Well, I'm certainly fooled by the suddenness of this 'early retirement'. It wouldn't have anything to do with keeping his hands off yet still another woman...in church of all places? Guess he's trying to preserve his legacy by affirming resigning is actually early retirement. In other words, he wants to change history, doesn't want a blemish on his record.
Let's check Wikipedia:
Oops...too late.
Meanwhile back on the ranch:
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Facing a surge of pressure from his fellow Democrats, Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) stepped down from Congress on Tuesday over mounting allegations of sexual harassment, marking an extraordinary fall for the longest-serving member of Congress.
Speaking to a local radio station, the 88-year-old Conyers was defiant in both maintaining his innocence and defending a legacy he insisted “can’t be compromised or diminished.”
Translation:
I'm untouchable...Godlike because I walked with MLK.
“This too shall pass,” Conyers told radio host Mildred Gaddis. “And I want you to know that my legacy will continue through my children.”
Sounds quite a bit like Kim Jung-il passing the baton to Kim Jung-un doesn't it? You know, he's right though. Because in his district you are measured by the color of your skin not the content of your character.
Aiming to help that process along, Conyers endorsed his son, John Conyers III, to replace him, setting up a potential Conyers-family showdown for the seat, as the lawmaker’s great-nephew, Ian Conyers, told The New York Times recently that he also plans to enter the race.
Conyers’s remarks — at times rambling and ambiguous — led to some initial confusion about his immediate intentions. Prodded by Gaddis, he finally revealed that he’s “retiring today.” His office clarified that Conyers is vacating the seat, effective Tuesday, and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) went to the House floor Tuesday morning to read a letter from Conyers, in which he lamented "not being afforded the right of due process" while citing his declining health — but not the harassment charges — for why he is retiring.
"I recognize that in this present environment, due process will not be afforded to me," Jackson Lee read aloud.
The rapid turn of events led to a semantical debate about whether Conyers’s exit should be deemed an early retirement or a resignation.
“That’s resigning,” said a Democratic aide.
The decision marks a victory for Democratic Leaders, particularly House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who have been walking a fine line between fighting on behalf of the harassment accusers while also arguing the need to ensure due process for the accused.
Publicly, Democratic leaders had maintained that Conyers’s fate should hinge on the outcome of an Ethics Committee investigation launched in the immediate wake of the allegations, and Pelosi had initially defended Conyers while casting doubt on his accusers. After heavy criticism, Pelosi changed her tune, and last Thursday she called publicly for his resignation.
“Zero tolerance means consequences — for everyone,” Pelosi said. “No matter how great the legacy, it’s no license to harass or discriminate.”
Pelosi’s announcement broke a dam of silence among a long list of Democrats who had also wanted Conyers out, but were nonetheless arguing publicly that he should be afforded rights of defense before the Ethics Committee.
A blizzard of statements followed Pelosi’s lead, with top Democrats including Reps. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) and Ben Ray Lujan (N.M.) all joining Pelosi in urging Conyers to resign.
Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), the third-ranking House Democrat and a senior member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), had privately urged Conyers to resign even before Pelosi’s announcement.
“I spoke to him, and I said to him — and I’m going to tell you like I said it to him — ’I do not think this thing is going to get any better. In fact, I think it’s going to get worse. And I think it’s in everybody’s best interest if you were to step aside,’” Clyburn told The Hill recently.
In the eyes of Conyers’s defenders, however, the calls for resignation employed a double standard, since most of his Democratic critics have declined to endorse the same punishment for Sen. Al Franken, a Minnesota Democrat facing his own string of sexual harassment allegations going back more than a decade.
By congressional standards, Conyers’s fall came swiftly. But in the eyes of the Democratic leaders scrambling to mitigate the political fallout and shift the discussion back to the Republicans’ tax bill, it was a tortuous 14 days of mixed messages and ever-growing desperation to push him out.
Allegations first emerged as part of a Nov. 20 BuzzFeed News report revealing that Conyers had paid out a $27,000, taxpayer-funded sexual harassment settlement in 2015 to a former staffer who said she was fired because she refused the congressman’s sexual advances.
Other former employees also alleged that Conyers made requests for sexual favors, inappropriately touched staffers and used congressional resources to transport women, with whom they believed Conyers was having affairs.
Attorney Lisa Bloom on Monday revealed the allegations of another accuser, Elisa Grubbs, who said in an affidavit that Conyers touched her inappropriately in a church while she was working for him. She also alleged that Conyers exposed himself to her in his home in a separate incident. Grubbs notes in the affidavit that she is the cousin of another John Conyers accuser, Marion Brown, and says she saw Conyers touch Brown inappropriately.
Conyers’s decision to bow out marks an ignominious end for the iconic Detroit lawmaker, a veteran of the Korean War who’s served under 10 different presidents and voted on some of the most significant legislation of the last century, including the creation of Medicare, the Civil Rights Act, the Clean Water Act and ObamaCare. Along the way, he helped found the Black Caucus, and rose to become chairman of the House Oversight Committee from 1989 to 2005, and later chaired the Judiciary Committee for two terms beginning in 2007.
Conyers’s’ exit leaves a vacancy for the top Democratic spot on the Judiciary panel, setting the stage for a fierce battle to fill the seat. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), who sat just below Conyers on the panel, had assumed the role of acting ranking member. But Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), who’s next in line behind Nadler, told fellow Democrats last week that she intends to challenge Nadler for the post.
Lofgren might not be alone. Jackson Lee, who sits right behind Lofgren on the panel, said recently that she's not ruling out a bid in the event the seat is vacated.
“Stay tuned … for further opportunities,” she said before Conyer’s announcement.
Nadler on Tuesday praised Conyers' achievements in Congress, but called for zero tolerance when it comes to sexual misconduct.
"John has been a champion for justice his entire life, and there is no doubt that these allegations have taken a tremendous toll on him personally, as well as on his family and on everyone that knows him,” he said in a statement.
“With that said, there can be no tolerance for behavior that subjects women to the kind of conduct that has been alleged.”
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