taxpayer:

Just a quick note to all of you. I won't be posting for some time. I just cancelled my internet access from AT&T. They kept trying to double my internet charges then they would say they were sorry for the "mistake" and it would never happen again, must have been a computer glitch etc.........then a couple months later the same thing would happen even though they assured me it would not happen again. Screw me once, shame on you, screw me twice , shame on me, screw me three times, bye bye AT&T.

AT&T runs about as efficiently as the City of Detroit. I cancelled my phone line as well and the lil, nasty operator tried to tell me I would lose my 911 service...........hahahahahaha. I told her, I live in Detroit. I don't have 911 service. My 911 service sits locked and loaded in one of my closets.

So, thank you all. It has been real and it has been fun but it hasn't been real fun. Take care and God Bless and don't start any rumors that Kwame's people finally caught up with me. I haven't been killed by Lorenzo Jones, I just got into a tiff with a snotty ATT&T rep.

Be back soon under a new name..........I hope.

Love and kisses,

Tax

just amazed:

Cheryl48:

 

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Funds sparse for Beatty's defense

Supporters of mayor's ex-chief of staff raise only $13K, compared to Kilpatrick's $185K.

David Josar and Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- Stripped of her job and influence, Christine Beatty has generated just $13,000 in donations to a fund to help pay for her defense, supporters acknowledged Wednesday.

Her onetime boss and co-defendant, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, has collected $185,600 from a similar fund since April, according to IRS records filed Tuesday.

"All the people who feel she has been the one who lost the most here, should be the people writing checks," said the Rev. Horace Sheffield III, who is a committee member of Kilpatrick's Detroit Justice Fund and raised money for Beatty.

"I think people need to step up and help this woman defend herself."

Organizers and observers say the contrast is a reminder that, in politics, friends and money follow power. And it begs an unanswered question: How will Beatty pay for her defense on felony perjury, obstruction of justice and misconduct in office charges?

She did not receive a severance package when she resigned in February from her $140,000 job as Kilpatrick's chief of staff. Employed by Kilpatrick in various capacities for a decade, she quit after text messages were published suggesting an affair that both denied in a whistle-blower trial.

Last month, she secured permission from the 36th District Court to travel to Birmingham, Ala., this week to look for "consulting opportunities."

Her attorney, Mayer Morganroth, has charged up to $700 an hour for other cases, but has repeatedly refused to say how much he is charging Beatty. He did not return phone calls for comment.

The group Unify Detroit Coalition hosted one fundraiser for Beatty in April and none since. Kilpatrick's group, the Detroit Justice Fund, has had about 10-15 fundraisers at some of the city's best restaurants.

"We hope to be doing more. We should be having more fundraisers," said the Rev. Malik Shabazz, one of the Unify Detroit Coalition members. "Her bills will get expensive, and she needs help."

Her plight isn't a surprise, said political consultant Eric Foster.

"She had been one of the most, if not the most, powerful women in Detroit. If you needed something, you had to come to her," he said. "Now, she's not there."

"She's not the player she once was," Foster added.

Beatty has a fund to raise money for her, the CLB Legal Defense Trust, but it has filed no paperwork with the IRS, documents show.

The Web sites for both legal funds underscore the contrast.

The mayor's Detroit Justice Fund allows online credit card payments and features his biography, statements of support and scrolling photos of the mayor, including one of him giving blood, and his wife.

His onetime chief of staff's bare-bones site includes her biography and a picture of some bushes adjacent to a photo of Beatty. The site instructs donors to write checks and mail them to a Detroit post office box.

Four years ago, Beatty, who is divorced and has had credit issues, struggled to come up with a down payment on the $255,000 house she purchased in Rosedale Park. The bank ended up giving her a $12,000 "grant" toward the purchase price.

According to Wayne County records, Beatty's monthly mortgage payment jumped this year to more than $1,700. Property taxes are another $500 a month. Her taxes are up-to-date. Also registered in her name, according to state records, is a 2008 Land Rover, which has a starting price of $58,225.

Sheffield said heavy media scrutiny of donors could cause some to shy away. Beatty's lack of prestige and public office also hurts, he said.

"That obviously gives him something she doesn't have," Sheffield said.

It's uncertain whether Beatty has even received the $13,000 raised by the coalition.

Baye Lande, an organizer, said "we've been trying to get the money to her."

Unlike the mayor, neither Beatty nor her supporters have created a tax-exempt group to collect and distribute the contributions.

But organizer Ronald Hewitt, who is also a cardinal at the Shrine of the Black Madonna, said he believes Beatty got the donations.

"I think we gave her the money," he said, and added he knows of no one else trying to raise money for Beatty.

"And it wasn't necessarily just for legal fees but anything she needs ... she's a single woman who just lost her job and has kids."

Highlighted and underlined above by me to add emphasis to the point of why I do NOT feel sorry for her.  Everything that has come out in this she had a part in.  She knew what was going on and probably contrived half of the dealings the way she wanted them to be.  If she had even one ounce of decency left in her she would be talking to the prosecutor. 

Don't give me the poor single mom routine either, many women out there have had to struggle with nothing, She has a 200,000 house she cheated to get, she is driving around in a 2008 Land Rover valued at $58,000.  Where is there sympathy in this.  Sorry she can't continue to live the life she is accustomed to.  She lied, cheated and stole money from the taxpayers just as much as KK did.

She could cut her legal fee to a minimum by pleading with the prosecutor now. 

So the most powerful woman in Detroit (once), who was paid with taxpayer money, didn't even have the decency to drive around in an American made vehicle.  Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!!

MissD:

I received that piece of trash in the mail today and I put it in the garbage today.  He got a lot of nerve sending that to the citizens of Detroit.  He is crazy and think he is above the law.  That is more money coming out of our tax money.  How is he allowed to keep billing us with this type of nonsense.  He didn't put the neighborhoods in the book all about the downtown and boardwalk area.  He take us for a fool.  We should all send that trash back to the city county building right back to his office.

Newspaper: Bernard Kilpatrick FBI Probe Led To Council Investigation

Kilpatrick legal fund donors owe taxes

Robert Snell and Mike Wilkinson / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- Three of the 31 companies and individuals that donated money to Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's legal defense fund owe more than $820,000 in state and federal taxes, public records show.

Among the tax delinquents is the company that owns Sheraton Detroit Riverside hotel, formerly the Hotel Pontchartrain, which gave $3,000 despite owing $501,299 in various state taxes. Brian Jeffries, an investment manager from Lathrup Village, gave the mayor $10,000 and, along with his wife, owes the Internal Revenue Service $290,803 in federal income taxes, according to records filed in the Oakland County Register of Deeds office.

The contributions could pique the interest of state and federal tax collectors if the donors are not repaying their debts or claiming they don't have enough money to pay off the unpaid taxes.

It's certainly a cautionary flag," said Eric Nemeth, a Novi tax lawyer and former senior trial lawyer for the IRS in Michigan. "They might wonder why all of a sudden (the donors) are making some kind of contribution like this."

The revelation comes amid questions about other donations made to the defense fund. On Wednesday, the fund's leaders agreed to return a pair of donations totaling $4,500 made by owners of a strip club on West Eight Mile and the owner of Advanced Air Services, who said he mistakenly believed the money was to go to children's programs.

Jeffries, the hotel owners and others helped the mayor raise $185,600 for his legal defense since April 4. All but $20,000 of that money has been spent on the mayor's vast legal team.

Last month, the fund raised $800 after raising $126,000 during its first month.

The following donor companies and individuals have had tax liens filed against them in recent years by the IRS or state. A lien is filed when taxes haven't been paid and give the government a legal claim to a person's or company's property. Liens serve as security or payment for the tax debt.

• Shubh Hotel Detroit LLC: The state says owners of the former Hotel Pontchartrain owe $501,299 in state taxes. There have been two unpaid liens filed against the company since October 2006 for sales, use and convention facilities taxes, according to the Wayne County Register of Deeds office.

The hotel has had a string of financial woes since undergoing renovations. Last year, 15 contractors filed liens against the property, claiming they were owed $557,000 for helping renovate the hotel, according to county records.

"Really, they owe everybody and their brother under the sun and they're paying Kwame? Huh," said Bill Hemphill of Lincoln Fire Protection, a South Rockwood-based company that worked on the hotel's renovation but was owed about $36,000. "Nothing surprises me."

Hotel lawyer Bruce Sucher said renovations to the hotel forced the company to pay some bills and delay paying others. The hotel owners contributed to Kilpatrick's defense fund to thank him for his support of tourism, Sucher said, noting the mayor attended the hotel's grand opening last winter.

"There's nothing tied to that contribution whatsoever," he said.

The owners have no city contracts, he added.

Most of the state taxes have been paid, Sucher said, and he is negotiating with state officials over potential penalties.

As for his own $50,000 lien against the hotel for nonpayment of legal bills, Sucher said he is being paid and the lien was a formality.

"We're not enforcing the lien," he said.

• The IRS has filed liens totaling $290,803 against Jeffries and his wife, according to the Oakland County Register of Deeds office. According to the liens, the couple owe income taxes for 2002-05.

Jeffries, president and chief executive officer of Ambassador Capital Management, did not return calls and an e-mail seeking comment.

• Medici Homes Inc., a Clinton Township development company, gave Kilpatrick $50,000. The IRS filed a $28,468 lien against the company's president, Salvatore A. Cavaliere, and Laura Cavaliere in July 2001 for unpaid income taxes, according to the Macomb County Register of Deeds office.

On Friday, there was no record that the tax debt had been paid off and Cavaliere could not be reached for comment.

Donors bidding on city land

Meanwhile, two of Kilpatrick's legal defense donors have deals to buy land pending before the Detroit City Council.

Jerome Morgan, who heads Morgan Development, wants to buy a piece of vacant city land near East Jefferson and Dickerson for about $1.4 million. And banker Donald Davis has teamed up with another developer in a bid to buy a section of Tolan Park, at 701 Mack, for $900,000, although the Detroit Medical Center also has bid on the property.

City officials are still negotiating both land sales.

Tax... we'll miss you. Hope you get a new ISP soon!

keo10:

just amazed:

keo10:

These are the four Congress people that are coming to Detroit to help Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick get re-elected.  Send them and email and let them know how you feel about the Kilpatricks ! We have to let these people know what we think. 

 

Nancy Pelosi:  http://speaker.house.gov/contact/

 

Charles Rangel - you have to use zip code 10027  scan down to: http://www.house.gov/rangel/contact.shtml

 

Bennie Thompson - use zip code: 38701-3712 scan down: http://benniethompson.house.gov/HoR/MS02/Contact+Bennie/

 

James Clyburn -http://clyburn.house.gov/contact.cfm  or call toll free 1-888-546-0006

Thanks keo, my letters and protest are sent or on their way

Wonderful!  You can post a comment in the S.Carolina political  (home state ofJames Clyburn) - page at: http://thestatecom.typepad.com/ygatoday/2008/07/clyburn-to-lead.html?cid=122946502#comment-122946502  You don't have to use your name only email.

keo10:

taxpayer:

Just a quick note to all of you. I won't be posting for some time. I just cancelled my internet access from AT&T. They kept trying to double my internet charges then they would say they were sorry for the "mistake" and it would never happen again, must have been a computer glitch etc.........then a couple months later the same thing would happen even though they assured me it would not happen again. Screw me once, shame on you, screw me twice , shame on me, screw me three times, bye bye AT&T.

AT&T runs about as efficiently as the City of Detroit. I cancelled my phone line as well and the lil, nasty operator tried to tell me I would lose my 911 service...........hahahahahaha. I told her, I live in Detroit. I don't have 911 service. My 911 service sits locked and loaded in one of my closets.

So, thank you all. It has been real and it has been fun but it hasn't been real fun. Take care and God Bless and don't start any rumors that Kwame's people finally caught up with me. I haven't been killed by Lorenzo Jones, I just got into a tiff with a snotty ATT&T rep.

Be back soon under a new name..........I hope.

Love and kisses,

Tax

Tax, I am going to miss you - Hope you come back soon - I have Comcast and never have had any trouble - I would recommend Comcast to you if you have that option.  Bye for now.

Tax, You will certainly be missed. 

The same thing happened to me.  I had att since the 70's with my internet for over 10 years and my cellphone.  Dropped all of them, there was no customer loyalty.  I  have cavalier now, phone and internet $49.99 a month and this is not an inroductory price ($50 cheaper than att).  I have had it since March.  Have not had any problems.  Just to let you know. 

Well guys hope we don't lose anymore people.  Laura is certainly missed as well as Gene.  And quite a few others.  Maybe some will come back when the weather changes and the trial is going on.

MissD:

I received that piece of trash in the mail today and I put it in the garbage today.  He got a lot of nerve sending that to the citizens of Detroit.  He is crazy and think he is above the law.  That is more money coming out of our tax money.  How is he allowed to keep billing us with this type of nonsense.  He didn't put the neighborhoods in the book all about the downtown and boardwalk area.  He take us for a fool.  We should all send that trash back to the city county building right back to his office.

Good idea, either that or return to sender mail refused

Cheryl48:

 

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Kilpatrick legal fund donors owe taxes

Robert Snell and Mike Wilkinson / The Detroit News

DETROIT -- Three of the 31 companies and individuals that donated money to Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's legal defense fund owe more than $820,000 in state and federal taxes, public records show.

Among the tax delinquents is the company that owns Sheraton Detroit Riverside hotel, formerly the Hotel Pontchartrain, which gave $3,000 despite owing $501,299 in various state taxes. Brian Jeffries, an investment manager from Lathrup Village, gave the mayor $10,000 and, along with his wife, owes the Internal Revenue Service $290,803 in federal income taxes, according to records filed in the Oakland County Register of Deeds office.

The contributions could pique the interest of state and federal tax collectors if the donors are not repaying their debts or claiming they don't have enough money to pay off the unpaid taxes.

It's certainly a cautionary flag," said Eric Nemeth, a Novi tax lawyer and former senior trial lawyer for the IRS in Michigan. "They might wonder why all of a sudden (the donors) are making some kind of contribution like this."

The revelation comes amid questions about other donations made to the defense fund. On Wednesday, the fund's leaders agreed to return a pair of donations totaling $4,500 made by owners of a strip club on West Eight Mile and the owner of Advanced Air Services, who said he mistakenly believed the money was to go to children's programs.

Jeffries, the hotel owners and others helped the mayor raise $185,600 for his legal defense since April 4. All but $20,000 of that money has been spent on the mayor's vast legal team.

Last month, the fund raised $800 after raising $126,000 during its first month.

The following donor companies and individuals have had tax liens filed against them in recent years by the IRS or state. A lien is filed when taxes haven't been paid and give the government a legal claim to a person's or company's property. Liens serve as security or payment for the tax debt.

• Shubh Hotel Detroit LLC: The state says owners of the former Hotel Pontchartrain owe $501,299 in state taxes. There have been two unpaid liens filed against the company since October 2006 for sales, use and convention facilities taxes, according to the Wayne County Register of Deeds office.

The hotel has had a string of financial woes since undergoing renovations. Last year, 15 contractors filed liens against the property, claiming they were owed $557,000 for helping renovate the hotel, according to county records.

"Really, they owe everybody and their brother under the sun and they're paying Kwame? Huh," said Bill Hemphill of Lincoln Fire Protection, a South Rockwood-based company that worked on the hotel's renovation but was owed about $36,000. "Nothing surprises me."

Hotel lawyer Bruce Sucher said renovations to the hotel forced the company to pay some bills and delay paying others. The hotel owners contributed to Kilpatrick's defense fund to thank him for his support of tourism, Sucher said, noting the mayor attended the hotel's grand opening last winter.

"There's nothing tied to that contribution whatsoever," he said.

The owners have no city contracts, he added.

Most of the state taxes have been paid, Sucher said, and he is negotiating with state officials over potential penalties.

As for his own $50,000 lien against the hotel for nonpayment of legal bills, Sucher said he is being paid and the lien was a formality.

"We're not enforcing the lien," he said.

• The IRS has filed liens totaling $290,803 against Jeffries and his wife, according to the Oakland County Register of Deeds office. According to the liens, the couple owe income taxes for 2002-05.

Jeffries, president and chief executive officer of Ambassador Capital Management, did not return calls and an e-mail seeking comment.

• Medici Homes Inc., a Clinton Township development company, gave Kilpatrick $50,000. The IRS filed a $28,468 lien against the company's president, Salvatore A. Cavaliere, and Laura Cavaliere in July 2001 for unpaid income taxes, according to the Macomb County Register of Deeds office.

On Friday, there was no record that the tax debt had been paid off and Cavaliere could not be reached for comment.

Donors bidding on city land

Meanwhile, two of Kilpatrick's legal defense donors have deals to buy land pending before the Detroit City Council.

Jerome Morgan, who heads Morgan Development, wants to buy a piece of vacant city land near East Jefferson and Dickerson for about $1.4 million. And banker Donald Davis has teamed up with another developer in a bid to buy a section of Tolan Park, at 701 Mack, for $900,000, although the Detroit Medical Center also has bid on the property.

City officials are still negotiating both land sales.

This just keeps getting better and better.  Come on IRS lets get rolling.

Feds and City Council I hope you are reading this about the land deals

Something big is going to happen.  Soon

My God, I just wonder what Freman Hendrix must think when reading all of this.  It's likely that the live, eligible Detroit citizens who live in actual residences actually elected him as Mayor!  It was only the dead "voters", pre-marked ballots and ficticious voters residing in empty lots who put the Kwamster back in office.   

Our politicians in Michigan should probably be brought up on public corruption charges for their derelection of duty, as it sounds like Cox and Granholm simply looked the other way.  Who knows what else they've ignored?  God help us. 

Sources say Gov. asked feds about mayor's dad

Granholm denies it, but controversy about city's scandals grows

http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080719/NEWS06/807190383

keo10:

MissD:

I received that piece of trash in the mail today and I put it in the garbage today.  He got a lot of nerve sending that to the citizens of Detroit.  He is crazy and think he is above the law.  That is more money coming out of our tax money.  How is he allowed to keep billing us with this type of nonsense.  He didn't put the neighborhoods in the book all about the downtown and boardwalk area.  He take us for a fool.  We should all send that trash back to the city county building right back to his office.

MissD, Great idea - return to sender - unknown at this address and put in mail box.

Gosh, don't put unknown at this address.  They will be using your name try and vote at the next election!  LOL.

just amazed:

keo10:

taxpayer:

Just a quick note to all of you. I won't be posting for some time. I just cancelled my internet access from AT&T. They kept trying to double my internet charges then they would say they were sorry for the "mistake" and it would never happen again, must have been a computer glitch etc.........then a couple months later the same thing would happen even though they assured me it would not happen again. Screw me once, shame on you, screw me twice , shame on me, screw me three times, bye bye AT&T.

AT&T runs about as efficiently as the City of Detroit. I cancelled my phone line as well and the lil, nasty operator tried to tell me I would lose my 911 service...........hahahahahaha. I told her, I live in Detroit. I don't have 911 service. My 911 service sits locked and loaded in one of my closets.

So, thank you all. It has been real and it has been fun but it hasn't been real fun. Take care and God Bless and don't start any rumors that Kwame's people finally caught up with me. I haven't been killed by Lorenzo Jones, I just got into a tiff with a snotty ATT&T rep.

Be back soon under a new name..........I hope.

Love and kisses,

Tax

Tax, I am going to miss you - Hope you come back soon - I have Comcast and never have had any trouble - I would recommend Comcast to you if you have that option.  Bye for now.

Tax, You will certainly be missed. 

The same thing happened to me.  I had att since the 70's with my internet for over 10 years and my cellphone.  Dropped all of them, there was no customer loyalty.  I  have cavalier now, phone and internet $49.99 a month and this is not an inroductory price ($50 cheaper than att).  I have had it since March.  Have not had any problems.  Just to let you know. 

Well guys hope we don't lose anymore people.  Laura is certainly missed as well as Gene.  And quite a few others.  Maybe some will come back when the weather changes and the trial is going on.

Taxie:  :)  Hurry back.  Hope no one jumps in with a new name pretending they are you...ooops.  You will be missed.  take care of business and again HURRY BACK :)