Sexual harassment
Longest-serving member of Congress leaves committee amid ethics investigation.
WASHINGTON — Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., the longest serving member of Congress, stepped aside as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee on Sunday amid growing internal pressure as an ethics investigation begins into sexual harassment allegations.
Conyers, 88, said he would not resign from Congress and instead would fight the allegations in the hope of reclaiming his spot atop the committee overseeing federal laws and other legal issues. “I very much look forward to vindicating myself and my family before the House Committee on Ethics,” he wrote in a letter to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco.
Conyers, 88, settled a sexual harassment allegation brought by a former staffer, paying out just under $30,000.
Pelosi issued a statement immediately after Conyers’ announcement: “I particularly take any accusation of sexual harassment very seriously. Any credible accusation must be reviewed by the Ethics Committee expeditiously. We are at a watershed moment on this issue.”
The announcement came after days of internal pressure on Conyers, particularly from Pelosi, to step aside from the leadership post, according to a senior Democratic aide familiar with the process.
It followed a Sunday morning dominated by the sprawling issue of sexual harassment and assault on the political news shows.
Members of Congress have said the “due process” system on Capitol Hill is outdated and biased toward insulating lawmakers from suffering penalties for misbehavior. “The whole system needs to have a comprehensive shift,” Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Hillsborough, said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Speier and Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., are the lead sponsors of legislation slated for a vote this week that would streamline the process, amid growing accusations and revelations about members of Congress that are similar to those involving powerful men from Hollywood, the media and Silicon Valley.
The legislation would require mandatory training on harassment and discrimination for all lawmakers and staff. “There needs to be one standard for members,” Comstock said on ABC, noting that Conyers benefited from making a payment that was never revealed until a BuzzFeed report last week. “No more secret payments.”
Conyers has denied any wrongdoing and said his payout did not constitute an admission of culpability.
Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., has suggested that Conyers should just resign from Congress altogether, something Comstock endorsed Sunday.