- James Rosendall/zoominfo photo
In a town on life support, where the poor are getting poorer, and unemployment is far too high, elected officials are apparently finding ways to line their pockets.
BY DAVID ASHENFELTER, JOE SWICKARD, M.L. ELRICK and JIM SCHAEFER
Detroit Free Press
DETROIT — An executive for a Texas waste disposal company spent seven years and hundreds of thousands of dollars lavishing cash, campaign contributions, airplane flights and a case of Cristal champagne in an effort to win the support of Detroit city officials for a $1.2-billion sludge disposal contract.
But it took Synagro Technologies executive James Rosendall only 10 minutes to confess his deeds Monday when he pleaded guilty to a bribery conspiracy in Detroit federal court.
Rosendall, 44, did not publicly identify the members of former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s administration, City Council and other city officials who are described, but not named, in the court record laying out Rosendall’s pay-to-play scheme.
But the voluminous allegations surrounding the person identified in court as City Official A appear to point to events, travels and activities that line up with Kilpatrick’s years in elected office.
