The Hill: Conyers accepts responsibility for possible ethics violations

[DeepModem Mom]

Conyers accepts responsibility for possible ethics violations
By Jonathan E. Kaplan and Jackie Kucinich

Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) has "accepted responsibility" for possibly violating House rules by requiring his official staff to perform campaign-related work, according to a statement quietly released by the House ethics committee late Friday evening.

The top Republican and Democratic members on the ethics panel, Reps. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) and Howard Berman (D-Calif.), said in a statement that Conyers acknowledged a "lack of clarity" in communicating what was expected of his official staff and that he accepted responsibility for his actions.

"(Conyers) agreed to take a number of additional, significant steps to ensure that his office complies with all rules and standards regarding campaign and
personal work by congressional staff," they stated. "We have concluded that this matter should be resolved through the issuance of this public statement."

The finding by the ethics panel could spark debate, and perhaps eclipse, the first week of the incoming-Democratic majority’s plans to change the House ethics rules, as well as raise questions about Conyers’ standing to chair the Judiciary Committee....

***

The ethics inquiry began in December, 2003 when former staff members complained to the ethics panel, formerly named the House Committee on Standards and Official Conduct, that Conyers had required his official staffers to work on campaigns, babysit his children, and run personal errands. Conyers subsequently hired Stanley Brand, a well-respected defense lawyer with a long track record of defending public officials implicated in corruption cases....

http://www.thehill.com:8888/thehill/opencms/TheHill/News/Frontpage/121306/conyers.html

[Drum]

1. Hmmmm...

:eyes:

[Horse with no Name]

2. This has been rehashed as many times as Bill's blowjob

it makes me weary.

[midnight]

3. I don't care. There are so many people being killed. Can

our Ethics be concerned about that.

[truthisfreedom]

4. We must hold our own to an even higher standard.

[tavalon]

5. Yup but this strikes me as a hatchet job

on our main soon to be hatchet man. I'm sure they want to dump some mud on the guy who will be taking this administration down.

[jayctravis]

10. It makes sense for him to clean his slate...

before requiring the same of anybody else.

[Judi Lynn]

22. You bet. They had to get some points on the board before the other team took the field!

They HAVE been after him since _Bush declared himself our President.

I'm sure you may remember the obnoxious attempt to smear him a year or two ago when someone ran a story on his WIFE SLAPPING A DRUNK IN A BAR. There were idiots who showed up HERE to yammer that she is not above the law, etc., etc., etc.

As surprising as it was, nothing ever came of that story, seeing Mrs. Conyers was accosted by a truculent drunk, slapped her, and the drunk was contacted by people who thought they could get some mileage with it.

Conyers has been on the right-wing list for a long time because he's a serious man who can't be shoved around. He has had to hold inquiries in tiny, tiny broom-closet-like rooms because they wouldn't give him access to normal rooms to hold important hearings in the last few years.

They have gone so far out of their way to make trouble for him they couldn't resist getting in another kick before leaving office. I seriously doubt the character of ANYONE who tries to give any weight whatsoever to these people.

Damned right, it's a hatchet job!

http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/Pictures/Persons/031324/031324-192871.jpg

[me b zola]

26. "Conyers has been on the right-wing list for a long time ...

...because he's a serious man who can't be shoved around."

It goes all the way back to Conyers making Nixon's "enemy" list. Someone posted it just the other day, and smack dab in the middle was Rep Conyers.

Rep Conyers is a good and honorable man--qualities that the gop--rightfully--fear.

[Judi Lynn]

27. Now THAT'S noteworthy. Nixon's list, too. Didn't know. Thanks. n/t

[stillcool]

18. sounds like a lower standard to me...

This is pure bullshit. You can be indicted, cozy up to aides, oversee fraud by the billions....but, do not ask your staff to watch your kids.

[marmar]

6. Mountains, molehills?

Sounds like a big no-story to me.

[wordpix]

23. how many tax $ have been spent by BushCo flying around the country to help repukes

running for office? Bushie is supposed to be pres of all the people, not a political hack campaigning for his dirty political party.

Let's give it BACK TO THEM!

[tblue]

7. Oh my gosh! Sound the alarm! Mayday Mayday! All hell has broken loose! Quick, somebody call 911!

[Wetzelbill]

8. maybe they should investigate his xmas card list too

:eyes:

This is pretty weak. A violation that is barely even a violation. He had people babysit? It's like ripping off the tag on your mattress. Yeah, it isn't good, he shouldn't have done it, but it isn't like he's Duke Cunningham, Tom Delay or William Jefferson. This looks like a classic GOP tactic to discredit, try to anyway, a critic of the President who is going to be extremely powerful when this next session starts up and he gets a committee chairmanship.

[aquart]

9. They get us on jaywalking while they skate on treason.

[Wetzelbill]

11. no kidding, I mean I believe in accountability for both parties

but let's not make a big deal out of Conyer's possibly making some minor infractions when you have an illegal war based on false premises going on, not to mention myriad other scandals. It's hypocritical and ridiculous.

[CreekDog]

12. This is serious, especially if allegations are true

I like Conyers, but he needs to treat campaign versus congressional staff as if there were a brick wall between them.

If we are going to criticize Curt Weldon for the same behavior, then the same goes for Conyers.

There's a reason they have those rooms of phones for fundraising by members of Congress...that's how the rules/laws are followed.

You simply can't tell me that Conyers doesn't know the rules after all these years in Congress. Sad thing is that he is probably in the safest of safe seats.

Furthermore, I don't like the sound of official staff being required to babysit or run personal errands, especially for campaign reasons. You can make your campaign staff lick your boots, but official government staff --no way, that's not what the taxpayers provide funding for, sorry bub, wrong job for that.

[DoYouEverWonder]

17. Then they should apply those rules to the White House first

[wordpix]

24. that is RIGHT! No doubt the entire WH staff worked on the elections of '02-'06.

We certainly know BushCheney flew all over the country on AF One to support the repukes.

[Jackpine Radical]

13. I have only one thing to say:

AAAAAAAAARRRGH!

[w4rma]

16. Jeeze. It's a no-story hatchet job. You, of all people, should know the pattern by now. (nt)

[Jackpine Radical]

19. Oh, I'm sure it's overblown.

The mildness of the sanction pretty much proves that. My inchoate howl was prompted more by the entire situation than by Conyers in particular. Nevertheless, in WI a few years ago we watched the leadership of both parties in the state legislature crash and burn over eerily similar issues, with both the majority and minority leaders doing jail time, so I'm somewhat hypersensitized to accusations of this sort.

[JaneQPublic]

14. Remember when they were banging on VP Gore...

...for making fundraising calls from his office phone instead of going to a phone booth (before the age of cell phones)? The media harped on it as though it were as bad a scandal as Abramoff or Cunningham.

They'll probably do the same to Conyers.

[Springster]

15. This is only dealing with House rules isn\'t it? I mean, there isn\'t any

any allegations of laws being broken are there? This doesn\'t involve not paying nanny taxes or misappropriation of official funds or anything like that does it?

[babylonsister]

20. But Foley et. al., walks, Duke still receives a pension, as does Ney.

Twisted priorities, anyone?

Having said that, I'm glad Conyers 'accepted responsibility'. :eyes:

[pokercat999]

21. I think this shows a normal congressional attitude

toward subordinates. They are there to be used by the king/queen. That's what concerns me more than the possible minor infractions. It's all about how you treat others.....trust me. We Democrats must hold ourselves to a much higher standard. Conyers at least "owned up" to his lapse. I hope he apologized to the staff involved. It's time the ethics committee is made up of regular citizens serving a term much like congresspersons.

On edit: I think this attitude is prevalent in most of government. I was managing an auto repair shop in Alexandria, VA and had two Army Captains drop off a Generals personal Jeep (privately owned non-mil) for brake repairs. They picked it up and paid for it when it was finished, guess the General and his family were too busy to handle their own business. On the other hand we worked on Sec of Interior Luhan (Bush 41 admin). He dropped the vehicle off and picked it up himself, no limos waiting. This was a regular guy with real class regardless what one thought about his politics.

[Freddie Stubbs]

28. I have worked on Capitol Hill and this is not the case

Most Democratic members of Congress would never dream of having their staff attend to personal affairs like babysitting.

The problem is that there are some older members who are from a differnt era, when that sort of thing was was acceptable.

[pokercat999]

31. I hope you're correct but human nature and habits

are hard to change. I do want this congress to be different but my fear is it will be more of the same.

[ck4829]

25. It's great that he accepts responsibility

They do things very differently on the other side of the aisle.

[Joe Chi Minh]

29. Could they not be sued for wanton litigioussness - given the context

of its ubiquitous practice, particularly by the right? I'd like to have seen Clinton go after the scum who persecuted him and his family, friends and even the most tenuous acquaintances (such as Susan McDougall) for every cent they have.

Not that it's not a good idea to keep the two completley separate. Indeed, it is. But they need to start with the direst offenders.

Since Thatcher's time in office, it appears to have become normal in the UK; I believe even the civil service being misused for party-politcal ends.

[happydreams]

30. Here we go! Rethug can urder thousands . Be less than

perfect Democrat and never be forgiven. It's like the shit with Jim McDermott over those phone calls.

[Matariki]

32. Not too long ago they were trying to smear him for having his staff babysit his kids

which must have occurred many, many years ago. The man has a lot of integrity - so trying to make him look bad for stuff like having his staff babysit or doing some campaign work is almost funny.