http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Synagro
Excerpt:
Synagro is, according to its website, the largest processor of sewage sludge in the United States. [1] The company is owned, since 2007, by The Carlyle Group. [2] Synagro describes itself as "a company that helps government agencies and private industries better manage organic residuals. Organic residuals include all non-hazardous (sic) byproducts created by industrial or municipal facilities during the water or wastewater treatment process. Our company: Serves more than 600 municipal and industrial water and wastewater facilities; Employs over 1,000 people; Operates in 33 states; Has revenues of over $344MM for the year ending 2009." [3]
Contents[hide] |
Chez Sludge and Synagro
Synagro "composts" the toxic sludge of the City of San Francisco and 8 other counties, the product at the heart of the Chez Sludge scandal in San Francisco. The Food Rights Network released a major investigative report on July 9, 2010 titled: Chez Sludge: How the Sewage Sludge Industry Bedded Alice Waters. [4] It examines collusion between the Chez Panisse Foundation and the SFPUC based on an extensive open records investigation of the SFPUC internal files. (To view the internal documents see: SFPUC Sludge Controversy Timeline.)http://michigancitizen.com/crooks-testify-p8292-1.htm
Excerpt:
Crooks Testify
Carlyle/Synagro, murderers, money launderers, drug traffickers and gangsters
By Diane Bukowski with Zenobia Jeffries
Michigan Citizen
DETROIT — The prosecution’s cast of witnesses in the Sam Riddle bribery trial is dominated by shady characters, with Carlyle Group subsidiary Synagro starring. Jurors have heard Synagro’s vice president of business development Pam Racey on tape apparently discussing bribes of former City Council President Monica Conyers.
Former interim Detroit Mayor and City Council member Kenneth Cockrel, Jr.’s, Chief of Staff John Clark admitted earlier to taking Synagro bribes. Nonetheless, Cockrel Jr. testified Feb. 1 about City of Detroit and General Retirement System ethics codes. Riddle’s attorneys objected that he is not being tried for conflict of interest.
Porn king Harry Mohney, founder of Déjà Vu Consulting, a national strip club chain, plays his trial role in the wings. He spent three years in prison for evading over $14 million in taxes amid allegations of money laundering and mob connections.
One Déjà Vu witness, Joe Hall, has ties to a defendant in the government’s current trial of 78 members of the Highwaymen Motorcycle Club for racketeering, drug trafficking, and numerous counts of conspiracy to commit murder. Another, Chris Jackson, is a Greektown Casino partner, Michigan Chronicle investor and chief of staff to former City Council President Gil Hill, who admitted to bribing Riddle.
It is not just illegal to accept bribes, but to offer them, too.
U.S. District Court Judge Avern Cohn, presiding over Riddle’s trial after authorizing the wiretaps, also has presided over the trials of several prosecution witnesses, who are testifying under grants of immunity. Some remain under his supervision.
Bombshell: Carlyle knew
Jurors may never hear key evidence regarding Synagro. Carlyle/Synagro executives at a national level likely approved, and at least knew about, Synagro’s 2007 efforts to obtain a $1.2 billion city wastewater sludge contract through bribery, according to court testimony.
http://archive.easternecho.com/content/synagro-scandal-reeks-injustice
Synagro scandal reeks injustice (Carlyle Group???)
Excerpt:
Diane Bukowski and Teresa Kelly, the authors of the Michigan Citizen article, claim the most likely explanation for Synagro’s overly sanitary media treatment are the powerful political connections of the firm’s parent company, the notoriously slimy Carlyle Group.
“Synagro is wholly owned by the international Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, with more than $82.7 billion under management in 21 countries, and close ties to the George W. Bush administration and its wars,” wrote Bukowski and Kelly.
And The Carlyle Group purchased Synagro in early 2007, just months before Detroit city officials admitted they began receiving Synagro’s bribes. Coincidence? Perhaps.
But what possible explanation can there be – other than our corporate media obediently donning their rose colored glasses – for Synagro coming out of this deal smelling like a rose? Synagro pumped out the filthy flood of corruption that washed over Detroit for two years, and now they get to walk away clean? That just doesn’t pass the smell test.
In a sordid twist to this tale, one Detroit City Councilmember actually did urge the city to begin legal proceedings against Synagro last February – but that timely suggestion was left to rot on the vine. Apparently no one in government or in the mainstream media seems to have the stomach to take on Synagro or its high-powered corporate backers.
So who was the one Detroit City Councilmember willing to sling some mud at Synagro? You guessed it – none other than Monica Conyers herself. It’s a small consolation, but at least Detroiters should be able breath a bit easier once she’s behind bars.
http://michigancitizen.com/fbi-targets-detroit-ignores-bribe-source-p6254-1.htm
FBI targets Detroit ignores bribe source
Excerpt:
Carlyle-Synagro spreads money in pushing sludge deals with Black cities
By Diane Bukowski
The Michigan Citizen
DETROIT — Dozens of city workers and their supporters picketed outside Detroit’s Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) July 8 to demand that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and the city council rescind the city’s $1.4 billion 30-year sludge processing contract with Synagro Technologies.
Synagro is wholly owned by the international Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, with more than $82.7 billion under management in 21 countries, and close ties to the Bush administration and its wars.
“No to Synagro, no bribery, no cuts, Detroit won’t go to the back of the bus,” chanted the protesters. They were referring to the ongoing bribery scandal involving alleged pay-offs to city officials and community leaders by representatives of Synagro and a subcontractor.
Southwest Detroit resident Denise Monroe Hearns, CEO of 48217, Inc., said, “This is so disheartening. All our environmental groups except one fought Synagro, and we were proven to be right. We laid out to the City Council and everyone the Synagro-Carlyle connection, but they ignored us and voted for privatization.”
Wastewater Treatment plant worker Cynthia McKissack added, “Our people have been working here, many for over 20 years, and are extremely competent and able to do the work Synagro wants to do. This bribery scandal gives us the opportunity to undo this contract.”
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/12974/rehab-softball-interviews-begin-for-fired-fox-news-anchor-who-shilled-for-farrakhan-hid-cars/
Excerpt:
Video Rayford Jackson and Synagro
http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/latest_video/rayford_jackson_exclusive_part_4
Synagro Rayford Jackson Fanchon Stinger video
http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/synagro_jackson_rayford_stinger_scott_lewis
By Diane Bukowski with Zenobia Jeffries
Michigan Citizen
DETROIT — The prosecution’s cast of witnesses in the Sam Riddle bribery trial is dominated by shady characters, with Carlyle Group subsidiary Synagro starring. Jurors have heard Synagro’s vice president of business development Pam Racey on tape apparently discussing bribes of former City Council President Monica Conyers.
Former interim Detroit Mayor and City Council member Kenneth Cockrel, Jr.’s, Chief of Staff John Clark admitted earlier to taking Synagro bribes. Nonetheless, Cockrel Jr. testified Feb. 1 about City of Detroit and General Retirement System ethics codes. Riddle’s attorneys objected that he is not being tried for conflict of interest.
Porn king Harry Mohney, founder of Déjà Vu Consulting, a national strip club chain, plays his trial role in the wings. He spent three years in prison for evading over $14 million in taxes amid allegations of money laundering and mob connections.
One Déjà Vu witness, Joe Hall, has ties to a defendant in the government’s current trial of 78 members of the Highwaymen Motorcycle Club for racketeering, drug trafficking, and numerous counts of conspiracy to commit murder. Another, Chris Jackson, is a Greektown Casino partner, Michigan Chronicle investor and chief of staff to former City Council President Gil Hill, who admitted to bribing Riddle.
It is not just illegal to accept bribes, but to offer them, too.
U.S. District Court Judge Avern Cohn, presiding over Riddle’s trial after authorizing the wiretaps, also has presided over the trials of several prosecution witnesses, who are testifying under grants of immunity. Some remain under his supervision.
Bombshell: Carlyle knew
Jurors may never hear key evidence regarding Synagro. Carlyle/Synagro executives at a national level likely approved, and at least knew about, Synagro’s 2007 efforts to obtain a $1.2 billion city wastewater sludge contract through bribery, according to court testimony.
http://archive.easternecho.com/content/synagro-scandal-reeks-injustice
Synagro scandal reeks injustice (Carlyle Group???)
Excerpt:
Diane Bukowski and Teresa Kelly, the authors of the Michigan Citizen article, claim the most likely explanation for Synagro’s overly sanitary media treatment are the powerful political connections of the firm’s parent company, the notoriously slimy Carlyle Group.
“Synagro is wholly owned by the international Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, with more than $82.7 billion under management in 21 countries, and close ties to the George W. Bush administration and its wars,” wrote Bukowski and Kelly.
And The Carlyle Group purchased Synagro in early 2007, just months before Detroit city officials admitted they began receiving Synagro’s bribes. Coincidence? Perhaps.
But what possible explanation can there be – other than our corporate media obediently donning their rose colored glasses – for Synagro coming out of this deal smelling like a rose? Synagro pumped out the filthy flood of corruption that washed over Detroit for two years, and now they get to walk away clean? That just doesn’t pass the smell test.
In a sordid twist to this tale, one Detroit City Councilmember actually did urge the city to begin legal proceedings against Synagro last February – but that timely suggestion was left to rot on the vine. Apparently no one in government or in the mainstream media seems to have the stomach to take on Synagro or its high-powered corporate backers.
So who was the one Detroit City Councilmember willing to sling some mud at Synagro? You guessed it – none other than Monica Conyers herself. It’s a small consolation, but at least Detroiters should be able breath a bit easier once she’s behind bars.
http://michigancitizen.com/fbi-targets-detroit-ignores-bribe-source-p6254-1.htm
FBI targets Detroit ignores bribe source
Excerpt:
FBI TARGETS DETROIT, IGNORES BRIBE SOURCE
 |
Conyers talks to media after water vote |
By Diane Bukowski
The Michigan Citizen
DETROIT — Dozens of city workers and their supporters picketed outside Detroit’s Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) July 8 to demand that Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and the city council rescind the city’s $1.4 billion 30-year sludge processing contract with Synagro Technologies.
Synagro is wholly owned by the international Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, with more than $82.7 billion under management in 21 countries, and close ties to the Bush administration and its wars.
“No to Synagro, no bribery, no cuts, Detroit won’t go to the back of the bus,” chanted the protesters. They were referring to the ongoing bribery scandal involving alleged pay-offs to city officials and community leaders by representatives of Synagro and a subcontractor.
Southwest Detroit resident Denise Monroe Hearns, CEO of 48217, Inc., said, “This is so disheartening. All our environmental groups except one fought Synagro, and we were proven to be right. We laid out to the City Council and everyone the Synagro-Carlyle connection, but they ignored us and voted for privatization.”
Wastewater Treatment plant worker Cynthia McKissack added, “Our people have been working here, many for over 20 years, and are extremely competent and able to do the work Synagro wants to do. This bribery scandal gives us the opportunity to undo this contract.”
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/12974/rehab-softball-interviews-begin-for-fired-fox-news-anchor-who-shilled-for-farrakhan-hid-cars/
Excerpt:
December 1, 2009, - 2:44 pm
Good Morning America Sob Story on Fired FOX News Anchor Who Shilled for Farrakhan, Hid Cars
By Debbie Schlussel
Almost a year and a half ago, I told you about Fanchon Stinger, then an employee of FOX News, who served as the anchor of Detroit FOX 2 morning show. Stinger was fired after it came to light that she was in business with Synagro, a company which obtained a billion dollar sludge contract with the City of Detroit and which used her married Muslim boyfriend, Rayford Jackson, to bribe Detroit City Council members (including Congressman John Conyers’ wife, Monica).
At the time she was sleeping with him and anchoring the FOX News owned and operated Detroit news operation, Rayford Jackson was the number one man in Louis Farrakhan’s Detroit Nation of Islam operation. And Stinger gave racist, anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan a half hour gushing interview on FOX 2 (Watch the Video) that sounded like an infomercial, telling him he wasn’t anti-Semitic and thanking him for the “wonderful work” he did “for our people.” It was so disgusting and pandering that many FOX 2 reporters complained. Even Al-Jazeera has been tougher on the guy. And Stinger used her podium at FOX to promote extremist Muslim causes, including a group that openly supports HAMAS and Hezbollah. More on that later.
http://news.muckety.com/2009/06/19/monica-conyers-wife-of-congressman-offered-plea-deal/16941
Excerpt:
Almost a year and a half ago, I told you about Fanchon Stinger, then an employee of FOX News, who served as the anchor of Detroit FOX 2 morning show. Stinger was fired after it came to light that she was in business with Synagro, a company which obtained a billion dollar sludge contract with the City of Detroit and which used her married Muslim boyfriend, Rayford Jackson, to bribe Detroit City Council members (including Congressman John Conyers’ wife, Monica).
Former FOX News Anchor Fanchon Stinger
& Boyfriend/Top Farrakhan Man Rayford Jackson
Stinger also illegally put hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Jackson’s fancy cars, including a Rolls Royce, in her name to shield them from authorities and her married father-of-four boyfriend’s creditors. Oh, and by the way, her boytoy Jackson was tight with then-Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was embroiled in scandal and much in the news at the time. Stinger worked for FOX News, and when I called the local station with questions, my call was returned by a FOX News/News Corp publicist.At the time she was sleeping with him and anchoring the FOX News owned and operated Detroit news operation, Rayford Jackson was the number one man in Louis Farrakhan’s Detroit Nation of Islam operation. And Stinger gave racist, anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan a half hour gushing interview on FOX 2 (Watch the Video) that sounded like an infomercial, telling him he wasn’t anti-Semitic and thanking him for the “wonderful work” he did “for our people.” It was so disgusting and pandering that many FOX 2 reporters complained. Even Al-Jazeera has been tougher on the guy. And Stinger used her podium at FOX to promote extremist Muslim causes, including a group that openly supports HAMAS and Hezbollah. More on that later.
http://news.muckety.com/2009/06/19/monica-conyers-wife-of-congressman-offered-plea-deal/16941
Excerpt:
Monica Conyers, wife of congressman, offered plea deal
By Ric Bohy
June 19, 2009 at 8:46am
These days Congressman John Conyers, Michigan Democrat and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has taken to introducing his wife by her maiden name, Monica Eskers.
But in Detroit, where she’s now being squeezed by the feds to accept a plea deal ahead of being indicted for bribery, she’s known as Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers.
Detroit media have reported that the councilwoman was videotaped accepting a bribe payment – which with others totaled $6,000 – to buy her vote for a $1.2 billion city sludge-disposal contract. Conyers originally opposed the contract, but changed her mind, swinging her vote for a 5-4 approval.
She’s now mulling over a plea, but a deal has been stalled because she wants to stay out of jail and be charged with nothing more than a misdemeanor, not the 5-year felony offered by prosecutors.
Conyers’ criminal woes are the latest produced by a years-long, wide-ranging FBI investigation into public corruption in Detroit. It’s had a lot to work with, although the highest profile crook to date, convicted felon and former mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick, was brought down in a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation by The Detroit Free Press.
Also reportedly under federal investigation are the disgraced mayor’s father, Bernard N. Kilpatrick, a self-described business consultant, for taking $25,000 to grease the same sewage contract (his ex-wife and the ex-mayor’s mother is U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick); city councilmember and ex-U.S. Congresswoman Barbara-Rose Collins, who is better known for wearing a princess tiara to council on her 70th birthday than any legislative achievements; and councilwoman Martha Reeves, who began her term by campaigning to have statues erected downtown of Motown’s best-known artists – including herself. Both Collins and Reeves also voted for the sludge contract.
The squeeze was put on Monica Conyers when James Rosendall Jr. resigned as vice president of Texas sludge recycler Synagro Technologies and pleaded guilty to bribery conspiracy in January; and Rayford Jackson, a sub-rosa dealmaker, pleaded guilty this week to arranging the bribes.
A local TV news wunderkind, Fox 2 anchorwoman Fanchon Stinger, was fired by the station after it became known that she showed up with Jackson to promote the sludge contract to a community group.
Before earning notoriety in the bribe scandal, Monica Conyers was a darling of YouTubers for calling Detroit City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. “Shrek” in open session, then losing a Detroit News-sponsored videotaped debate with an 8th-grade girl who questioned the councilwoman’s behavior. Since entering Detroit politics, she has also been in a bar fight, threatened to shoot somebody, and to have someone else beaten.
With Detroit facing an election primary in August, Cockrel this week said he hopes federal investigators get on with their indictments.
“I know in my experience with federal investigations, they tend to be slow and meticulous,” he said, “but when they come, they come like a ton of bricks. My feeling is if they’re going to come like a ton of bricks, they ought to come now.”
http://oilgeopolitics.net/GMO/Iraq_and_seeds_of_democracy/iraq_and_seeds_of_democracy.HTM
Iraq and seeds of democracy AbuGhraib
Excerpt:
But in Detroit, where she’s now being squeezed by the feds to accept a plea deal ahead of being indicted for bribery, she’s known as Detroit City Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers.
Detroit media have reported that the councilwoman was videotaped accepting a bribe payment – which with others totaled $6,000 – to buy her vote for a $1.2 billion city sludge-disposal contract. Conyers originally opposed the contract, but changed her mind, swinging her vote for a 5-4 approval.
She’s now mulling over a plea, but a deal has been stalled because she wants to stay out of jail and be charged with nothing more than a misdemeanor, not the 5-year felony offered by prosecutors.
Conyers’ criminal woes are the latest produced by a years-long, wide-ranging FBI investigation into public corruption in Detroit. It’s had a lot to work with, although the highest profile crook to date, convicted felon and former mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick, was brought down in a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation by The Detroit Free Press.
Also reportedly under federal investigation are the disgraced mayor’s father, Bernard N. Kilpatrick, a self-described business consultant, for taking $25,000 to grease the same sewage contract (his ex-wife and the ex-mayor’s mother is U.S. Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick); city councilmember and ex-U.S. Congresswoman Barbara-Rose Collins, who is better known for wearing a princess tiara to council on her 70th birthday than any legislative achievements; and councilwoman Martha Reeves, who began her term by campaigning to have statues erected downtown of Motown’s best-known artists – including herself. Both Collins and Reeves also voted for the sludge contract.
The squeeze was put on Monica Conyers when James Rosendall Jr. resigned as vice president of Texas sludge recycler Synagro Technologies and pleaded guilty to bribery conspiracy in January; and Rayford Jackson, a sub-rosa dealmaker, pleaded guilty this week to arranging the bribes.
A local TV news wunderkind, Fox 2 anchorwoman Fanchon Stinger, was fired by the station after it became known that she showed up with Jackson to promote the sludge contract to a community group.
Before earning notoriety in the bribe scandal, Monica Conyers was a darling of YouTubers for calling Detroit City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. “Shrek” in open session, then losing a Detroit News-sponsored videotaped debate with an 8th-grade girl who questioned the councilwoman’s behavior. Since entering Detroit politics, she has also been in a bar fight, threatened to shoot somebody, and to have someone else beaten.
With Detroit facing an election primary in August, Cockrel this week said he hopes federal investigators get on with their indictments.
“I know in my experience with federal investigations, they tend to be slow and meticulous,” he said, “but when they come, they come like a ton of bricks. My feeling is if they’re going to come like a ton of bricks, they ought to come now.”
http://oilgeopolitics.net/GMO/Iraq_and_seeds_of_democracy/iraq_and_seeds_of_democracy.HTM
Iraq and seeds of democracy AbuGhraib
Excerpt:
For years, the Iraqis had held samples of such precious natural seed varieties in a national seed bank, located, ironically, in Abu Ghraib, the city made infamous as a US military torture prison site in 2004. Following the US occupation and various bombing campaigns, the historic and invaluable seed bank in Abu Ghraib vanished, a possible further casualty of the Iraq war.
Bremer’s Pentagon advisers had very different plans for Iraq’s food future.
Iraqi agriculture was to be ‘modernized,’ industrialized and reoriented away from traditional family multi-crop farming, into US-style agribusiness enterprises, producing for the ‘world market.’ Serving the food security needs of hungry Iraqis would be purely incidental to that plan.
The CPA’s Order 81, behind the cover of complicated legal jargon, in effect, turned the food future of Iraq over to global multinational private companies, hardly the liberation most Iraqis had hoped for.
Order 81 on Intellectual Property Rights, was not negotiated between a sovereign government and the WTO, or another government. It was imposed on Iraq without debate, from Washington. According to informed Washington reports, the specific details of Order 81 on plants were written for the US Government by Monsanto Corporation, the world’s leading purveyor of GMO seeds and crops.1
No seeds to plant
It would at first seem that only those seeds which Iraqi farmers chose to buy from international seed companies would fall under the new US-imposed Iraqi law on patents, that farmers were free to choose. The reality was far different. Iraq was being turned into a huge laboratory for development of food products under control of giant GMO seed and chemical giants such as Monsanto, DuPont and Dow.
Video Rayford Jackson and Synagro
http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/latest_video/rayford_jackson_exclusive_part_4
Synagro Rayford Jackson Fanchon Stinger video
http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news/local/synagro_jackson_rayford_stinger_scott_lewis
