I happen to like and respect John Conyers very much. However, both yesterday and this morning on CNN I heard a disturbing story about
Congressman Conyers.
The gist of the story is that John Conyers uses his government paid staff for activities such as babysitting his children and working on political campaigns.
More below
"Deanna Maher, who was deputy chief of staff in Conyers' Downriver office, says her baby-sitting duties turned into a stint as a full-time nanny. "He handed me the keys to his car and his house, [said] take care of my child Carl and everything," Maher told CNN from her western Michigan home."
"Maher says she moved into Conyers' Detroit home. She took care of his elder son for several weeks, she says, while the congressman was in Washington and his wife attended law classes in Oklahoma."
"Aside from the baby-sitting allegations, one of the most serious complaints includes former staff members' accusations that they were ordered to work on political campaigns. The ex-employees say they used congressional staff time to work on local elections in Michigan, including a campaign for Conyers' wife, Monica, who is the Detroit City Council's president pro tem".
Aside from feeling some degree of disappointment in Congressman Conyers after seeing this story on CNN, I am totally amazed that I have not heard a word about it anywhere else. If this were a repug congressman don't you think that in this political climate that the major newspapers would be all over it? Could it be that the media really is liberal?
I'm also amazed that no one here has written a diary on this. In your heart, you know if this were a repug congressman that there would be at least one diary on it. I hesitated to bring it up myself because I really like John Conyers. If the story is, in fact true, I still respect Congressman Conyers for his brave stance on many important issues, but I would be somewhat disappointed with him.