New heat on Conyers
‘Harasser’ ducks Pelosi’s call to quit
REP. JOHN CONYERS, under heightening pressure Thursday from congressional Democrats to resign over his seamy sexual harassment scandal, isn’t quite ready to quit.
But the 88-year-old lawmaker was reconsidering his options after threats of expulsion that could cost the Michigan Democrat his pension after 53 years in Congress, a source told the Daily News.
The talk of retirement came shortly after Conyers’ tough-talking lawyer discounted comments from top Democrats Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Jim Clyburn urging his client’s resignation.
“Nancy Pelosi did not elect the congressman, and she sure as hell won’t be the one to tell the congressman to leave,” his bow-tied attorney Arnold Reed told reporters in Detroit.
“He is not going to be pressured by Nancy Pelosi or anyone else to step down . . . . That decision will be completely up to the congressman.”
Reed ripped Conyers’ colleagues who called for the departure of the House’s longest-tenured member as the congressman was reportedly in a Detroit hospital being treated for stress.
The naysayers included Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Clyburn (D-S.C.). New York Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley also joined the resignation chorus.
Ryan was behind the pension threat, according to the source.
Reed (photo bottom) insisted the octogenarian lawmaker, in office since 1965, is focused on his health — and won’t rush into a decision.
Pelosi pulled no punches in urging Conyers to go quickly and quietly into retirement.
“Well, the allegations against Congressman Conyers, as we have learned more since Sunday, are serious, disappointing and very credible,” Pelosi said. “. . . The brave women who have come forward are owed justice.”
Pelosi commended Conyers’ record during his long tenure in Washington, but said his place in American history did not mitigate the charges against him. Conyers, a contemporary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., was among those fighting for equal rights for African-Americans in the ’60s.
“No matter how great the legacy, it’s no license to harass or discriminate,” said Pelosi, who’d argued on Sunday that he was entitled to the due process of an ethics committee investigation.
Reports emerged last week that Conyers had settled a lawsuit with a former staffer who accused him of misconduct.
Marion Brown revealed herself as the ex-employee during a Thursday appearance on “Today.”
Conyers, she said, “violated my body” and propositioned her multiple times over the years. At a Chicago hotel, she recalled, Conyers asked Brown to pleasure him or find someone who would.
“He pointed to (the) genital areas of his body and asked me to touch him,” Brown asserted. “I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to lose my job, I didn’t want to upset him.” Brown said she finally got herself out of the room by saying she wasn’t comfortable. But the unwanted attention continued, with phone calls inviting her to visit Conyers in hotels. “This continued on for lots of years,” she said. Several years ago, Brown brought the issue to Conyers’ chief of staff in Detroit. The man later told Brown he’d spoken to Conyers, she said, but no official action was taken.
A single mom, Brown stayed at the job because she still enjoyed the work, Conyers was otherwise a respected figure and she needed to support her four children.
“I had to raise my kids,” she told “Today.” “It was something that I enjoyed. I needed the income. I endured it.”
The former staffer said she was coming forward to make a change — so that things will be different by the time her young granddaughter enters the workforce.