Detroit's George Cushingberry: good riddance...or goodbye?

DETROIT (WJBK) - George Cushingberry started his Detroit City Council career with a flash.

Unfortunately, the source of that light was the Detroit Police cruiser which pulled him over.

Officers smelled ganja and found an open container of what they suspected was alcohol.

It was just about the worst start to a council career since Monica Conyers got involved in a bar brawl shortly before joining Detroit's august legislative body.

Cush's traffic stop outside The Penthouse Club (Disclaimer: As much as it sounds like one, this establishment was NOT a gentlemen's club; you know, those places where naked ladies dance for men who are "gentlemen" in name only) was just the beginning of a tumultuous four years in office which will end this year. Cushingberry finished third in the 2nd council district primary and will not advance to the run-off on Nov. 7.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The beginning of the end for Cushingberry may have come when I got a tip that his law license was in trouble for cashing a client's checks but failing to provide legal services. It was the first of a series of stories in which I uncovered questionable conduct by the councilman.

Over the years I tried many ways to get the councilman to sit down with me, going so far as to have a formal invitation engraved for him. But, before I could deliver that exquisite invite, Cushingberry agreed to meet with me to discuss why he was not living where he swore he lived in an affidavit qualifying him to run for office.

As you'll see in my story, he didn't enjoy that encounter much more than our many run-ins in city hall's parking lot.

Still, that didn't stop Cush, as ol' pals like me call him, from inviting me to one of his final fundraisers.

To the amazement of many, I showed up and, well, I could tell you what happened, but that would ruin the surprise.

See for yourself how our meeting went down in the latest installment of my Chapter 10 series.

Contact M.L. Elrick at 248-552-5261 or ml.elrick@foxtv.com. Follow him on Facebook at "ML Elrick"; on Twitter at "elrick"; and on Instagram at "ml_elrick"

To check out earlier installments of Chapter 10, visit http://www.fox2detroit.com/chapter-10