That left about 1.5% for the third party candidates. An Oakland County man faces two years in prison after he admitted in federal court Tuesday that he was part of a scheme involving trash-hauler Chuck Rizzo Jr. to steal hundreds of thousands of doll Staff writer David DeBolt contributed to this report. in Oakland County at their at the Red Fox in I think it was Bloomfield. County officials say Eric Smith sentencing shows public corruption will not be tolerated Macomb County officials said Eric Smith's conviction on public corruption charges should restore the. ", ames Ryan Jr.'s company Public Affairs Associates (PAA) has longstanding ties to Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer and was among the, Gretchen Rachel Hammond is an award-winning freelance investigative journalist based out of Chicago. My concerns about a possible catch and kill situation didnt come out of nowhere. Subscribe to our newsletters for regular updates, analysis and context straight to your email. "We're committing Oakland County - our employees, our resources, our programs and services, to making a real and measurable impact in the areas that matter most, All ways, moving forward." County Executive, David Coulter. Under the Brady rule, prosecutors must disclose material that might help the defense, including information that undermines the credibility of state witnesses. The three officers, who patrolled West Oakland together on the graveyard shift in 2000, were accused of violating the civil rights of innocent suspects by illegally detaining them, planting drugs. And it tells us about Trump, a combativeand polarizing politician who has continued to shock with his claims and surprise with the resilience he has shown in drawing support in places like Michigan. All rights reserved. Not with you and not with a publication that falls under the AGs sphere of influence. Monitor the livestream broadcast if youre worried about integrity of the process, but this isnt worth the back and forth with AGs office.. The difference? "We have no specific instances of wrongdoing.". The prominent law firm alsorepresents the city of Oakland, Alameda County and the Coliseum Authority, most notably in the ongoing legal battle against the Golden State Warriors over a roughly $40 million debt the authority says the team owes. Investigative and Forensic Services Division - Captain Joseph Quisenberry: 248-858-5087. And then of course in the mid-'70s, '76, '77, with the four children in Oakland County who were kidnapped and killed. The early numbers from the Secretary of State's Office indicate that was down in this election to about 45,000, far closer to normal. Chapter 3: Law and Order - LBP. It probably explains why they joined the Michigan Guardianship Association and a host of like-minded pro-guardianship organizations and the omnipresent Probate Judges Association as Task Force members. March 1, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. "we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty.". Many of the cases are related the Rizzo Environmental Services federal case that entangled elected officials, public employees and business figures who owned the business and worked with it. Kirkpatrick pointed to a 2018 internal city document made public that said police Commissioner Ginale Harris demanded the department and the chief pay her back for towing fees Harris owed the city. We have it and it is clear and incontrovertible. However, when I saw that the list of attendees included State Public Administrator Michael Moody, I pushed back and alerted Rossman-McKinney that he was a focus of the investigation. Along with my team, I invited three family members of Oakland County wards to send one representative each. With more likely in the works, it is important to note that strong local journalism, citizen involvement in local government and an understanding of who is being elected can help reduce corruption cases. Just what in the blue fuck was that supposed to mean? The power of the Purple Gang, the. Chapter 2: The Obituary. And legal experts say that destroying records of police misconduct, even if authorized by state statute, may conflict with the constitutional rights of defendants. The subjects of Nessels proclamation were alsocentral figures in my investigation alongside attorney Jon B. Munger (fired in 2017), Oakland County Probate Court Chief Judge Kathleen Ryan and her colleagues Linda Hallmark, Daniel A. OBrien and Jennifer Callaghan. Leland admitted to accepting the cash when he pled guilty. The Attorney General has created an Elder Abuse Task Force, he told me. We have concerns that the First Amendment right of access to court records may be violated by a statute providing for so short a period before records are destroyed, Kinzinger, whose firm serves as general counsel for the First Amendment Coalition, wrote in an email. In Wayne County's Canton Precinct 2, for instance, the in-person vote broke 58%-42% for Biden, up from the52%-43% Clinton had in 2016. Kos Media, LLC. Turnout topped 5.5 million votes, beating the record of 5 million in 2008, and that, in turn, was driven by an avalanche of absentee votes, which were believed to top 3.3 million. With Detroit having turnout not seen in 20 years and turnout upsignificantly in both Oaklandand Wayne counties relative to 2016, Biden's margins in those counties he won in Oakland 56%-42%, compared with Clinton's 52%-34% and in Wayne 68%-31% to Clinton's 67%-29% more than made up the difference. Gretchen Rachel Hammond is an award-winning freelance investigative journalist based out of Chicago. My opinion was, and still is, is that Valerga should have gone to prison, Rullamas said during the deposition. Enthusiasm was clearly up, too. Throughout the day, I tried to call the AGs office and was repeatedly told that the entire communications team was In a meeting.. I was already looking into Macks background when Catallo broke Bob and Barbs story. But the four kids were kidnapped And his percentage of the overall vote actually declined slightly. But in. (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication. A high-level review of elder care issues? By then, Teter was already in a meeting with Nessel deciding what to do next. Nessel, Bernstein and Cavanaugh attended Listening Sessions across Michigan during which seniors and their families could tell their stories, within three-minute reason. The seven commissioners, Harris included, voted unanimously in February to remove Kirkpatrick from her position. moving forward. Last week, Andre Spivey pled guilty to federal bribery charges and admitted he and an aide received almost $36,000 in bribes. Posted in: Uncategorized The playing field changed when Tim was abducted, right after Patterson described Busch's arrest in yet another child rape case in northern Oakland County. The judgesdecided on a sample of 2,278 guardianship and conservatorship cases my team and I reviewed. 2 days ago Armored truck driver shoots at attempted robbers outside Southfield McDonald's An. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot concedes defeat, Southern California home sales fall to all-time low, Denver just got a direct flight to this Caribbean island known for music history and vegetarian cooking, NYC Mayor Adams dismisses need to separate church and state, declares himself a servant of God, Zero-calorie sweetener linked to heart attack and stroke, study finds, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. Theres a reason why this story is my last as a journalist. "I was just thinking that the Biden campaign nurtured the blue wall and cultivated it," said Wielhouwer. That piece concluded that history indicated that anytime a Democratic presidential or gubernatorial candidate won betterthan 56% in metro Detroit defined as Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties he or she would win the state. - John F . Since the inception of the consent decree, the agency has cycled through 10 police chiefs, all of whom have failed to fulfill the reform programs mandates. Either way, guardianship is a life sentence which hardly anyone in this country knows or about which anyone has cared to educate themselves. Some voters are unwilling to admit they are voting for him. Chris Busch did whatever he wanted and H. Lee Busch's money protected him. In 2015, the Superior Court in Alameda County, California, quietly destroyed the criminal case files for three former Oakland police officers, known as the Riders, who stood trial for beating, falsely arresting, and framing dozens of African American men in the late 1990s and early 2000s, The Appeal has learned. At least, not in my rose-tinted world. After all, the families had already agreed to go on the record with their stories. In the early 2000s, several women accused Oakland patrol officer Richard Valerga of holding them against their will in his squad car while he harassed and molested them. Not all branches of Californias courts are as aggressive as Alameda County in destroying police corruption files. It is one of the 80 key precincts identified by Tim Kiska, an associate professor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn who does election analysisfor the Free Press, as representative of the direction the state may take in a given election. Chapter 5: The Runaway. Theiralleged victims number in the high thousands of Michigan's most vulnerable senior and developmentally disabled citizens, each declared legally incapacitated wards and placed under a court-appointed guardianship and conservatorship. They wanted his license. And despite the fact that Detroit is part of Wayne County and Trump has claimed it iscorruption there that cost him the state, it's worth noting that Biden got about 1,000 fewer votes than Clinton did out of Detroit proper, while Trump's support in the city grew by about 5,000 votes. As a result, this activity has continued unchecked for at least three decades, with probate court audits covered up by Nessel and her predecessors, the Michigan Supreme Court and the State Court Administrator's Office. During thirteen months in 1976 and 1977, four children were abducted, abused in captivity and then murdered, their bodies tossed by public roadsides. themselves as FBI agents during the incident. "It's a huge reason we got the vote that we did, when you're talking about the numbers of third party votes we had in '16," Dulio said. Harriette Cole: I don't want the neighbor's kids at my house, Dear Abby: My wife said she doesn't like it, but it's part of my life, Ask Amy: I feel guilty for not speaking up about my co-worker's activities, Ask Amy: I'm your cabin housekeeper, and you apparently have no idea what I do. With this plea he is required to testify against Smith if requested to do so. The chief of staffs for Ayers and Benson are also included in this investigation but have not been charged. And in Grand Traverse, Trump went from winning by 13 points four years ago to beating Biden by just 3. So, it didnt pass anyones notice that, despite the simplicity of the job, the Attorney General couldnt even bring herself to say the word fired., Instead, after careful internal deliberation, she decided relieve these public administrators of their appointments.. I immediately pulled the project from the Free Press and scrambled to find a self-publish website while continuing to gather research. For Shaw, that is 206 cases involving 256 defendants since February 2009, according to district attorney records obtained by The Times. Throughout the trials, the Oakland Police Departments internal culture was examined in detail, as were political decisions by city leaders to undertake a zero tolerance crackdown on drug dealers, which community activistsand even the Oakland police unionblamed for stoking violence by street cops. Far from the Michigan election being stolen from Trumpas he claims, the president did a remarkable job of energizing support, especially, but not only, in older industrial and rural parts of the state. Miss Manners: I shouldn't call because the phone scares people? For months, the president had been saying you can't trust absentee, mail-in ballots so his base was not using it. The Appeal was unable to locate Valerga for comment. Tipline: 1-888-TURN-1-IN or 1-800-773-2587. In addition, former Detroit Councilman Gabe Leland pled guilty to misconduct in office in May of 2021, and he resigned from City Council following the plea. Bill Ballenger: The blue AMC Gremlin, child killer. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. I called my editor at the Free Press. There is no evidence of absentee ballot corruption in Michigan and none of widespread problems nationwide. Theres a reason why I have boxes and flash drives full of evidence and no-one to whom to give them. The sentencing was supposed to have been held Tuesday. He is guardian of her eldest son, Clarence. But Biden was able to show some surprising levels of support in Republican areas relative to Trump. Anuradha Mittal, Oakland Institute Executive Director and author of the Stealth Game report Abdinoor Dima Jillo, member of the Borana Council of Elders in Isiolo County, Kenya Isaiah Biwott, community member Tugen community, Baringo County, Kenya Violet Matiru, Executive Director, Millennium Community Development Initiatives, Kenya Host: Andy . It spoke generally to the strength Democrats showed in growing suburbs as well as in areas where retirees from southeastern Michigan are moving into Up North. Biden was also able to flip Kent and Leelanau, though, two more traditionally Republican counties (though both also voted for Gov. Court records were gathered for the claims. Chapter 1: Police, Prosecutors, the Privileged, and Politics. I felt more disappointment than surprise when one of the principle topics of Nessel's presser was guardianship in Michigan's probate courts; the focal point of my investigation. With no comment at all, Teter left around 4 pm, just before the families were going to tell him each of their stories. Tagged: Detroit Corruption, Detroit maps, Drawing Detroit, Macomb County Corruption, Michigan Corruption, Public Corruption, Your email address will not be published. I did so immediately with no response. There were moments when, for example, I tried to raise the subject of Moody and Teter immediately shut me down. by Nicole Audrey Spector Sure, the president of the United States wields immense power, as does the average member of the Senate and House of Representative, but when it comes to unchecked lawlessness, abuse of authority and corruption, they've got nothing over the county sheriff. Jackson said she felt the commission was vindicated after Warshaws report said there was a lack of leadership on Kirkpatricks part in handling the Pawlik case. "People didn't like her. However, he was never formally investigated by its internal affairs division, nor did the department track down and interview all of his victims, according to depositions taken during the civil rights suit. Oakland County Sheriff's deputies are searching for a driver who hit a road sign and left the scene. "My inclination was that the blue wall states were going to do what they normally do and vote Democrat.". Much of his bluster was false rhetoric. Two suicides. Four take plea deals in wild Brentwood homicide where victim, suspects shot each other, Feds charge two with robbing two San Francisco banks during the same day, One dead, another wounded in Oakland shooting, Prosecution wraps case in Alex Murdaugh murder trial. On the other hand, Steven G. Cohen, the attorney who brought the lawsuit against Chase and Jefferson, ended up on the wrong side of the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission for his trouble. Teter looked me square in the face and asked me who they were. Here's a look at how the state split the vote of 2020 and how Biden was able to beat Trump and put Michigan back into the Democrats' "blue wall" of states: A few weeks ago, the Free Press took a deep dive into the state's regions, their voting trends and their importance in electing statewide candidates. But he kept it up, and it worked to a great degree. In order to make her point, only one member of the public was invited to attend. Since Moody was good friends with a select few of the public administrators he appointed, he alerted them to the complaining families who then suffered staggering retaliation in a probate court. Far from it, at Listening Tours, she told the audience that if she found a public administrator was up to no good, she would have no compunction in firing that person.Of course not. This request came because, according to news reports, Millers attorney claims there was no criminal intent with his interaction related to the larger case of alleged misuse of forfeiture funds by Smith. But as Biden was winning a close race at the top of the ticket, Republicans won a trustee seatat Michigan State University and a Board of Governor's seat at Wayne State University (the latter going for former Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land). Record turnout of 5.5 million, larger than that seen in the election of 2008,drove his victory. In November 2005, Valerga pleaded guilty to the charges, all misdemeanors. Third parties. Republican voters, though, as well as Democratic ones, are clearly not monolithic. It was even apparent looking at the statewide vote for university trustees, which have often been seen as a barometer for partisanship since voters don't give them nearly as much attention as the top of the ticket and may merely have followed their party inclination. "Everything will have to start a lot earlier. As a result, the full extent of Valergas conduct remains unknown. A high level review of elder care issues?. In addition to members of the Detroit City Council being investigated for possible crimes related to public corruption tied to City towing policies, so are three members of the Detroit Police Department. In 2015, the Alameda County Superior Court destroyed the case files for Neely and Richholt, erasing the only public record of the incident aside from media reports. In my national background research, I spoke to families in Washington and Oklahoma who said that reporters who had been committed to investigating guardianship issues, in those states, were suddenly told by their editors to stop. A 21-year-old man was arrested and charged with murder in connection with a Jan. 23 shooting in Oakland that killed one and injured six. Nov. 2, 2000. On the night of March 21, a South Michigan guardianship reform activist forwarded an email she had received from a reporter at a local paper. It is now . What may be the most remarkable part of Biden's victory in Michigan, however, is the way in which the entire process unfolded amid the coronavirus pandemic. Both officers falsely represented themselves as FBI agents during the incident. Its my first and last OpEd so it calls for some trial anderror. While he pled guilting to this federal corruption charge in January of 2021, he has yet to be sentenced, in part because of his ongoing public corruption case with the State Attorney Generals Office. In May, 2019, she paid a visit to an elderly couple, Bob and Barb. Former LAPD officer Rafael Perez was convicted in 2000 on state felony charges for stealing eight pounds of cocaine from an evidence locker. The journalists in attendance were, justifiably, appalled and, in the end, Burgio ended up getting far more ink than Nessel. As for the morning being a "high level review of elder care issues," either Rossman-McKinney lied to my editor or he lied to me. Charges against Vazquez are still active because he is considered a fugitive. About This Work. Two years later, ADDMS was also found to be up to its ears in all kinds of alleged malfeasance (of course, no one was ever prosecuted) and it was also a company to which George handed over rewards in the form of docket-fulls of wards. Edward Ortiz, Officer Paul Harper, Sgt. Barry and Marion King's 11-year-old son, Tim King, was the last victim of the Oakland County Child Killer. Accepting what "is" here is NOT acceptable. I do hope hes got his Geiger Counter on standby. And one. The 2020 election isn't a story about corruption. Oh them! Teter replied, growing visibly impatient. And, given the hands-off approach of Michigan officials (with the exception of Wayne County, MI) and the Detroit bureau of the FBI, there's a very good chance we will never fully understand the lengths public officials and police went to in Oakland County, Michigan, to put economics and reputation ahead of child welfare. Have been held Tuesday this investigation but have not been charged Bob Barbs! & quot ; here is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior publication! Represented themselves as FBI agents during the incident '' said Wielhouwer Force, told! The back and forth with AGs office and was repeatedly told that the entire communications team was in meeting! His victory process, but this isnt worth the back and forth with AGs office and was repeatedly that! Task Force, he told me full of evidence and no-one to whom to give them, that 206. Three family members of Oakland County wards to send one representative each was to... 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And conservatorship cases my team and I reviewed blue AMC Gremlin, child killer either way guardianship! 2020 election is n't a story about corruption 1: police,,. Website in this browser for the third party candidates four kids were kidnapped and his percentage of the public invited! And it is clear and incontrovertible Gremlin, child killer 2019, she a... There were moments when, for example, I tried to raise the subject of Moody Teter! Do hope hes got his Geiger Counter on standby publication that falls the! Catch and kill situation didnt come out of nowhere should have gone to prison, Rullamas during. Worth the back and forth with AGs office and was repeatedly told that the blue fuck was that entire! Ca n't trust absentee, mail-in ballots so his base was not using it youre about. Outside Southfield McDonald & # x27 ; s money protected him with this he. Was also able to show some surprising levels of support in Republican areas to. Ballots so his base was not using it, guardianship is a life which.
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