John Conyers

John Conyers, Jr. (born May 16, 1929) is a U.S. Congressman from Michigan, representing that state's 14th District (map), which includes all of Highland Park and Hamtramck, as well as parts of Detroit and Dearborn. He has served since 1965 (the district was numbered as the 1st District until 1993).

Biographical information

Conyers served in the Michigan National Guard 1948-50; US Army 1950-54; and the US Army Reserves 1954-57. Conyers served for a year in Korea as an officer in the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and was awarded combat and merit citations. ^*.

Conyers grew up in Detroit, and received both his B.A. and his J.D. from Wayne State University. He served as an assistant to Congressman John Dingell prior to his election to Congress. He has been reelected 20 times, never facing serious opposition. He is the second-longest serving current member of the House, as well as the second-longest serving member of either house of Congress in Michigan's history. Only Dingell outranks him on both lists.

Conyers is a leading figure in the Democratic Party and the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). He's currently Ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee and is one of the 13 founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus (considered the Dean of that group). Formed in 1969, the CBC was founded to strengthen African-American law makers ability to address the legislative concerns of Black and minority citizens. He has served longer in Congress than any other African-American. In 1971, he was one of the original members of Nixon's Enemies List.

According to the National Journal, Conyers has been considered, with Pete Stark, to be one of the most liberal members of Congress for many years. Civil rights icon Rosa Parks served on Conyers' staff between 1965 and 1988.

He appeared in Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 discussing the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, stating that members of Congress "don't read most of the bills".

Conyers frequently posts at Daily Kos and Democratic Underground. Since May 2005 he's been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post and his own blog.

Downing Street memo

On May 5, 2005, Conyers and 88 other members of Congress wrote an open letter to the White House inquiring about a leaked memo which revealed an apparent secret agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom to attack Iraq in 2002. The Times, a British national newspaper, reported that newly-discovered documents reveal British and U.S. intentions to invade Iraq and leaders of the two countries had "discussed creating pretextual justifications for doing so". The documents go on to say that Tony Blair decided the U.S. would need to "create" conditions to justify the war.

The memo story broke in the United Kingdom, but has not received much coverage in the United States, prompting Conyers to lament: "This should not be allowed to fall down the memory hole during wall-to-wall coverage of the Michael Jackson trial and a runaway bride."

CNN picked up the story on May 12. Fox News had a story about two weeks later on June 1.

Conyers et. al are seriously considering sending a congressional investigation delegation to London. ^*

What Went Wrong In Ohio

In May, 2005, Conyers released What Went Wrong In Ohio: The Conyers Report On The 2004 Presidential Election, which discusses the voting irregularities in the state of Ohio during the 2004 Presidential Election. The evidence offered of wrong-doing consists of statistical abnormalities in the differences between exit poll results and actual votes registered at those locations. The book also discusses reports of faulty electronic voting machines and the lack of credibility of those machines used to tally votes.

The Constitution In Crisis

On December 20, 2005, Conyers released The Constitution in Crisis: The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retributions and Cover-ups in the Iraq War, an edited collection of information intending to serve as evidence that the Bush Administration altered intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq.

The Constitution in Crisis examines much of the evidence presented by the Bush Administration prior to the invasion and questions the credibility of their sources of intelligence. Additionally, the document investigates the conditions which led to the torture scandal in Abu Ghraib as well as further evidence of torture having been committed, but not made known to the public. Finally, the document reports on a series of 'smear tactics' purported to be used by the administration in dealing with its adversaries.

The document calls for the censure of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Controversy over misuse of government employees

In complaints originally made to the House Ethics Committee in 2004, two former aides who worked for Conyers alleged to have babysat his children and worked on the political campaigns of other politicians (including that of his wife who was running for Detroit city council).

The allegations included babysitting and tutoring Conyers' children, chauffering him to private functions, and working on various political campaigns including local Michigan elections and a campaign for Conyer's wife, Monica.

Conyers' lawyer has stated that they have been "fully forthcoming" on these allegations which the Ethics Committee declined to pursue. Spokesmen for Monica Conyers have denied the allegations concerning her campaign, stating that the former staff members are simply "disgruntled employees who couldn't cut it in the work force."[http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/12/griffin.conyers/index.html

Trivia

Conyers was featured in a famous scene in the 2004 hit motion picture documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11. In the scene, which discusses the issue of Congressmen never reading the Patriot Act, Conyers tells director Michael Moore that the Congress "doesn't read most of the bills."
He was #13 on President Richard Nixon's enemies list during Nixon's 1969-1974 presidential tenure. The president described him as "coming on fast" and that he was "emerging" as a "black anti-Nixon spokesman" who also had "weakness" for white women.

External links

Congressional website
Campaign website
Campaign blog
BuzzFlash.com - 'Congressman John Conyers Talks About Bush Lying America Into War and His Campaign to Hold Bush Accountable: The Downing Street Memo and More' (John Conyers interview), BuzzFlash (June 9, 2005)
CNN.com - 'Bush asked to explain UK war memo', CNN (May 12, 2005)
House.gov (pdf) - Open letter to George W. Bush, re: Downing Street Memo (originally signed by 89 US Congress members), John Conyers, et al. (May 5, 2005)
House.gov (pdf) - 'Preserving Democracy: What Went Wrong in Ohio: Status Report of the House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff', (prepared at the request of Congressman John Conyers, January 5, 2005)
House.gov - 'The Constitution in Crisis; The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution, and Coverups in the Iraq War' (Investigative Status Report of the House Judiciary Committee Democratic Staff, December 2005)
JohnConyers.com - 'The Downing Street Memo', John Conyers (May 27, 2005)
JohnConyers.com - 'Letter to President Bush Concerning "Downing Street Memo"' (online petition; goal: 500,000 signatures), John Conyers
OpenSecrets.org - 'Representative (D - MI) John Conyers Jr.' (2004 campaign finance data)
Salon.com - 'It's time for Karl Rove to go: The president needs to ask for a special prosecutor in the Valerie Plame case', Congressman John Conyers, Jr., Salon.com (October 15, 2003)
TheNation.com - ' A Motion for Censure', Congressman John Conyers, Jr., TheNation.com (December 22, 2005)
Michigan Democratic Party
Michigan Liberal's 14th Congressional District section
Voting record maintained by the Washington Post

John Conyers | John Conyers

Gourt Home::Gourt :: John Conyers