfield discovered it during demolition of the Northland mall. It was covered in crud and corrosion and some of the steel bits were broken off. The city sent the piece to Flatlanders—a Michigan company that specializes in art rehabilitation. As glowing newspaper accounts told it last fall, “Sunlit Straw” was in the midst of a meticulous restoration when GM stepped in and purchased the piece from the city of Southfield for a cool million dollars. That’s when the alleged dirt got done. Instead of gently cleaning the massive metal mobile with toothpicks and soft cloths, the owner had it spray painted, his former workers claim. “It is still really hard to stomach,” Randy Gilson, a former employee at Flatlanders, told me. He also chronicled the desecration in a sworn affidavit. “It’s like putting a crayon on the Mona Lisa. And now it’s pretty much worthless.” Matt McKeen, another former Flatlanders employee, also signed a sworn affidavit with accompanying photographs of paint cans and broken bits of steel bar. “The owner didn’t have the manpower. So he said, ‘It’ll be hanging 11 floors up. Fuck it. Let’s just spray paint it,’” McKeen told me. “It was quite convincing, too. I feel bad about it, but I’ve got kids to feed and shit to do.” It was so convincing in fact that GM’s phalanx of executives and art experts didn’t notice that the bronze patina may have been counterfeit. They didn’t notice it during the “restoration” process and they didn’t notice it when they unzipped the side of the skyscraper to hoist the whale into place. When reached by telephone, Ken Thompson, founder and owner of Flatlander’s flat-out denied the forgery accusations. “Who you talking to?” Thompson wanted to know. “I wouldn’t believe a word they say. Randy and Matt have an axe to grind. They both owe me money. I’ve turned them over to a collection agency. If I don’t get that, I’m going to take them to court.” “That’s all very interesting,” I said. “But what about the spray paint?” “GM was on board with everything I did,” said Thompson. “They had a hundred executives come through. No one said a word. Have you checked with Celia Bertoia?” I checked with Celia Bertoia, director of the Harry Bertoia foundation, to inquire about the claims that her father’s legacy had been graffitied. “I can’t talk about that,” Bertoia said cryptically. “You’ll have to call GM.” It was a strange reply considering the June email she sent to McKeen. “The owners were glad to know, although not glad about the whole thing,” Bertoia wrote. “At this time, they are not ready to take any action as it would involve a lot of expense and be somewhat humiliating. Perhaps in this case, what the public doesn’t know won’t hurt them.” A spokesman for General Motors confirmed that the company is aware the Bertoia masterpiece has been mangled and manhandled. The company is considering its next steps. When informed of this, Ken Thompson the conservator, had an epiphany: “Yes it was sprayed,” Thompson said. “But was it spray-painted? No. It was a high-gloss amber lacquer. It was so rusted that we had to basically disguise the rust. Nobody had a problem with it. It didn’t do anything to harm it’s value. “I mean, what’s the big deal here?”
Michigan Enjoyer29,874 просмотров • 1 месяц назад
Abdul El-Sayed Is a Paper Doctor With an Empty Résumé The people's champ has never treated a patient, and the little work he has done hasn't improved health in Detroit By Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff A cop told me recently that he got a call from a rich white man complaining about a suspicious black man roaming his neighborhood. Cops hate those kinds of calls. It puts them in a bad spot. But cops have to respond to calls. So he did. Turned out, the black man was an Amazon driver. And naturally, the white man had a sign in his yard that read “Black Lives Matter.” Now, there’s a new sign on the white man’s lawn: “Abdul for U.S. Senate.” Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is running on a platform of good union jobs, money out of politics, and Medicare for All. I don’t understand the attraction. It’s doubtful the rich white man ever worked in a factory or has to worry about medical bills. Let’s call it virtue signaling for virtue’s sake. It takes the sting out of white privilege. For you workday humps who’d like to know something about the candidate beyond slick 30-second commercials, it’s worth noting that El-Sayed never worked in a factory, and aside from some part-time gigs at various colleges, his resume is thin. Very thin. The first thing you need to know is that El-Sayed is a paper doctor. He’s never treated a patient, is not licensed in Michigan, and never passed the board examinations. He can’t so much as dispense aspirin from an ambulance. The second thing you need to know is that El-Sayed, 41, has worked just two real jobs in his adult life, totaling less than four years, according to his resume. This from a guy who wants to be senator for life. What’s troubling is where he worked and what he actually accomplished: He was appointed as the top public health official in Detroit and then Wayne County. Both departments are an historical quagmire of corruption and incompetence. Believe me, I know, I helped put one director behind bars for, among other things, embezzling public health dollars to pay for hair plugs. For his part, El-Sayed was appointed as Detroit’s health director in 2015 by then-Mayor Mike Duggan. At that time, as the city was emerging from its historic bankruptcy, El-Sayed’s health department was funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars into a pet program run by Duggan’s mistress. The program was supposed to lower infant mortality rates in the city. After just 17 months on the job, El-Sayed resigned to run for governor. Then Mistress-gate scandal exploded and infant mortality skyrocketed. Nothing changed. To El-Sayed’s credit, before resigning as health director, he commissioned a report that showed Duggan’s demolition blitz was poisoning the city’s children. That program is now the subject of a sprawling FBI investigation. However, El-Sayed the candidate has said little about it. A couple years and cups of coffee later, El-Sayed was appointed in 2023 as the medical chief of Wayne County. According to his own campaign commercial, El-Sayed’s biggest accomplishment was a partnership with a nonprofit that supplied 16,000 eye glasses to needy children. What the commercial does not tell you is that the nonprofit existed for a decade beforehand and the county’s portion was funded primarily by Biden’s Covid bucks. One-time inflationary federal dollars is no solution to a health crisis. All the while, life expectancy in Detroit continues to crater from pre-pandemic levels, hovering around 70 years old. That’s hardly an effective record. There are also serious questions about El-Sayed’s campaigns finance problems, including indications of straw donors, actual contributors blowing past legal limits, and a Super PAC committed to spending millions of dollars on his behalf. Then there are the disturbing questions regarding the mental fitness of those he surrounds himself with, including a former staffer charged with terrorism, a current staffer who says all white women are racist (ironically, that staffer herself is a white woman), and a prominent podcaster who once said America deserved 9/11. And can we get a timeline of when he actually lived in Michigan? But those are stories for another day. Go ahead and plant your yard signs rich white guy. That's your right. Just remember, you reap what you sow.
Michigan Enjoyer47,814 просмотров • 3 месяцев назад
Detroit Contractors Plastic-Wrapped a House to Keep Out Poisoned Dirt City officials heard we were documenting the incompetence and lurked around the block By Charlie LeDuff Charlie LeDuff Detroit — Sometimes the rumbling and bumbling of the Detroit City bureaucracy is so dumb-assed, you have to write about it. Who? A gaggle of officials creeping up and down an all but abandoned block in city vehicles, trying to conceal themselves. Why the cloak-and-dagger routine? Because they were trying to avoid the penetrating gaze of our camera lens. Where? 4554 25th Street, on the city’s west side near Warren Avenue. What? This is the site of the city’s most notorious demolition boondoggle. The hole where a house once stood was filled with dirt so contaminated with toxic chemicals and metals that the contractor is charging the city $93,000 to clean it out and refill it. It only cost $22,500 to tear down the house in the first place. The site is so sick—apparently—that the contractor was ordered by the city’s demolition department to completely wrap the neighboring house in heavy plastic to keep the poison particles from wafting inside. The problem is, the city never informed the owner of 4545 25th Street. The house was partially wrapped, but had to be unwrapped because no one from the city had bothered to ask the owner for permission. This turned out to be a good thing since workers weren’t sure if they had wrapped the homeowner inside. Fortunately, they had not. When the owner finally arrived home from work, the city had her sign a permission slip handwritten on loose-leaf paper. Only then was the house rewrapped, giving it the look of a giant bounce house. Workers wore hazmat gear and respirators. The homeowner smoked cigarettes. A young mother across the street was not notified about the removal of the poisoned dirt, either. Once informed, she demanded that her house, too, be wrapped. Her complaints only earned her some plastic sheeting taped across her windows. When contractors began excavating the super-toxic soil from the lot, they discovered an underground swamp due to a broken water pipe from a previous, adjacent city demolition. Contractors pumped the water out of the super-toxic swamp. Some of it spilled into the street. After 3 or 4 feet of the toxic soil was removed and carted away, the contractors stopped excavation work altogether. They left a gaping hole, even though the soil was so toxic that the house had to be entombed in plastic. To prevent the poison particles from going airborne, contractors then built a giant lean-to made of lumber and plastic wrap and placed it across the entire hole. The side facing the house, however, was left open. And when the wind blew, the plastic billowed like sheets on a clothesline before tearing loose from the lumber. The homeowner informed me that Stevie Wonder used to practice piano in the house where the hole now sits. That hole has now become a billboard of neglect and abuse so large that even a blind man can see it. We filmed the whole thing over three days. City Hall got wind that we were out there. They panicked. They held emergency meetings. Housing officials, health officials, demolition officials, building officials, and an old white hippy in a silver sedan were dispatched to the site. When they saw our camera, they would drive up the street, turn the corner, turn the next corner, turn the third corner, and then park at the end of the block from where they had originally come. Dumb.
Michigan Enjoyer31,085 просмотров • 1 месяц назад