Contractor stumped on stand in Kilpatrick, Ferguson corruption trial

Contractor recalls taunts but few details of own firm

Detroit — Thomas Hardiman, a construction contractor who has testified that he grudgingly joined forces with Bobby Ferguson in order to win multimillion-dollar city water contracts, said Wednesday that Ferguson could be blunt whenever Hardiman failed to grant Ferguson's wishes.

"You're an idiot," Ferguson would tell Hardiman. "I'm not going to talk with you."

Ferguson warned Hardiman that he would take his concerns to Avinash Rachmale, the head of Lakeshore Engineering Services, for whom Hardiman worked.

Although Hardiman's recollection was drawn out by federal prosecutor Mark Chutkow, it seemed for much of Tuesday and Wednesday that Hardiman was intent on proving Ferguson's alleged observation, undercutting his testimony that Ferguson was a contracting bully who cashed in on his cache with then-Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

By Mike Wilkinson and Robert Snell
From The Detroit News:

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