Monica Conyers

Monica Ann Conyers (née Esters; October 31, 1965) is an American politician in Detroit, Michigan.

Monica Ann Esters was born in River Rouge, Michigan, on October 31, 1965.

She had four brothers and one sister.

She grew up with her mother in west Detroit and attended Henry Ford High School.

Her father had a record for breaking and entering.

One of her brothers was imprisoned for robbery, and another for weapons violations.

Esters graduated from high school and went to college, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Education and Political Science from Bennett College.

She also completed a master's in Public Administration from Central Michigan University.

Conyers later attended the University of the District of Columbia School of Law and received a Juris Doctor.

Monica Conyers worked as a teacher for mentally challenged teens.

She was selected for jobs in administration and became a vice administrator for Detroit Public Schools.

Conyers got more involved with politics.

She is a member of the Democratic Party.

Elected to the Detroit City Council in 2005, she was elected by its members to serve as president pro tempore of the council for the four-year term.

In 2005, Conyers ran and was elected to a four-year term on the Detroit City Council.

At that time, all candidates ran at-large, meaning they had to attract a majority of votes across the city.

She was elected by other members to serve as president pro tempore, and Kenneth Cockrel, Jr. was elected to serve as President of the City Council.

In 2008 a turbulent time for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick ended with his resignation at midnight on September 19, 2008.

At that time council president Kenneth Cockrel, Jr. succeeded him as mayor of Detroit until a special election could be held.

In keeping with the city charter, Monica Conyers advanced from president pro tem of the city council to president.

The special election for mayor was held on May 5, 2009.

Kenneth Cockrel, Jr. ran for the office, but he was defeated by Dave Bing.

Conyers initially wanted to investigate whether the city charter guaranteed her being able to keep the position as President of City Council.

She learned that it did.

But after learning that the council's legal analyst position was that Cockrel had rights to return to the position of Council President, she decided not to contest the changes.

She returned to president pro tempore for the remainder of her term.

Conyers has sometimes made headlines for breaking with her colleagues in the Michigan Democratic Party and the city council (which consists entirely of Democrats).

She was critical of the party for running ads in a mayoral race in Flint, Michigan.

During the lengthy legal and political crisis of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Conyers was the only member of council to vote against a resolution demanding that he resign.

On June 16, 2009, it was reported that Conyers had been linked to an ongoing corruption investigation in Detroit, involving alleged bribes offered by Synagro Technologies.

Originally, case documents had referred only to "Council Member A" receiving bribes totaling more than $6,000 to influence passage of a contract with the city, but on June 16 the United States Attorney's Office confirmed that two Synagro representatives had named Conyers as the recipient.

Conyers was given a pre-indictment letter and offered a plea deal in the case.

On June 26, 2009, Conyers was charged with conspiring to commit bribery and pleaded guilty.

On June 26, 2009, Conyers pleaded guilty to accepting a bribe in the Synagro Sludge scandal.

Three days later, Conyers officially resigned from the Detroit City Council, effective July 6.

Her former chief of staff, Sam Riddle, faced prosecution as well.

Riddle's later trial included wiretap recordings of conversations with and about Conyers, in which he describes her as "crazy."

Testimony given during Riddle's trial on February 4, 2010, indicated that Conyers often left a downtown Detroit restaurant without paying for the meal; the restaurant's owner estimated that Conyers owed him about $3,000.

On March 10, 2010, Conyers was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison.

During the sentencing hearing, Conyers requested to withdraw her guilty plea, which the judge denied.