Pick your favorite Monica Conyers moment. There are many, everything from the dust up at a hotel in Denver during the Democratic National Convention to her coarse “Shrek” comment aimed at Ken Cockrel, Jr. (At that meeting, when Cockrel threatened to adjourn the meeting unless some order was restored, she memorably cooed, “Do it, baby!”) But set aside the histrionics at the moment and consider the deeper (and much darker) implications of the fact that we now know she has been a crook. The charges that will send Conyers to prison center on the Synagro deal (remember that Synagro became the city’s sludge handler because of one changed and paid for vote, that of Monica Conyers), but are we to believe she acted corruptly in this one, singular instance? How many decisions might have been compromised by the quiet offer of cash or goodies? As a member of the council, her desk was what someone inclined to bribery might refer to as a “target rich environment.” And then her position on the Detroit pension board would have presented yet another (and perhaps even more lucrative) array of decisions. The whole thing calls to mind the adage that exterminators like to throw around — the problem isn’t the cockroach that you find; it’s the dozens you don’t.
But Detroit has been presented with a rather unflattering mirror over the course of the last year. In that mirror, we find a corrupt and disgraced mayor removed from office, a corrupt and disgraced city council member headed for federal prison, and a school system that is apparently rife with fraud. The city’s reputation is in shambles. (Sam Riddle’s assertion that the only difference between Detroit and third world corruption is the goats in the streets resonates at the moment.) But the only way out is to start taking steps out of the muck. Kilpatrick and Conyers are probably best viewed in the rearview mirror.
As I said elsewhere, and you allude to in your blog, it’s very possible that this is a good thing for Detroit. In fact, I don’t see how it can be viewed any other way. I believe there are lots of tentacles of corruption still to be discovered, and we can only hope that all those who have bad times coming get them.
Now it’s time to see the upcoming elections reflect the new reality. If the voters of Detroit keep electing corrupt incompetents to city offices, what chance do we have?
I think recognizing the den of the forty thieves is a non zero sum game In game theory, situation where one decision maker’s gain (or loss) does not necessarily result in the other decision makers’ loss (or gain). In other words, where the winnings and losses of all players do not add up to zero and everyone can gain: a win-win game. See prisoner’s dilemma for an illustration.