City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr
While I was in Kentucky at the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) convention, my phone was ringing about events unfolding in the Motor City. There were voicemail messages galore, and I kept on debating with myself whether I should check them or wait until I was on my way back to Detroit.

Back home on Sunday, I read what Detroit Free Press investigative reporter M.L. Elrick had written with his colleagues about the $47 million per year sludge deal with Synagro that has city hall turned upside down. Along with the text message scandal, this latest issue hangs over Detroit’s political landscape like the Sword of Damocles.

Caught in the sludge mess is John Clark, the former chief of staff to Detroit City Council President Ken Cockrel Jr. Opinions are divided over Clark’s credibility, with some saying he is not to be trusted and others indicating he is a fine public servant. Whichever side you are on, Detroiters deserve to know what is happening because he is a public official.

Clark, according to the Free Press, was caught on tape twice taking cash believed to be related to the sludge deal with the city. He resigned. Certainly that was expected for that sort of crisis. The moral fiber of the Detroit City Council is beginning to diminish with this latest revelation of a federal government investigation into public corruption in city hall.

Also being investigated in this wide net is the fast-talking political consultant Sam Riddle, known for giving reporters quotable remarks on hot stories. Riddle, whose phone has been tapped for a year and bank records examined by the feds, always presented a public watchdog posture in his presentations and was a scathing critic of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s text message scandal.

A former chief of staff to council member Monica Conyers, Riddle is alleging now that the federal investigation is meant to embarrass John Conyers, the powerful Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee who is married to the councilwoman. Ironically, the House Judiciary Committee oversees the Justice Department and the nation’s courts.

Interesting.

You can make all the arguments in the world about political points been scored in this investigation. You can conclude that perhaps the larger fight here is between President George Bush and John Conyers.

But the undeniable fact remains that public corruption is corruption. There is no way to get around it. When people are elected to public office, it is expected that they will execute their duties with honesty and integrity. It doesn’t matter what your affiliation is. Failure to do so means betraying the public trust. When something like this happens, the public deserves to know who is eating free at the public trough. Detroiters ought to know how many folks have been playing pay-to-play politics and at the same time acting outwardly like good public stewards.

If you can’t serve with integrity, just step down.

At the NNPA covention, everyone I met was asking about Detroit and the never-ending toxic scandals defining city politics. Some wanted to know how Detroit getting by on a daily basis.

Like an optimist, I told them about Detroit’s resilient spirit, not found within the rotten body politic but in the ordinary people who struggle every day to survive and feed their children. Those folks will have to make a statement in the next election when Detroit has the opportunity to put new people in city hall. Those voters can’t wait to implement Barack Obama’s change mantra.

It’s time to clean house. There are too many “chiefs of stain” impeding the progress of the city.

Bankole Thompson directs the editorial expression of the Michigan Chronicle on all issues. E-mail bthompson@michronicle.com.