Conyers Is the Wrong Guy To Chair Judiciary Committee

Townhall.com ^ | March 18, 2010 | Debra J. Saunders

[Kaslin]

Another funny thing happened in what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi promised would be "the most ethical Congress in history." Monica Conyers, the wife of House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, pleaded guilty last year to a federal charge of conspiracy to commit bribery that prompted her to resign from the Detroit City Council last year. This month, she was sentenced to 37 months in prison.

One could argue that his wife's felony conviction should not reflect on Conyers' chairmanship of the committee that has jurisdiction over federal courts, in that U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg announced that the evidence in the case "offered no suggestion" that John Conyers "had any knowledge or role in Mrs. Conyers' illegal conduct." But now come reports that, despite her husband's $174,000 annual salary, Monica Conyers has obtained a taxpayer-funded court-appointed attorney to appeal her own plea-bargained deal.

When she entered her plea, Mrs. Conyers signed an affidavit that stipulated the "defendant waives any right to appeal her conviction or sentence" if the sentence does not exceed five years. The former Detroit council member also admitted to accepting "cash payments" before and after her tie-breaking vote to grant a $47 million sludge-hauling contract to Synagro Technologies in 2007.

Hmmm: 2007, that's when Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, tried to renege on his guilty plea to disorderly conduct after he had a too-close encounter with a police officer in a Minneapolis airport men's restroom. Many critics -- and I was one -- hit Craig for trying to go back on a deal that, as a lawmaker, he must have understood.

Well, surely the wife of the Judish chairman knew what she was doing when she pleaded guilty. Just as surely, Conyers can help pay his wife's legal bills. He makes too good a living to stick taxpayers with the tab for a bogus appeal.

Now, if there has been some gross miscarriage of justice, let John Conyers speak out and defend his wife. But at the moment, the chairman is not talking. His Judiciary Committee spokesman, Jonathan Godfrey, told me that the Monica Conyers case is "a personal matter."

A senior House Democratic aide dismissed any criticism of the chairman as "smears by the Republicans." What else can the Dems say? His wife was a crooked politician -- but he didn't know it? If this were four years ago, and the wife of a Judiciary Committee chairman beholden to GOP capo Tom DeLay were sentenced to 37 months on a bribery charge as prosecutors charged she pocketed some $69,500 in illicit cash as a public official, this would be a big story -- whether the cheap-o chairman tried to fob his better half's legal bills on taxpayers or not.

It should be a big story now. When Pelosi took over as speaker, she said, "There is no question that the ethics process in the last couple of years has lost the confidence of the American people." She promised reform. But she publicly stood by Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., until he resigned as Ways and Means Committee chair after an ethics committee scolding.

Last week her spokesman, Drew Hammill, said that Conyers' position as chairman "is based on his respected leadership in the House."

Maybe Conyers is respected in Pelosi's House. But that only means Pelosi should get out of the House more often.

[perfect_rovian_storm]

All of the Democrats and about half the Republicans aren’t fit to chair an AA meeting.

[Gay State Conservative]

Conyers is the wrong guy to man a sewerage treatment plant.

[ETL]

FYI: John Conyers, the guy heading the Bush-Cheney "torture and abuse" investigations, is an endorser of the Revolutionary Communist Party's 'World Can't Wait' movement. He also spoke at at least one of their events. His name appears just after Ward Churchill's below.

Endorsers of the [World Can't Wait] Call to Drive Out the Bush Regime Include:

James Abourezk, Aris Anagnos, Rocky Anderson, Anti-Flag, Edward Asner, Russell Banks, Ed Begley Jr., Harry Belafonte, St. Clair Bourne, Gabriel Byrne, Margaret Cho, Ward Churchill, Paulette Cole, US Rep John Conyers Jr., John Densmore, Jesse Diaz Jr., Michael Eric Dyson, Steve Earle, Niles Eldredge, Daniel Ellsberg, Eve Ensler, Laura Flanders, Jane Fonda, Martin Garbus, Senator Mike Gravel, Andre Gregory, Sam Hamill, Suheir Hammad, Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Jr., Mumia Abu-Jamal, Rickie Lee Jones, Sarah Jones, Brig. Gen. (Ret) Janis Karpinski, Jonathan Kozol, Rabbi Michael Lerner, US Rep. Cynthia McKinney, Robin Meyers, Mark Crispin Miller, Tom Morello, Viggo Mortensen, John Nichols, US Rep. Major Owens, Grace Paley, Harvey Pekar, Sean Penn, Michelle Phillips, Harold Pinter, Michael Ratner, Mark Ruffalo, US Rep. Bobby Rush, Susan Sarandon, Richard Serra, Jeff Sharlet, Rev. Al Sharpton, Cindy Sheehan, Martin Sheen, Nancy Spero, Gloria Steinem, Lynne Stewart, Serj Tankian, Sunsara Taylor, Studs Terkel, Gore Vidal, Kurt Vonnegut, Alice Walker, Naomi Wallace, US Rep. Maxine Waters, Cornel West, Ann Wright, Howard Zinn, and thousands more who have already joined us.

http://worldcantwait.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2538&Itemid=2
__________________________________________________________

World Can't Wait--Drive Out the Bush Regime is a Maoist-revolutionary movement organized by the Revolutionary Communist Party. Scroll down the list that appears (after clicking link) to find the World Can't Wait organization (rwor.org is the website of the Revolutionary Communist Party):
http://rwor.org/a/rwlink/links.htm
__________________________________________________________

From David Horowitz's FrontpageMag.com /DiscoverTheNetworks.org:
Profile: World Can't Wait (WCW)

*Revolutionary communist movement that stages protests against the Bush administration

*Organizes college and high-school students

*Founded in June 2005 by Charles Clark Kissinger, a longtime leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=7213

[johnthebaptistmoore]

All of leftism is the wrong way to go!

[Tarpon]

It would seem lying, cheating and stealing is part of the Democrat’s DNA.

Agree, Conyers should step aside since he benefited from the felony. And didn’t tell anyone.

And the Judiciary Committee chair, that’s rice.

[Kaslin]

It would seem? Lying, cheating and stealing is indeed part of the democRat’s DNA

[heiss]

did they file taxes jointly? If yes, then both did commit tax fraud.

[bitterohiogunclinger]

“did they file taxes jointly? If yes, then both did commit tax fraud.”

Tax fraud seems to be a minimum resume requirement for DemonRATs.

[mrsmel]

" Mumia Abu-Jamal"

What the ...? Isn't he a convicted cop-killer?

[mrsmel]

That would be funny if it wasn't true!

[ETL]

Yes, and also part of the same "Black Liberation" revolutionary communist left as Obama's rev Wright and pal Bill Ayers.

From the David Horowitz Freedom Center, October 6, 2009:

Marc Lamont Hill isn’t Just An Admirer of Cop-Killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, He’s His Publisher

Marc Lamont Hill, Sept 7, 2009:

"I am thrilled to announce that Mumia Abu-Jamal has joined the Barbershop as a weekly contributor!! His column, “Live From Death Row,” will appear every Wednesday starting next week.

Mumia Abu-Jamal is one of the world’s most celebrated journalists, freedom fighters, and political prisoners. Since his early days in Philadelphia, Mumia was an active member of the Black freedom struggle. From his award-winning journalism to his involvement with the Black Panther Party, Mumia has devoted his life to Black liberation. Wrongfully incarcerated since 1981 for the murder of Officer Daniel Faulkner, Mumia has continued to place a spotlight on various forms of injustice around the globe through his numerous columns, commentaries, and books. Mumia has generated international support for his own case, which has been one of the most glaring and repugnant reflections of the criminal (in)justice system."--Marc Lamont Hill

Marc Lamont Hill isn’t Just An Admirer of Cop-Killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, He’s His Publisher:
http://newsrealblog.com/2009/10/06/marc-lamont-hill-isnt-just-an-admirer-of-cop-killer-mumia-abu-jamal-hes-his-publisher/ ____________________________________________

“From his award-winning journalism to his involvement with the Black Panther Party, Mumia [Abu-Jamal] has devoted his life to Black liberation.”—Marc Lamont Hill

http://newsrealblog.com/2009/10/06/marc-lamont-hill-isnt-just-an-admirer-of-cop-killer-mumia-abu-jamal-hes-his-publisher/
____________________________________________

[ETL]

"Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal".
--James (Jim) Cone,
African American Religious Thought: An Anthology (Paperback)
by Cornel West (Editor), Eddie S. Glaude Jr. (Editor)

SEAN HANNITY: But Reverend Jeremiah Wright is not backing down and has not for years and in his strong stance on the teaching of black liberation theology is nothing new. He had the same things to say last spring when he appeared on "Hannity & Colmes:"

WRIGHT: If you're not going to talk about theology in context, if you're not going to talk about liberation theology that came out of the '60s, systematized black liberation theology that started with Jim Cone in 1968 and the writings of Cone and the writings of Dwight Hopkins and the writings of womynist theologians and Asian theologians and Hispanic theologians, then you can't talk about the black value system.

HANNITY: But I'm a — reverend

WRIGHT: Do you know liberation theology, sir?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,354158,00.html
____________________________________________

"Their founding document [the Weather Underground's] called for the establishment of a "white fighting force" to be allied with the "Black Liberation Movement" and other "anti-colonial" movements[1] to achieve "the destruction of US imperialism and the achievement of a classless world: world communism."..."-Berger, Dan (2006). Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity. AK Press, 95.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weatherman_Underground#cite_ref-Berger_0-0

Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity (Paperback) by Dan Berger
http://www.amazon.com/Outlaws-America-Underground-Politics-Solidarity/dp/1904859410
____________________________________________

Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright and Dr. William Ayers
are greeted by Rebekah Levin with the Committee
for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine.
(Chuck Berman/Chicago Tribune / May 17, 2009)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-ayers_wrightmay18,0,6689521.story
____________________________________________

From the New York Times, August 24, 2003

"they [the Weather Underground] employed revolutionary jargon, advocated armed struggle and black liberation and began bombing buildings, taking responsibility for at least 20 attacks. Estimates of their number ranged at times from several dozen to several hundred."

Article: Quieter Lives for 60's Militants, but Intensity of Beliefs Hasn't Faded
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04E4DE1539F937A1575BC0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2

[mrsmel]

In a sane world, his name in support of anything would be a clear sign of its evilness.

[ETL]

The group they are supporting (House Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers and convicted cop killer Mumia) is the Revolutionary Communist Party. The RCP openly calls for the communist overthrow of the US government.

From the website of the Revolutionary Communist Party (revcom.us or rwor.org) :

"Create Public Opinion, Seize Power: We are preparing minds and organizing forces for the time when there is a major crack in the system, whenever it comes and wherever it comes from: an opening that makes it possible to bring the future Revolutionary Army of the Proletariat (R.A.P.) into the field and wage a revolutionary armed struggle that actually has a chance of winning.

And we have said that building our party itself is the most important part of organizing forces for revolution. This is true now, and it is true looking forward to the creation of that future R.A.P. and the waging of that armed struggle.":

http://revcom.us/a/v20/1000-1009/1000/barw.htm