Wasn't there another Dem to run against Conyers?

**thewitz** · August-03-10, 08:32 AM

I could have sworn there was a Pastor [[?) that was thinking of running as a Dem against John Conyers. Now I see there are no other Dems running against him. What happened? Was he paid off not to run? Please anyone but John Conyers!!!!

**DetroitPlanner** · August-03-10, 08:57 AM

No one can beat John Conyers on the democratic ticket. No republican will win the seat. It costs a great deal of money to run, therefore if there is no chance of winning why would anyone run against him in the primary?

John is actually a good guy stuck in a bad marriage. This happens all the time. What do you have against him?

**Whitehouse** · August-03-10, 08:58 AM

Nepotism is a risk, I think.

**Lowell** · August-03-10, 09:08 AM

Anybody trying to run against Conyers would be throwing their time and money away. He is politically in line with the sentiments of his district and, in spite of his wife's antics which have not touched him, has never done anything big enough or bad enough to threaten his position. As chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, he wields great power in Washington. His generally soft-spoken and dignified manner has kept him from controversy.

Unless some very radical redistricting should occur, the seat is his until he chooses to leaves it or passes on.

**thewitz** · August-03-10, 09:18 AM

It makes me mad that he wrote a letter in favor of the injection wells in Romulus and his wife profited by it. It makes me mad that taxpayers are paying for his wives legal fees, when he has a huge salary. I don't care that he is avoiding his wives problems. Pay her legal...or divorce her. Don't make me pay for her.

**thewitz** · August-03-10, 09:20 AM

It also makes me mad that he votes on bills that he admits he hasn't read or doesn't understand. If he does it for one bill, he does it for many.

**bailey** · August-03-10, 09:20 AM

Originally Posted by thewitz

It makes me mad that he wrote a letter in favor of the injection wells in Romulus and his wife profited by it. It makes me mad that taxpayers are paying for his wives legal fees, when he has a huge salary. I don't care that he is avoiding his wives problems. Pay her legal...or divorce her. Don't make me pay for her.

exactly. if he were a republican from oakland county, i doubt this board would be so forgiving.

**Danny** · August-03-10, 09:25 AM

Not even the mess from his relative former Detroit City Council Monica Conyers couldn't stop John Conyers from losing his seat in Congress. Political leaders want to keep their seats as soon as possible for their representation is at stake.

**Hermod** · August-03-10, 10:53 AM

If Conyer's district included a lot of "movement liberals" he might be in danger because he soft-pedaled investigations into the Bush administration after the Democrats took the House in 2006. His constituency doesn't give a damn about that.

**EastsideAl** · August-03-10, 11:35 AM

Originally Posted by thewitz

It also makes me mad that he votes on bills that he admits he hasn't read or doesn't understand. If he does it for one bill, he does it for many.

The point of the Conyers quote that you're alluding to is that routinely NONE of the people in Congress read most of the bills that cross their desks. That's what congressional staffs are there for.

John Conyers has held his seat since 1964 and has been reelected over 20 times. He's the second most senior member in the House after John Dingell. His views and votes accord very well with those of his constituents, including objecting to the Obama administration over expansion of the war in Afghanistan, failure to close Guantanamo prison as promised, failure to even consider single payer health care, and effective gutting of the health care reform that did pass. There is NO chance that he is going to lose in a primary in his district, so why would someone run against him?

**swingline** · August-03-10, 01:08 PM

Originally Posted by Lowell

Unless some very radical redistricting should occur, the seat is his until he chooses to leaves it or passes on.

Redistricting in Michigan isn't quite the disgustingly partisan process it once was before a state law was enacted about 10 years ago that established some standards and criteria. But Michigan is almost certainly going to lose one seat so there will have to be some shuffling. And if we get a Republican governor, there will be an unabashedly partisan effort in the state legislature to redistrict most of Detroit into one congressional district. [[After the loss of a seat, avg. congressional district population in Michigan will increase to approx. 750k) Mr. Conyers could probably win the district no matter who runs against him, but you never know.

**Gistok** · August-03-10, 01:15 PM

Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

No one can beat John Conyers on the democratic ticket. No republican will win the seat. It costs a great deal of money to run, therefore if there is no chance of winning why would anyone run against him in the primary?

John is actually a good guy stuck in a bad marriage. This happens all the time. What do you have against him?

OK, I'll bite on the "what do you have against him" question....

Off the top of your head, what exactly has John EVER done for his district in the last 46 years??

What major piece of legislation has he ever sponsored that has been passed by the House in those 46 years??

[[sound of crickets....)

**EastsideAl** · August-03-10, 02:37 PM

OK, I'll bite. Here is a list of bills that John Conyers has sponsored or co-sponsored since the beginning of this year.

http://www.opencongress.org/people/b...yers#sponsored

As you can see from the numbers at the top, he rates in the top eighth of the House in bills sponsored and sponsored bills passed. He's been right in this range since the Democrats retook the House a couple of terms ago. Even though his party was out of power for many years and his politics, the politics of his district, and the rightward shift of his party have left him, and indeed much of urban black America, somewhat politically isolated for many years, he has remained a powerful presence in the House. Additionally, he's pushed for many decades for a lot of policies, such as single-payer universal health care for all, or ending our military invasions and occupations of other people's countries and cutting the defense budget in favor of more spending on the needs of actual citizens, that are extremely popular with his constituents and with his wing of the party in general, but have been shunted aside by the Democratic party bosses in recent years in pursuit of more corporate-donor-friendly positions.

EastSider · August-03-10, 05:05 PM

Let's see...

1. his office wrote a letter in support of the injection well, only after his wife took the money. [[But he had no idea she was crooked!)

2. the taxpayers are on the hook for his wife's legal fees, despite the family income.

3. their son's private school tuition is paid for by someone looking for CoD work. Basically, he allowed his son to be pimped out by Monica.

4. as soon as the elections were done in November 2006, his demands for rightful investigations into the Bush actions suddenly vaporized into calls for "healing."

5. he voted to reauthorize the Patriot Act without any reforms in February of this year, despite all his protestations against the Act previously.

**Claire** · August-05-10, 09:54 PM

Please find someone to cruicify. John Conyers has done a wonderful job.

What has Rocky done? What has Snyder done? But you guys elected him?

**English** · August-05-10, 10:10 PM

Originally Posted by EastsideAl

OK, I'll bite. Here is a list of bills that John Conyers has sponsored or co-sponsored since the beginning of this year.

http://www.opencongress.org/people/b...yers#sponsored

As you can see from the numbers at the top, he rates in the top eighth of the House in bills sponsored and sponsored bills passed. He's been right in this range since the Democrats retook the House a couple of terms ago. Even though his party was out of power for many years and his politics, the politics of his district, and the rightward shift of his party have left him, and indeed much of urban black America, somewhat politically isolated for many years, he has remained a powerful presence in the House. Additionally, he's pushed for many decades for a lot of policies, such as single-payer universal health care for all, or ending our military invasions and occupations of other people's countries and cutting the defense budget in favor of more spending on the needs of actual citizens, that are extremely popular with his constituents and with his wing of the party in general, but have been shunted aside by the Democratic party bosses in recent years in pursuit of more corporate-donor-friendly positions.

Thank you for posting the facts. Your post is dead on. In the few years that I've been paying attention, Conyers has been all over the place, from [[perpetually) introducing single-payer health care legislation to attempting to investigate the Bush II administration. It was Pelosi who reined him in when he began to issue subpoenas left and right.

I've chatted with some older Detroiters about Conyers vs. Kilpatrick this week, and what I've been told is that no one really saw CCK much in her district... but Conyers is always around. I've run into him almost a half dozen times this calendar year alone, and I'm neither politically active nor live full time in the city. I'd be willing to bet that many of you have run into him too at various events around the city. And to be such a prominent political figure on the national scene, he's always been pretty approachable.

Conyers isn't exactly unpopular with movement liberals, either. Pelosi and Reid was/is the focus of much of their ire, along with Obama and Rahm Emanuel.

**Det_ard** · August-05-10, 10:58 PM

Originally Posted by English

Thank you for posting the facts. Your post is dead on. In the few years that I've been paying attention, Conyers has been all over the place, from [[perpetually) introducing single-payer health care legislation to attempting to investigate the Bush II administration. It was Pelosi who reined him in when he began to issue subpoenas left and right.

I've chatted with some older Detroiters about Conyers vs. Kilpatrick this week, and what I've been told is that no one really saw CCK much in her district... but Conyers is always around. I've run into him almost a half dozen times this calendar year alone, and I'm neither politically active nor live full time in the city. I'd be willing to bet that many of you have run into him too at various events around the city. And to be such a prominent political figure on the national scene, he's always been pretty approachable.

Conyers isn't exactly unpopular with movement liberals, either. Pelosi and Reid was/is the focus of much of their ire, along with Obama and Rahm Emanuel.

So he's out and about in Detroit all the time, but he had no idea what his wife was up to?!? I call BS on that.

**firstandten** · August-06-10, 12:18 AM

Originally Posted by EastSider

Let's see...

1. his office wrote a letter in support of the injection well, only after his wife took the money. [[But he had no idea she was crooked!)

2. the taxpayers are on the hook for his wife's legal fees, despite the family income.

3. their son's private school tuition is paid for by someone looking for CoD work. Basically, he allowed his son to be pimped out by Monica.

4. as soon as the elections were done in November 2006, his demands for rightful investigations into the Bush actions suddenly vaporized into calls for "healing."

5. he voted to reauthorize the Patriot Act without any reforms in February of this year, despite all his protestations against the Act previously.

I know where you're going with that Eastsider but it doesn't make a difference because Conyers introduced the bill to make the b-day of MLK a national holiday and when it didn't pass he pushed and pushed until he got it.

When he did that he became congressman- for- life.

So there you have it. He will be in that position until he retires or they carry him out feet first.

**Hypestyles** · September-08-11, 08:58 PM

.... looks like Conyers will "likely" run for the new 13th district next year.. but has there been any official press releases detailing the new districts in Michigan? I don't know if i've flipped districts yet or what..

DetroitPole · September-09-11, 05:48 AM

I know I rant here about Republicans all the time, but great job Dems. Keep the ancient, ineffectual party old guard in place and pit two young enthusiastic guys against each other. John Conyers seems completely senile and I'm not sure Dingell even knows what century it is, let alone if he even actually qualifies as medically "alive."

**Big Dog** · September-09-11, 08:45 AM

I seriously doubt it.

**rjk** · September-09-11, 09:22 AM

I heard a radio interview with Dingell about a year ago and he sounded terrible. If I didn't know better I would have thought someone from a nursing home called in. You couldn't help but feel bad for him.
I always thought he was very good for this area and especially the auto industry, but it was time to move on a while back.

**Detroitej72** · September-09-11, 09:32 AM

Now it looks like Sen. Bert Johnson will run against Conyers. John and Hanson Clark apparently will flip districts and Conyer's new one will include part of Oakland County where he'll likely face a Republican challenger as well. This might be an interesting campaign after all.

**bailey** · September-09-11, 10:09 AM

Originally Posted by English

Originally Posted by EastsideAl
OK, I'll bite. Here is a list of bills that John Conyers has sponsored or co-sponsored since the beginning of this year.

http://www.opencongress.org/people/b...yers#sponsored

As you can see from the numbers at the top, he rates in the top eighth of the House in bills sponsored and sponsored bills passed. He's been right in this range since the Democrats retook the House a couple of terms ago. Even though his party was out of power for many years and his politics, the politics of his district, and the rightward shift of his party have left him, and indeed much of urban black America, somewhat politically isolated for many years, he has remained a powerful presence in the House. Additionally, he's pushed for many decades for a lot of policies, such as single-payer universal health care for all, or ending our military invasions and occupations of other people's countries and cutting the defense budget in favor of more spending on the needs of actual citizens, that are extremely popular with his constituents and with his wing of the party in general, but have been shunted aside by the Democratic party bosses in recent years in pursuit of more corporate-donor-friendly positions.

Thank you for posting the facts. Your post is dead on. In the few years that I've been paying attention, Conyers has been all over the place, from [[perpetually) introducing single-payer health care legislation to attempting to investigate the Bush II administration. It was Pelosi who reined him in when he began to issue subpoenas left and right.

I've chatted with some older Detroiters about Conyers vs. Kilpatrick this week, and what I've been told is that no one really saw CCK much in her district... but Conyers is always around. I've run into him almost a half dozen times this calendar year alone, and I'm neither politically active nor live full time in the city. I'd be willing to bet that many of you have run into him too at various events around the city. And to be such a prominent political figure on the national scene, he's always been pretty approachable.

Conyers isn't exactly unpopular with movement liberals, either. Pelosi and Reid was/is the focus of much of their ire, along with Obama and Rahm Emanuel.

Um....ok. Dont at all disagree Conyers is the consummate politician and by that I mean he's managed to stay in congress without really doing anything and amazingly stayed in the closet this whole time....in and of itself, that's pretty amazing. But since we're looking at his career and the site above as support he was in any way effecutal. I noticed this was clearly overlooked from the page above regarding the most recent congress.

24 Sponsored Bills [[Ranks 8 of 440) 0 Made Into Law [[Ranks 8 of 440)262 Co-Sponsored Bills [[Ranks 22 of 440) 1 Made Into Law [[Ranks 11 of 440)

seems like he wastes an awful lot of time bringing or sponsoring bills that go nowhere. and along those lines, isn't he still introducing a "Reparations bill" every year?

At some point it's time to retire. The time for our two "lions" was about 10 years ago...at least.
So, of the 300 bills he either soley or co-sponsored ONE made it into law. wow. awesome record there. Could someone tell me what the one law it was out of 300 bills that was?

**EastsideAl** · September-09-11, 12:08 PM

I may agree with you that perhaps this redistricting, and the rise of new blood like Hansen Clarke, may have marked a good moment for John Conyers to step aside. But I don't think he should retire for the reasons you cite, because I think they're meaningless in the larger picture of what's going on in Congress and in US politics generally.

Given the fact that the nutballs seem to be fully in [[non-) control of the asylum, and are hell bent on obstructing everything, I doubt that many Democrats have much better numbers than Conyers in getting sponsored bills passed. Especially if they are anywhere near Conyers on the political spectrum - and if he wasn't there he wouldn't be fairly representing his constituency.

Of course, the biggest part of a representative's job is representing his constituency. You complain about Conyers' continued sponsorship of a reparations bill, but I would bet that a solid majority of his constituents' support his stance on that issue and are glad that he at least keeps it in the public debate, no matter how hopeless the cause may seem now. As someone points out above, Conyers kept pushing the MLK holiday, which many felt was a non-starter, from hopelessness until it passed into law.

In any event, with the wide divide in American politics not only between Democrats and Republicans, but also between primarily urban districts and suburban, exurban, and rural districts - even within the Democratic party - it is hard to see how any urban congressman can get much done right now. I'm not speaking here of just predominately black districts, but of urban districts in general. Most urban representatives seek a Democratic agenda that pushes towards a pro-active government that actually gives a %$@# about middle class, working class, and poor people. But with this agenda [[and urban America in general) highly out of favor elsewhere, and with a very moderate - some would even say right-leaning - Democrat in the White House, these representatives and their constituents have been effectively marginalized..