This is the Hope and Change we got:
A top city official says City Council President Monica Conyers pulled strings to get her brother, an ex-con with a violent record, a job in the building department that was to last only 120 days but was extended for two years.
“She came up to me, handed me his resume and said ‘You should hire him. He’s a good guy,’ ” said Amru Meah, director of Building & Safety Engineering.
Reggie Esters, 38, was fired from the $30,500 job last summer on claims of chronic absenteeism. About the same time, he was charged with 10 felonies stemming from allegations he brandished a shotgun at two people, according to court records. He pleaded guilty to one count and faces sentencing April 17.
Records obtained this week by The Detroit News show Esters submitted a resume showing he worked continuously for two construction firms from 1999 to 2006. State records show he was incarcerated for assault and weapons charges for much of that time.
Meah said Conyers wanted her brother hired as a $50,000 inspector, but he wasn’t qualified and wouldn’t pass a license exam. Instead, he was hired as an investigator who checked if businesses are properly licensed.
Conyers, whose maiden name is Esters, said Meah is wrong. She denied that Esters is her brother, despite papers filed in Wayne County Probate Court in 1976 that identify them as siblings with the same parents, Robert H. and Alice Esters.
“I have no idea what Mr. Meah is talking about,” Conyers said.
Calls to Marlon Evans, Esters’ attorney, were not returned.
The city has no rules against hiring felons and Meah said he didn’t know of Esters’ record until a reporter told him about it Thursday.
“Human Resources is supposed to check that,” he said.
Mrs Conyers is the wife of Representative John Conyers (D-MI), who is Chairman of the House Judiciary committee – you know, the people’s watch dog for Justice in the United States. Conyers is also the guy who was leading the charge to impeach President Bush.
Ok, Democrats – I’m waiting for you to call for Conyers immediate resignation because you know darned well that if this were a GOP House member who’s wife had got her felon brother a job, you’d be demanding the GOPers head on a platter.
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