Monica Conyers: No fear of U.S. probe

DETROIT, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- Incoming Detroit City Council President Monica Conyers says she's got nothing to fear from an ongoing federal investigation of city contracting payoffs.

Conyers, giving her first interview since she was linked in July to an investigation of a city contract with a sludge recycling company, told reporters the media misinterpreted a remark made by her former chief of staff implying prosecutors were targeting her, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Conyers was set to take over the presidency of the Detroit City Council Sept. 19, the day current Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick resigns to begin a jail sentence and current City Council President Ken Cockrel assumes the interim mayor role.

"I don't have a reason to fear," said Conyers, the wife of U.S. House Judiciary Chairman Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. "(The aide) thought that (prosecutors) could be targeting me, and you took that and you ran with it to say that I am a target, and I think that's unfair.

"Until you get some evidence, some concrete evidence to say that I am a target, I would really appreciate it if you just stopped."