Conyers aide under fire

Lawyer: Riddle made cash-for-vote offer

Christine MacDonald and Paul Egan / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- A lawyer for a strip club official says his client told a federal grand jury Wednesday that a top aide to then-City Councilwoman Monica Conyers offered to deliver her vote on a permit transfer for $25,000.

The onetime aide, Sam Riddle, denies the claims, which came the same day he held a news conference denying he accepted or delivered bribes in connection with the multimillion-dollar Synagro sludge deal.

Jim St. John, CEO of Deja Vu Consulting, alleged he and a colleague met with Riddle in a Dearborn restaurant in November 2006, days before the City Council was to vote on the Zoo Bar's bid to transfer a topless permit, St. John's attorney Brad Shafer told The News on Wednesday.

"At some point in the conversation, Sam Riddle indicated for $25,000 he could, or we could get, Monica Conyers' vote," said Shafer, adding his clients refused to pay.

The testimony comes two days after a Synagro Technologies vice president pleaded guilty to bribing city officials and demonstrates the grand jury investigation of City Hall continues to expand. City business under federal investigation includes the Synagro sludge contract, contracts at Cobo Center, the Asian Village development, other pay-to-play accusations and jobs handled by Bobby Ferguson, a Detroit contractor and friend of former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

Earlier this month, St. John's colleague, Joe Hall, the company's chief operating officer, testified similarly in federal court, Shafer said. At the time a group of investors affiliated with Deja Vu, a Lansing-based national chain, was trying to buy the Zoo Bar downtown and open a Larry Flynt-themed Hustler strip club.

Hall claims Riddle told him he wanted money for the vote, saying "to get things done, sometimes that's what you need to do," according to Shafer.

Not true, said Riddle, who stopped working for Conyers in February 2008. She has since become the City Council president.

"I never had a conversation like that," he said. "I don't know why they would say something like that. I'd like anyone to produce a tape or anything else that substantiates that because they can't do it."

Riddle said he was an independent contractor, not a city employee, when he worked for Conyers. As a consultant, he had other clients, some of whom he acknowledged wanted to influence Conyers.

For outside clients, Riddle had contracts that he said made it clear he wouldn't advise them or Conyers if there was a conflict.

For the city, Riddle's contract with Conyers specified he would have "no personal or financial interest" that would conflict with his job.

St. John and Hall refused to pay, Shafer said. The council, including Conyers, voted down the transfer in a 5-3 vote Nov. 15.

According to Shafer, Detroit businessman Christopher Jackson, a consultant and proposed minority partner in the $3 million Zoo Bar deal, was also at the meeting before the vote.

After the vote, he told Hall and St. John that Riddle promised that Conyers would move to reconsider her vote if they followed through on the $25,000 payment, Shafer said.

They refused, Shafer said.

Conyers said at a public meeting Nov. 17 she would reconsider her vote, but never did so when council returned from a holiday break in January. At the time, clergy members lobbied heavily to maintain the vote, saying the city had too many strip clubs.

Shafer alleged Jackson relayed a final pitch from Riddle, but they again refused.

Hall and St. John, who declined to be interviewed by The News, said they never spoke directly with Conyers, Shafer said. He said his clients didn't report the alleged bribe attempt to authorities, aren't sure how federal investigators learned of it and didn't want to air the allegations publicly.

"The ultimate conclusion was we were having so many problems with the city of Detroit we thought the blowback we would suffer ... would make it virtually impossible to operate a business in the city of Detroit," Shafer said.

Jackson, a former Greektown Casino partner and head of Jackson Consulting Group LLC, said he has not appeared before a federal grand jury investigating the strip club allegations and other issues related to alleged City Hall corruption. He referred all other questions to his Detroit attorney, Ray Paige.

Paige confirmed Jackson was hired as a consultant to Deja Vu in connection with the license transfer. There may have been discussions about Jackson becoming a partner in the strip club, but that did not happen, Paige said.

"It's my understanding that there is an ongoing investigation," and it would be improper to comment in detail, Paige said.

"I know for certain that Mr. Chris Jackson is not a target of any investigation and there is no one making allegations that he did anything improper whatsoever," Paige said.

Jackson never met with Monica Conyers on the deal, said Paige, who would not comment on any meetings with Riddle.

The U.S. Attorney's Office "can't confirm or deny the existence of an investigation on that matter," Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Chutkow said.

Conyers attorney, Steve Fishman, said he agrees with Acting U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg that "people should be careful about jumping to conclusions" about the involvement of Conyers or anyone else who has not been charged in the scandal.

Conyers, who sources have said is under federal investigation in connection with the Synagro contract, closely matches the description of "City Council Member A," detailed in documents filed Monday when former Synagro Michigan Vice President James R. Rosendall pleaded guilty to a bribery conspiracy charge.

The Synagro contract was approved by a 5-4 vote in November 2007 after Conyers switched her position from opposing the contract to supporting it. Conyers has denied any wrongdoing.

Rosendall's plea documents say an aide to Council Member A demanded Rosendall hire the aide as a consultant in connection with an earlier contract approval Rosendall was involved with, for Systematic Recycling LLC.

On Wednesday, Riddle denied he talked to Rosendall about Synagro or was involved in any bribes, but would not say whether there were discussions about hiring him as a consultant on the Systematic Recycling deal.

The Zoo Bar buyers and current owners are suing the city in federal court in part over its refusal to transfer the permit, which the investors first requested in 2003. Shafer estimates the profit lost for the potential Hustler club at nearly $7.8 million as of last year.

On April 22, 2008, Shafer said he reported Riddle's bribe solicitation to a federal mediator and to the city's attorney Eric Gaabo, during a conference call in a settlement conference on the Zoo Bar lawsuit.

Gaabo said Wednesday he remembers Shafer bringing up a vague allegation of a bribe solicitation, but said he didn't remember him providing the names of those involved. He said he was skeptical.

You can reach Christine MacDonald at (313) 222-2396 or cmacdonald@detnews.com.