by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
John Conyers first went to Congress in 1965, and he was, until this morning, the senior member of that legislative body. In the more than fifty years that John Conyers has represented the 13th district of Michigan, he has made a name for himself as a leading progressive who was not afraid to challenge the status quo and go up against formidable political opposition. He was the immediate past chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, as well as a past chairman of the House Oversight Committee. Conyers was also a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
This morning John Conyers resigned from the House of Representatives from his hospital bed in Michigan where he is currently recovering from media-induced stress brought on by news stories regarding a $27,000 government payoff to a woman who had accused Conyers, her former boss, of sexual harassment. Conyers denied the allegation and the charge is currently being investigated by the House Ethics Committee. Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, a former Speaker of the House, initially referred to Conyers as an "icon" and a champion of women's rights and insisted that he have an opportunity to rebut the charges. Pelosi, however, later modified her position and stated that the charges were believable and Conyers should resign.
And resign he did.
But even with his resignation from Congress, John Conyers continues to stir controversy. As he announced his resignation on a Detroit radio program this morning, he added a postscript by endorsing his son, John Conyers III, to fill the newly vacant seat. And while John III may expect to receive his rightful inheritance in due course, his path to grabbing it will include dealing with a claim by another grasping relative. The Congressman's grand-nephew, Ian Conyers, is indicating that he will run for the family seat at the government trough.
A seat in Congress is a terrible thing to waste!
The Republican Party, which, according to its latest tax scam, believes strongly in the right to inherit without government encumbrances, so perhaps it will not object to the Conyers' family continuing to claim sole ownership of Michigan's 13th.
The Detroit-area seat is likely to remain in Democratic hands, even if it slips outside of the powerful reach of the Conyers' family. Some are beginning to give voice to the notion that it might be fitting if the new representative from Michigan's 13th was a woman. That outcome would be ironic, with just a touch of the poetic.
Best to you in your golden years of retirement Congressman Conyers. Happy trails!
Citizen Journalist
John Conyers first went to Congress in 1965, and he was, until this morning, the senior member of that legislative body. In the more than fifty years that John Conyers has represented the 13th district of Michigan, he has made a name for himself as a leading progressive who was not afraid to challenge the status quo and go up against formidable political opposition. He was the immediate past chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, as well as a past chairman of the House Oversight Committee. Conyers was also a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
This morning John Conyers resigned from the House of Representatives from his hospital bed in Michigan where he is currently recovering from media-induced stress brought on by news stories regarding a $27,000 government payoff to a woman who had accused Conyers, her former boss, of sexual harassment. Conyers denied the allegation and the charge is currently being investigated by the House Ethics Committee. Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, a former Speaker of the House, initially referred to Conyers as an "icon" and a champion of women's rights and insisted that he have an opportunity to rebut the charges. Pelosi, however, later modified her position and stated that the charges were believable and Conyers should resign.
And resign he did.
But even with his resignation from Congress, John Conyers continues to stir controversy. As he announced his resignation on a Detroit radio program this morning, he added a postscript by endorsing his son, John Conyers III, to fill the newly vacant seat. And while John III may expect to receive his rightful inheritance in due course, his path to grabbing it will include dealing with a claim by another grasping relative. The Congressman's grand-nephew, Ian Conyers, is indicating that he will run for the family seat at the government trough.
A seat in Congress is a terrible thing to waste!
The Republican Party, which, according to its latest tax scam, believes strongly in the right to inherit without government encumbrances, so perhaps it will not object to the Conyers' family continuing to claim sole ownership of Michigan's 13th.
The Detroit-area seat is likely to remain in Democratic hands, even if it slips outside of the powerful reach of the Conyers' family. Some are beginning to give voice to the notion that it might be fitting if the new representative from Michigan's 13th was a woman. That outcome would be ironic, with just a touch of the poetic.
Best to you in your golden years of retirement Congressman Conyers. Happy trails!
1 comment:
Somewhere between your one eye closed perspective and your rightful outrage you have developed a rush to judgment, screw the facts, cynicism that makes your recent blogs sound more like the fake news of Russian bots than the due process of law abiding person I know you to be.
True, John Conyers appears to have been sexually inappropriate. True, he comes from an age where such inappropriate behavior was the norm. In state capitols around the continent, and surely in Congress, there were women called “monkey girls” because they made their living using their tails. One such girl, a friend of mine & perhaps yours, was at a Republican shindig in 1971 in Springfield. Those were the days when College kids didn’t hate each other on a partisan basis. Anyway this coed is seen leaving at the end of evening with a state representative. I called her over, to a table of young Republicans and Young Democrats in a cocktail lounge at the hotel, and said she didn’t have to go with him. He waited, looking a little embarrassed. She said it was okay. The next month she was a state employee in Jefferson City. It was the culture of the times, a marketplace where flesh and power were bartered. She went into the deal with her eyes wide open, as I suspect, given the time frame, so may also have the parties to many of these current complaints.
Due Process of Law demands we keep our minds open and refrain from making judgments until the facts are known; All of the facts. To assign sinister motive to the man without knowing the context is an affront to our ethos of fairness. There will be plenty of time to pile on and kick the dead carcasses of those proven to have abused their power at the expense of vulnerable women.
One woman you fail to mention is Marion Brown. She is now 61 and claims that Conyers “Marion Brown, 61, said the Democratic congressman propositioned her for sex multiple times over more than a decade. She said she stayed on the job because she needed to support her family and found the work rewarding. “It was sexual harassment … violating my body,” she said. “Propositioning me. Inviting me to hotels with the guise of discussing business and then propositioning me … for sex.”” http://atlantablackstar.com/2017/11/30/us-rep-conyers-hospital-ex-aide-describes-harassment/.
She says very little about the settlement in which she signed a confidentiality agreement over these matters. She apparently was willing to take the money and run but now has had a change of heart? Questions arise.
I recall a young woman well known among national Republican leaders during the Nixon Administration from Saint Louis. When a GOP bigwig came to Missouri they’d ask for her by name, not to have “sex” as her specialty was oral sex and her willingness to provide it. So I can say for certain that these morally outraged Republicans during the Clinton impeachment were not so high and mighty when this Missouri fellatrix knelt before them. Nobody was forcing anybody to do anything this was consistent the culture.
When it comes to Mr. Conyers replacement, the voters, not Mr. Conyers or political pundits, will decide who replaces Mr. Conyers in the Congress.
Possible candidates to run for Conyers' vacant seat:
John Conyers III: John Conyers' son, who the congressman said he endorses
Ian Conyers: John Conyers' nephew who is a Michigan state Senator representing the 4th District.
Rashida Tlaib: Former State Representative from Del Ray/Southwest section of Detroit
Mary Sheffield: Current and re-elected Detroit City Council member
Coleman A. Young II: Current, but term-limited, State Senator from Detroit
Reggie Turner: Clark Hill attorney and former State Board of Education member, lobbyist and State Gaming Commission member worked with both Engler and Granholm
Bill Wild: Mayor of Westland
Brenda Jones -- Detroit City Council president
Benny Napoleon -- Wayne County Sheriff
Sherry Gay Dagnogo -- Michigan state representative for the 8th District -- comprising northwest Detroit
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