Walbridge Contruction - Kwame Victim or Enabler?

[Lowell]

This might qualify as the chutzpah play of the week.

The metro Detroit construction company Walbridge, which played along with Kwame Kilpatrick's 'pay to play' demands to secure contracts, is now claiming to be a victim and wants $5 million of the restitution dollars the Feds are going after in the wake of the Kwame Kilpatrick / Bobby Ferguson criminal enterprise convictions.

Yes the same company that is/was also general contractor for the ill-fated and now halted Wayne County jail project is saying it is Kwame's victim.

The US Attorney doesn't seem sympathetic but, as the saying in business goes, 'why not ask; the worst they can say is no'. Is anyone else getting out their 'world's tiniest violins'?

U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade would not specifically address the Walbridge restitution claim but said companies identified in the corruption indictment share some culpability.

“In some ways, they are all culpable because they participated in a pay-to-play culture,” McQuade said. “Some are victims because they lost business after they failed to play along.”


Walbridge was among a number of contractors which agreed to pay Ferguson in order to get business, but none were charged with crimes.

...


Legal expert Peter Henning has said the companies involved in the conspiracy were going to be needed by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to help prosecute the case and that it’s “hard to distinguish” whether the payer of a bribe is also culpable of a crime.


...


Walbridge agreed to work with Ferguson in one case, according to the indictment, but rejected calls to give his company a 35 percent cut on a $140 million project, instead offering 15 percent. At one point, according to the indictment, Kwame Kilpatrick met with a high-level Walbridge official at the Manoogian Mansion, asking Walbridge to “play fair” with Ferguson.


Separately, the FBI has investigated the Wayne County jail project for more than one year and subpoenaed contracts for its general contractor, Walbridge. County prosecutors also are investigating the project, which was beset by cost overruns that led to the project being halted. No charges have been filed in that investigation.


From The Detroit News

[Honky Tonk]

This might qualify as the chutzpah play of the week.

The metro Detroit construction company Walbridge, which played along with Kwame Kilpatrick's 'pay to play' demands to secure contracts, is now claiming to be a victim and wants $5 million of the restitution dollars the Feds are going after in the wake of the Kwame Kilpatrick / Bobby Ferguson criminal enterprise convictions.

Yes the same company that is/was also general contractor for the ill-fated and now halted Wayne County jail project is saying it is Kwame's victim.

The US Attorney doesn't seem sympathetic but, as the saying in business goes, 'why not ask; the worst they can say is no'. Is anyone else getting out their 'world's tiniest violins'?

You buys your ticket, you takes your chances. TS, I say. Wallbridge should be indicted too.

[Scottathew]

I'd need to see more facts, but they smell dirty.

[JBMcB]

The only way they should qualify for damages is if they could prove that Kilpatrick was threatening to take retaliatory action if they didn't pay to play, or if he was threatening to cancel existing contracts. If they were simply bribing him to get new contracts, then they were willingly going along with the program -they could have gone elsewhere for work.

[motz]

Let 'em rot. Money grubbing, self-interested group of jerks. They had the choice of, you know, not taking the contract. But nope, money. and now they want more.

[Gannon]

Let 'em rot. Money grubbing, self-interested group of jerks. They had the choice of, you know, not taking the contract. But nope, money. and now they want more.

I thought Tony Soave took the lead, singing this tune first. He wants everyone to forget he has private planes at city airport that would've been able to get the mayor and his minions all over the place, without much oversight. He is just a victim.

I bet Roger Penske, Pete Karmanos, and Dan Gilbert...along with two of the five I cannot remember...would sing harmony, in defense of their last-minute large collective donation to the Kwhyme Kause as well. Who were the other two?! They were all victims.


Then again, the biggest victims then would be those pastors of the inner-city churches who stood beside the Kwhymster all the way to that bitter end. The derivative victimhood of those who profited off of this man's connections, maybe I should say depraved instead.

The investigation is not complete until a few of them fall hard, I've always said this.


No cheers in any of this...

[rjlj]

Walbridge to donate any restitution cash from Kilpatrick racketeering scandal

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz2hRArscWo

[Wesley Mouch]

I thought Tony Soave took the lead, singing this tune first. He wants everyone to forget he has private planes at city airport that would've been able to get the mayor and his minions all over the place, without much oversight. He is just a victim.

I bet Roger Penske, Pete Karmanos, and Dan Gilbert...along with two of the five I cannot remember...would sing harmony, in defense of their last-minute large collective donation to the Kwhyme Kause as well. Who were the other two?! They were all victims.


Then again, the biggest victims then would be those pastors of the inner-city churches who stood beside the Kwhymster all the way to that bitter end. The derivative victimhood of those who profited off of this man's connections, maybe I should say depraved instead.

The investigation is not complete until a few of them fall hard, I've always said this.


No cheers in any of this...

Hear, hear. Especially on the Churches. They should be ashamed of themselves.

I'm with the critics on this one. Walbridge is big enough to say no. And to go to Attorney General or go public with their experience w/ KK & Bobby. It would take balls, which seems they not have.

But this isn't over. And we don't know much about this yet. I don't know how KK extorted his money. Perhaps it was done in a way that seem legitimate at first.

Let's also not forget that when you're Walbridge, you have thousands of employees who are counting on you for their wages each day. And a political climate where saying the 'black man' is extorting money from me is politically incorrect. Its hard for a 'white' firm to make accusations against a 'black man'. [[Sorry to digress to racial thoughts... but such are my thoughts.)

[Johnnny5]

Sometimes the right thing and the "best" [[Thing for you) are not one in the same. Anyone that played along with Kwame's shenanigans knew what they were doing was wrong, but did so anyway because they thought it was in their best interest. IMO they all deserve to be sharing Kwame's new accommodations and paying restitution to all those that refused to stoop to their level.