So, this is quite the
family. Yes, we’re all human and all that, but this is just—you can’t make this
up about the Conyers clan.
Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) has decided to take his
leave.
His last day as a member of the House of Representatives was December 5.
He wants his son, John Conyers III, to be his successor.
Former Rep. Conyers
faced increasing pressure from within his own ranks to resign over sexual
harassment allegations. In 2015, he settled a claim, using $27,000 in taxpayer
money in the process. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called on Conyers to resign, as
did other top Democrats.
With Conyers gone, his
son looks like a likely choice to replace him, though we now know that he was arrested
for stabbing his girlfriend. He was arrested on domestic violence charges, but
was never prosecuted (via NBC News):
John Conyers III, a Detroit hedge fund manager named as a
possible successor to his scandal-rocked father, Rep. John Conyers, was
arrested in Los Angeles this year on suspicion of domestic violence, but
prosecutors declined to charge him, according to documents obtained by NBC
News.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office cited a
"lack of independent witnesses" and their conclusion that it
"could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the victim’s injury
was not accidentally sustained" while he was disarming her, according to
case paperwork.
In addition, prosecutors said the victim had no visible
injuries beyond a small stab wound to her lower bicep and no other independent
witnesses to what she described as earlier pushing and shoving by Conyers III.
Conyers III, 27, was arrested on Feb. 15 at a Los Angeles
residence on suspicion of violence against his girlfriend after the alleged
victim called police. The victim was not named in the document that recorded
the decision not to file charges.
The girlfriend said that Conyers III suspected her of
cheating after he went through her computer. She told police that he "body
slammed her on the bed and then on the floor where he pinned her down and spit
on her," the report says.
She said when she tried to call police, he took her phone
and then chased her into the kitchen, where she grabbed a knife and told him to
leave. By her account, he took the knife and swung it at her, cutting her arm.
[…]
Conyers III was taken into custody and released in lieu
of $50,000 bond the same day, police said.
So, we have the father
leaving because he reportedly sexually harassed women and now his son was
arrested for stabbing one. As for Mrs. Conyers, well, she has legal issues of
her own. She was sentenced to more than three years in prison back in 2010 for
bribery (via MLive c. 2010):
A former Detroit city councilwoman was sentenced to more
than three years in prison Wednesday for bribery after a federal judge refused
to set aside her guilty plea during a stormy court hearing dominated by a
dispute over evidence of other payoffs.
As guards cleared the packed courtroom, Monica Conyers
yelled that she planned to appeal. The wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.,
wanted to withdraw her guilty plea, suggesting she was the victim of
"badgering" last year when she admitted taking cash to support a
Houston company's sludge contract with the city.
But U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn, reviewing a
transcript of the June hearing, said Conyers had denied any coercion and
voluntarily pleaded guilty to conspiracy.
Conyers is the biggest catch so far in the FBI's
wide-ranging investigation of corruption in Detroit city government. Nine
people have pleaded guilty, including two former directors of the downtown
convention center, and prosecutors have promised that more charges are coming.
"Bribery is a betrayal of trust," Cohn told
Conyers after announcing a 37-month prison term for her "egregious"
crime. She quit the council after pleading guilty in June.
It would be wise for the
voters of this congressional district to find someone new to represent them.
___________________________
RELATED
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John Conyers’ wife, Monica Conyers, was convicted of
bribery
On March 10, 2010, Monica Conyers was sentenced to 37
months in prison and also received two years of supervised probation. She ended
up serving just over 27 months at the Alderson Federal Prison Camp and was
released from federal custody officially on May 16, 2013.
In October 2015, the Detroit Free Press reported that she had
filed for divorce in Wayne County Circuit Court after
25 years of marriage.
