Five days before he won a Detroit City Council primary last August, George Cushingberry emerged from a personal bankruptcy case to resolve more than $530,000 in debts, Detroit blogger Steve Neavling reports.
George Cushingberry, Jr. listed more than $530.,000 in debts when he filed for bankruptcy in October 2011. (Photo from cushforcouncil.com)
The longtime public officeholder, who is a practicing attorney and gets a state pension from his House terms, "managed to bury himself into debt with unpaid taxes, credit card bills and mortgages on two homes in Detroit, one in Lansing and another at a resort in Orlando, Fla., according to bankruptcy records obtained by the Motor City Muckraker."
Cushingberry owed money to about three dozen creditors when he filed for bankruptcy in October 2011, Neavling writes.
He declared he was only making $25,000 annually as an attorney and $50,000 from his pension as a legislator. . . .
Cushingberry stated his only money was $3,500 in cash.
The blogger's post caps a tumultous second week in office for the councilman, who was ticketed after allegedly trying to flee police during a traffic stop that made headlines because of an empty rum bottle and passenger's medical marijuana use. He also drew coverage for "go to Hell" comments online about The Detroit News and its opinion editor, Nolan Finley.
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