Politics / Notorious figures
Monica Conyers
born 1964 · teacher, school administrator, city council president pro tem
West Detroit-raised teacher and school administrator, wife of Congressman John Conyers, whose Detroit City Council career (2006–2009) ended in a bribery conviction in the Synagro sludge-contract scandal.
- Born
River Rouge, Michigan
age 61- Birth name
- Monica Ann Esters
- Also known as
- Monica Ann Conyers
- Detroit years
- 1964–
- Field
- Politics, Notorious figures
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Monica Esters was born in River Rouge, just downriver from Detroit, and grew up with her mother on the city's west side, graduating from Henry Ford High School. She earned degrees at Bennett College and Central Michigan University and a law degree from the University of the District of Columbia, taught special education and rose to vice administrator of Detroit Public Schools. She married Congressman John Conyers in 1990. Elected to the Detroit City Council in 2005, she was chosen president pro tem and in 2008 briefly became council president when Ken Cockrel Jr. moved up to interim mayor. Her tenure was marked by heated clashes with colleagues. In 2009 she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery for taking payments tied to the council's 2007 approval of a sludge-processing contract with Synagro Technologies, resigned and was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison. The case became a symbol of the corruption era that preceded the city's 2013 bankruptcy.
Highlights
- Detroit City Council member, 2006–2009; president pro tem
- Vice administrator of Detroit Public Schools
- Pleaded guilty to bribery conspiracy in the Synagro case (2009)
- Sentenced to 37 months in federal prison
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Studied here · 1978–1982
Henry Ford High School
West Detroit public high school she graduated from.