www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080309/NEWS0 -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 3/10/2008
Last Visited: 3/10/2008
Ferguson said he got the contracts on merit.
"I work hard for everything I do," he said Friday after reviewing text messages."Nobody's never given me anything."
In a statement released Saturday night, Ferguson called the Free Press report a "fishing expedition grounded purely on circumstantial anecdotes and unrelated half-truths that attempt to connect purely unrelated issues for purposes that do not involve the truth or the facts."
Kilpatrick's spokeswoman, who was also shown text messages involving Ferguson on Friday, did not provide a response from the mayor.Beatty's legal advisors said she did nothing improper.
...
Since Kilpatrick took office in 2002, Ferguson's business dealings with the city have broadened.
...
Text messages from Beatty's city-issued pager show that Ferguson communicated directly and repeatedly with her about pending projects.
...
"It just so happened that Mr. Ferguson, in addition to having phone conversations and in-person meetings, had her text pager and would text her from time to time."
One exchange, on April 16, 2003, took place after a board meeting of the Downtown Development Authority, the agency charged with reinvigorating the city's core business district.Beatty and Ferguson both served on the board.
...
Kilpatrick appointed Ferguson to two boards: the DDA and the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority.
...
Ferguson said he left both boards after being charged with assault in 2005.
...
At one point, Ferguson and his partners received a $21-million water department contract even though another company bid $2.5 million less and was repeatedly recommended for the job by the department's bid evaluation committee.
While it's not uncommon for vendors like Ferguson to win contracts from officials who share social or political ties, the text messages obtained by the Free Press reveal a singular relationship between Ferguson and Beatty.
Experts said the cozy relations between the mayor, his top aide and Ferguson were rife with potential ethical conflicts.
...
"He was a state rep, and my office was in his district," Ferguson said in a 2006 deposition.Kilpatrick's office needed help transporting elderly residents during a snowstorm.Ferguson said someone in Kilpatrick's office "asked us to go push the snow and we did, and didn't charge them."
The two became tight friends, attending black-tie events, riding motorcycles and shooting pool together.
When Kilpatrick became Detroit's youngest elected mayor in 2002, he chose Ferguson to help direct the city's cleanup efforts.Ferguson donated heavy machines and manpower to the mayor's Motor City Makeover, an annual volunteer cleanup.
Ferguson had worked for the city before his friend was elected mayor, taking in roughly $8 million for his work on city-related projects from late 1999 through 2001.Since then, however, the Free Press has identified at least $45 million in city contracts through his businesses and firms that partnered with his businesses.These figures do not include all subcontracts and do not account for every city department for which his companies have done work.Ferguson continues to work for the city.
In his statement, Ferguson said the volume of Ferguson Enterprises' city work has actually decreased under Kilpatrick.
...
Under the Archer administration, Ferguson said, his company was awarded several major projects including Compuware, Waterworks Park, and the temporary MGM Grand Detroit casino.
...
Ferguson, though, has downplayed his success.
In a May 2006 deposition stemming from a suit against Ferguson, he said he hadn't had much luck getting city work.
"We bid on a lot of jobs but we ain't won a lot," Ferguson testified.
...
Ferguson was charged with felony assault in the attack, but the mayor stuck by him, visiting his friend at the Wayne County Jail, where Ferguson served 10 months after pleading guilty.
Xcel's first bid
Ferguson landed a series of city-related contracts shortly after Kilpatrick took office.
...
It is unclear whether Ferguson attended.
...
"He's trying to figure out how I bill this stuff and how I figure out my prices to get the work," Chagois, now living in Las Vegas, said of Ferguson.
...
Morganroth said Ferguson was helping the agency become more efficient.
...
"I believe they asked Mr. Ferguson and some others to help them analyze whether this outside consultant was necessary and whether this expense was reasonable," he said.
...
After investigating, Beatty wrote back that the mayor's office received the check about a week before and told Ferguson: "For it to be said that the Mayor's office is holding the payment is bullshit!
...
A few minutes later, Ferguson replied that he just got a call.
"We can pick the check up," he wrote, "thank you."
...
A day later, Beatty and Ferguson discussed another project, this one more personal.
...
On Friday, Ferguson declined comment about the exchange.His statement Saturday said Ferguson Enterprises "has never provided any service to any public official as a precondition to winning any...public bids."
...
The following April, Ferguson asked Beatty whether bond money was available to renovate the Detroit Historical Museum.
...
"Thank you," Ferguson wrote.
...
"You need to recuse yourself from the vote, not abstain," Beatty advised Ferguson in a text message.
...
The minutes of the meeting show no indication that Ferguson told fellow board members he would get a piece of that contract.But George Jackson, president and chief executive of the Detroit Economic Growth Corp., said that it was well known by the DDA board that Ferguson was a bidder on the Book-Cadillac.
...
Mayor and friend: Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick walks with Bobby Ferguson of Ferguson Enterprises Inc. in a 2002 photo.
...
Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick grabs the backhoe controls from Bobby Ferguson in January 2002 during the demolition of abandoned houses.
...
Contracts involving Bobby Ferguson -- 3/9/08 Ferguson's criminal history -- 3/9/08
...
Contracts involving Bobby Ferguson -- 3/8/08
50 online sources [ view sources ]
Profile is not claimed [ claim profile ]
