Conyers reimburses taxpayers for son's use of car

[Buy American]

How did Monica Conyers qualify for a court-appointed lawyer? John doesn't seem to be hurting for cash.

http://www.freep.com/article/2010122...urse-taxpayers

[ferntruth]

How did Monica Conyers qualify for a court-appointed lawyer? John doesn't seem to be hurting for cash.

http://www.freep.com/article/2010122...urse-taxpayers

John wasn't on trial, Monica was.
Not all couples combine finances - maybe that is the case here?

[Buy American]

John wasn't on trial, Monica was.
Not all couples combine finances - maybe that is the case here?

I don't know if that's true or not, but I know that any other couple would have to sell their house, empty their savings accounts, cash in CD's and sell their kids before the courts would allow them a "free" lawyer. Of course, the politicians always seem to be exempt from laws that us peons have to abide by.

[oldredfordette]

In other words, it doesn't matter that Conyers did the right thing.

[Buy American]

In other words, it doesn't matter that Conyers did the right thing.

The right thing? When did he do the right thing? His wife got a free lawyer and between the two of them they make at least $300,000 on paper.
There's a Cadillac Escalade, provided by the taxpayers, sitting in the driveway of her house in Detroit where the keys are available to a 20 year old son to take it. His reimbursing the taxpayers for the use of the car is all hype for people like you who believe he did the right thing.

[Zozo]

In other words, it doesn't matter that Conyers did the right thing.

He did the right thing, but anyone would be naive to think that this is the first time Conyers, Jr. took daddy's wheels for a spin. And if you think Conyers would be reimbursing taxpayers had what happened not happened you're just plain daffy.

[n7hn]

Once you are busted cheating folks, the "RIGHT THING" is just too late and not quite enough, ever.

[Buy American]

He got caught, that's the only reason Conyers is making this lame effort to reimburse the taxpayers.

[muskie1]

I am amazed that this is the type of vehicle he can drive and really not need it. I think if it can be left sitting idly there is really no need for our politicians to have such vehicles. They should drive retired cop cars, use the money saved to help fund emergency services.

[lpg]

So our congressman repaid the taxpayers with money he gets from the taxpayers. Correct ?

[Zacha341]

That's sounds about right! Getting caught is a great motivator.......

He got caught, that's the only reason Conyers is making this lame effort to reimburse the taxpayers.

[Zacha341]

Yep, that's the circle of life we could say......

So our congressman repaid the taxpayers with money he gets from the taxpayers. Correct ?

[CLAUDE G]

The fact the son drove the car doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that the tax payers are paying for a lease on a Cadillac Escallade.

Why does Mr. Conyers have to lease one of the most expensive cars GM makes? Can't he lease something that is reasonably priced, instead of getting one of the most expensive cars out there

[firstandten]

Its one of the perks of office. At least he got a hybrid

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/01/ny...cars.html?_r=3

[Buy American]

The fact the son drove the car doesn't bother me. What bothers me is that the tax payers are paying for a lease on a Cadillac Escallade.

Why does Mr. Conyers have to lease one of the most expensive cars GM makes? Can't he lease something that is reasonably priced, instead of getting one of the most expensive cars out there

It sure bothers me. I know a couple of DEA agents who can't even take their wife to the grocery store or drive someone to the airport in their car. If they are caught, there is quite an extensive punishment that goes along with it....this should include all Federal employees, not just the privileged few.
I also agree with you on why does he need a Cadillac Escalade. Another one of the larger perks if your name is Conyers.

[DetroitPole]

For him being such a man of the people, it has become clear to me that after however many decades Mr. Conyers has become one of the haves while I remain one of the have-nots in his city.

[Zacha341]

He represents the supreme 'party' of self-interest [[found amongst the dems as well as republicans), as part of the pampered elite he and others take their 'perks' for themselves and family as an entitlement while pretending to be down for the 'peeps'. I'm not buying the hype ---- !

For him being such a man of the people, it has become clear to me that after however many decades Mr. Conyers has become one of the haves while I remain one of the have-nots in his city.

[maxx]

I am amazed that this is the type of vehicle he can drive and really not need it. I think if it can be left sitting idly there is really no need for our politicians to have such vehicles.

Hey, he's helping out the U.S. car industry.lol

I noticed not many Republicans were mentioned in the article "What Would you Drive..."
They could have mentioned Joe Wilson's rationale for his leasing choice.
"...Wilson [R-SC] said the lease for the car – a Ford Escape hybrid – was $922 because congressional rules mandated more expensive two-year leases, which is the same as a congressional term. Wilson said he choose the car because he is a strong proponent of alternative fuels.

Read more: http://www.thestate.com/2010/10/25/1...#ixzz19FZnM5Y9

[Detroitnerd]

Oh, yeah. Conyers is totally misusing his office. He's a regular Tom DeLay.

Pffft. Whatever...

And if you think he and Monica are real cozy and share everything, you just have no idea what you're talking about. She's his Phyllis Gates and their kids are beard children. Get it now? Sheesh ...

[Original63]

This is the so irrelevant I could care less about if some kid drove his fathers work car and got it broken into. This is not the type of criminal activity I had in mind for the media follow up with a series. maybe we can find out from someone why did Synagro and it's parent company The Carlyle Group put millions of Dollars into accounts for bribery.

No corporation has an unaccounted for cash account unless its for the purpose of cash payouts.[[Bribes)

[kenp]

This is the so irrelevant I could care less about if some kid drove his fathers work car and got it broken into. This is not the type of criminal activity I had in mind for the media follow up with a series. )

KK banging Christine Beatty was irrelevant as well but look were we are now.

[Kevgoblue]

KK banging Christine Beatty was irrelevant as well but look were we are now.

The sun, moon and stars happened to be aligned when the news broke the story of the high school sweethearts ongoing relationship. It's very improbable that one could have imagined the outcome from that investigation. Still, it was headline news that Kwame and Christine met at the Red Roof Inn for an evening of bumping uglies.

But as Original63 said, the Synagro and Carlyle Group bribery issue certainly seemed to be given a free pass. I guess it's just a reflection of our government's priorities. Let's give Carlyle a free pass. Never mind the multinational corporation with ties to George [[H.W. and W.) Bush and Jim Baker and how much Federal monies they received after 9-11. Never mind the $16B their Capital Division defaulted on in the subprime mortgage fiasco. Lets ignore them.
But instead lets go, both barrels blazing, after Sam Riddle for bribery. Regardless to the fact that he neither supplied the monies, nor had the abilty to cast votes. Synagro is handing out envelopes of cash in an effort to "win" a billion dollar contract, but when the shit hits the fan the press is focused on Sam Riddle and Monica Conyers. I'm not implying that they're not entrenched in the whole thing, but they're small fish. Those conspiring to bribe government officials get a pass and the 2 people guarenteed to look like an assclown when the cameras start rolling take the fall.

Can we stay focused on the big important issues? What type of revelations would we find if the business practices of these large coprporations was given a quarter of the time and attention that we expend on the philandering lifestyles of our 30-something local officals?

[usa1]

Yea, John Conyers did the right thing after he was caught! Just another blood sucking politician that we, the taxpayers, pay for his Cadillac.

[milesdriven]

I could care less that his son took the truck to the club, I'm more upset that we're paying for a lease on an Escalade when it isn't necessary. I think they should all get a Ford Focus with a 5-speed, unless they are disabled in which case they can have an automatic.

[ragnarok1981]

Conyers has that Escalade because he is required to either drive a hybrid or a flex fuel vehicle. That being said I see no reason why any member of congress should have anything more luxurious than a 89 ford tempo. If they want something fancy then they should pay for it themselves otherwise they should be driving a plain standard issue car.
John Conyers has a much bigger problem to think about in terms of his son and his wild behavior. Clearly there was little if any parental supervision going on in the household and it has resulted in a young adult acting like a spoiled brat. MLive.com had a great piece where they found the photostream that the son had posted to plixi.com His photos certainly imply that he drinks quite a bit and he is underaged. Besides the obvious issue of his son drinking underage there is the interesting part that his drink of choice is Champagne. In a city like Detroit where people are hurting and struggling to make ends meat this kind of action smacks of Marie Antoinette saying "let them eat cake". To make matters worse the son seems to have plans for following in his fathers foot steps and going into politics. Honestly I cannot think of anything more revolting than the idea of another Conyers in public office even if it was just an office in charge of janitorial services [[no disrespect to the janitors).
The whole Conyers family mess shows that he has been way too comfy in his seat and never worries about his actions or those of his family ruining his career. It is really sad that a majority of people in his district will simply vote for him because they always have voted for him and not because of what he has been doing for them. There is a saying that Diapers and Politicians are a lot alike because they are both full of the same thing and should be changed often. John Conyers has gone from being a champion of Detroit to a prime example of what has gone wrong with it.
I would also like to point out another issue he will have to deal with that could be technically even worse than his son driving the "company car". As a neighbor of the Conyers I heard from another one of our neighbors that when they had a tech expert out to install a wireless network in the house he told them that from what he could see all the nearby networks were quite secure except for one that was wide open and anyone could access it. That network belonged to the Conyers family. That means that if Conyers were to take any kind of work home that he would use a computer with that anyone could then have access to it. But I doubt he even cares enough to do anything about it.