The NYT reports.
“After careful consideration and in light of the attention drawn by recent allegations made against me,” Mr. Conyers said in a statement on Sunday, he is stepping aside on the Judiciary panel “during the investigation of these matters.... “I deny these allegations, many of which were raised by documents reportedly paid for by a partisan alt-right blogger,” Mr. Conyers said in the statement. “I very much look forward to vindicating myself and my family before the House Committee on Ethics.”...
What's important — beyond the Conyers resignation — is changing the procedures in Congress and disclosing the suppressed settlements that taxpayer money funded. On
"Meet the Press" today, there was some attention to this issue:
CHUCK TODD: [Conyers] took advantage of a situation where he had a - the rules of Congress and I know you guys want to change these rules, but he got to hide his settlement, he got to - his accusers had to go through all sorts of craziness, so why is he entitled to new due process in this case?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: No, I I - we are talking about what we have heard. I’ve asked the Ethics Committee to review that. He has said he’d be open - he will cooperate with any review....
CHUCK TODD: Will you support Congress retroactively making public all of these private settlements that taxpayer dollars have been used?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: Not necessarily. Sometimes the victim does not want that to happen.
CHUCK TODD: But if the victim wants it public, will you side with the victim?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: What I have-- yes. But what I--
CHUCK TODD: 100%?
REP. NANCY PELOSI: Well, here's the thing. It's really important. Because there is a question as to whether the Ethics Committee can get testimony if you have signed a nondisclosure agreement. We're saying we think the Ethics Committee can, but if you don't agree, we'll pass a law that says the Ethics Committee can, a resolution in Congress that the Ethics Committee can.... But there's no-- I don't want anybody thinking there's any challenge here to our changing the law and see how people-- when we know more about the individual cases. Well, because you know what our biggest strength is? Due process that protects the rights of the victim, so that, whatever the outcome is, everybody knows that there was due process....
That's some mind-numbing babble from Pelosi! Keep up the pressure to break those nondisclosure agreements! We the taxpayers were left out of the loop as these secret, self-serving agreements were made. Protect the victim's privacy, sure, but shine a light on the machinations of the members.
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76 comments:
The Left is hopelessly dishonest and hypocritical on this issue. If it's a Republican, resign now! If it's a Demcrat, well, we have to ensure due process, blah, blah, blah
It means lefties have done the math and it doesn't favor them...
Just void the NDAs. Victims don't get privacy though. Public or nothing.
How in the world is Conyers going to vidicate his family? His wife went to prison for corruption- ripping off the minority citizens of Detroit!!
I suppose we can ask Bob Packwood for his take. IIRC, he was forced out of the Senate — during Bill Clinton’s presidency, no less! — for a lot less than Conyers stands accused of.
Title IX kangaroo courts for congress males.
And he's only stepping aside during the "investigation"! He's not stepping down forever. What a bunch of malarky!
One of the options for a misbehaving boss is take the matter to his boss. Or his mother, or his wife.
Don't fall for a veil of modesty in the matter.
Some protector of women. Yes, the Party of/for/by Women is throwing them under the sexual harassment bus.
54 years in the House is a surfeit of his virtue signaling. He walked with King! How long before the citizens take responsibility for their poor choices?
Will Pelosi get called out for her gibberish?
Nancy Pelosi is not the Speaker of the House. Why isn't Paul Ryan answering these questions about how the House will make public these settlements? If the Republicans want to shine the light on this, they have the votes to do so.
"Well, because you know what our biggest strength is?"
Let's all say it together! DIVERSITY!
So if I understand, Congress isn't allowed to know what Congress spent money on because it signed a non-disclosure disagreement when it spent it.
This is like the FBI letting the informant out of his NDA so he could testify to Congress. The government should not be able to use civil contracts to hide information from itself.
The whole thing is corrupt from top to bottom and my biggest fear about Roy Moore isn't that he'll detract from the dignity of the office but that he'll fit in all too well.
It's a sexual reign of terror in the workplace, brought on by a false mythology of feminine innocence.
Female chauvinist pigs colluding with male chauvinist pigs.
I would expect Inga to have nothing to say about this at all.
Because inga is every bit as "principled" on this issue as every other democrat.
Noooooo. Since WE THE PEOPLE pay the bill then WE THE PEOPLE are part of the lawsuit. Therefore no 'Non-disclosure' if the government pays the bill. If the official pays it themselves, sure, but NOT if the PEOPLE pay the bill.
Simple as that.
Evil hates the light... so let's light it up!
Franken was the leading agent of molestation in privacy, including at least one unconscious women.
Liberalism (i.e. divergent morality) gave us the sexual revolution that normalzied "friendship with benefits" a.k.a. "casting couch" relationships.
The privacy regime demanded by female chauvinist pigs to deny lives they deem unworthy, inconvenient, or profitable has progressive consequences.
The diversity doctrine (i.e. institutional racism, sexism) is another means by which democracy dies in darkness.
Then there is political congruence ("=") that gives weighted advantage to individuals based on Democratically preferred classes.
It's not going to stand. We are going to open up those records, with victims' names redacted if necessary, and find out which Congresspersons were accused of what. Go ahead and vote against it, people in Congress. We'll know why.
This is going to be bipartisan, with each party dividing into two groups. Popcorn.
It's one thing to fling a former POTUS or FLOTUS under the bus, but another so to fling someone who still has his uses. No point pissing off his constituency for the sake of a current fashion.
Pelosi did have a problem today: Conyers is an "icon". What she means is that he is black. She can't call for anything to happen to him. That's today's Democratic Party.
Good! Protecting the rights of the victims can be achieved while at the same time publishing the names of the perps.
I know I'm repeating myself, but at the hospital where I work, these kinds of things get fiercely stamped out. We have a humorless HR department and no one could get away with it.
Don't believe people who say that all men are doing these things. We wouldn't dare.
I want industries like Hollywood and Washington DC to be put on the same footing. If people want to be jerks let them do it on their own time. Use your office to do it and lose your job.
That's some mind-numbing babble from Pelosi!
It was glorious. She outdid herself.
Diversity on this one big guy.
Next I want Congress to have to live with Affirmative Consent laws.
I want Congress to have to do a test run of all the laws that lawmakers want to foist on us.
Wasn't Pelosi just tearing into Betsy DeVos because DeVos wanted to give sex assault defendants due process.
Ah here it is:House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called DeVos’ policy “an alarming reminder of the White House’s dismissive and cruel attitude toward survivors and students.”
And they call us deplorable. Pelosi is absolute trash.
I think it's likely that there was an extra year's pay sitting on the table waiting to be picked up by any congressional employee who was 1) terminated or disciplined, 2) a member of a preferred group, 3) willing to go through the motions of filing a discrimination complaint, and 4) willing to keep quiet about it.
The NDA's were part of that process, a part that made it easier to get a settlement (even when the complaint was bogus) and revoking them after the fact would be unjust to both sides.
Start fresh with a no-NDA rule but the previous agreements should stand. Rules is rules and them's the rules that were in effect at the time.
What blather! We don’t want the names of the victims, we just want to know how our money was spent.
Just tell us who tapped into the fund, how many times, and for what amounts.
“Just tell us who tapped into the fund, how many times, and for what amounts.”
THIS.
Oh crap, extra line breaks...
It means lefties have done the math and it doesn't favor them.
My thoughts exactly. And as a conservative, no penny should ever come out of any taxpayer's pocket to pay any of these settlements, regardless of the accuser, the accused, or the party(s) involved.
Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution, grants the federal government of the United States its power of taxation. While authorizing Congress to levy taxes, this clause permits the levying of taxes for two purposes only: to pay the debts of the United States, and to provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States. Payouts to cover up for perverts is not included.
If it wasn't for mind-numbing babble, Nancy wouldn't have anything to say. Also, Franken will never step down, and also, also, Hillary is running for POTUS in 2020.
What Kevin said.
Democrats give women and children what they want. Good and hard and often.
OCC breakdown of Harassment Settlements through the years.
2002 and 2007 especially bad years.
Everything from Pelosi is 'mind-numbing babble'.
Term limits, please. I would make very high educational requirements for elected office, especially for the presidency. That way, no George W. Bush or Donald Trump could ever be elected again with the concomitant tragedy. If a persona is self-taught instead of formally educated, let's see what he or she has taught herself. How to hunt for deer at dusk with a pistol and kill your neighbor in the process, who was out on a walk with her dogs after work, doesn't qualify.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/26/nyregion/hunter-shot-woman.html?_r=0
Conyers is a dim-witted, slow-talking, stupid POS, married to an outright felonious racist. He's an embarrassment to diversity, Democrats, and the USA. Detroit, however, is proud of him.
"Term limits, please. I would make very high educational requirements for elected office, especially for the presidency. That way, no George W. Bush or Donald Trump could ever be elected again with the concomitant tragedy. "
Al Gore failed law divinity school (making him one of only two non-lawyers on a major Democrat presidential ticket since Carter), and his grades were worse than Bush's.
Bush's grades at Yale were better than Kerry's too.
And I'm sure you think everyone would be impressed by Obama's grades, which is of course why they are a more tightly kept secret than, well, anything else in history I can think of.
In a private business, if a superviser harrasses an employee, the company may have to pay, because the business placed the superviser in the position to commit the harrassment. But the business can fire the offending superviser. In the case of harrassment by a Congresscritter, the federal government didn't hire him (or her), the good voters of the district did. And the federal government can't fire him/her. I would favor a law under which NO FEDERAL MONEY can be used to pay judgments or settlements for such misbehavior. The perpetrator should be solely responsible for his/her misbehavior (I don't think the Speech or Debate Clause applies here). If the victim wants compensation, she/he should sue the perpetrator. If the perp has been around for several terms, he/she probably has pretty deep pockets.
Rabel said...
I think it's likely that there was an extra year's pay sitting on the table waiting to be picked up by any congressional employee who was 1) terminated or disciplined, 2) a member of a preferred group, 3) willing to go through the motions of filing a discrimination complaint, and 4) willing to keep quiet about it.
------------------
That's very true. Anybody in a position to fire people knows that lots of people are on the verge of filing false/iffy claims for the extra money it brings.
"In a private business, if a superviser harrasses an employee, the company may have to pay, because the business placed the superviser in the position to commit the harrassment. But the business can fire the offending superviser. In the case of harrassment by a Congresscritter, the federal government didn't hire him (or her), the good voters of the district did. And the federal government can't fire him/her...."
Each house of Congress has the power to expel one of its members. It takes a 2/3 vote, but they can do it.
Wiki: In the entire history of the United States Congress, 20 Members have been expelled: 15 from the Senate and 5 from the House of Representatives (of those, 1 member's expulsion, William K. Sebastian of Arkansas, was posthumously reversed). 19 of the 20 expulsions involved a member of the Democratic Party, with the only exception pre-dating the founding of the modern political parties.
Heh.
Pretty sure there are more scandals like this one in the halls of Congress. Too bad there's not a working press corp in DC.
"Each house of Congress has the power to expel one of its members. It takes a 2/3 vote, but they can do it."
Like that is going to happen to a democrat. They have apologized. That is good enough. Trump apologized, but unless he admits guilt it is not good enough. If he admits guilt then impeach him.
A question for Democrats. How much did you get for your soul? I'm not using mine, and I want to know the going rate.
I don't buy that horsing around at work is a problem. It's interpersonal relations. Work it out in traditional ways. Everybody doesn't have to work it out the same say. That's how it manages to work for everybody.
It's just a moral panic, which the country is prone to these days.
That means that it's entertainment.
Taking the ol' wild-eye guess here, but I'm gonna guess that there are more Democrat names of that secret list than GOPers.
Rabel said...
"Start fresh with a no-NDA rule but the previous agreements should stand. Rules is rules and them's the rules that were in effect at the time."
The NDA is between two parties, the one paying the settlement, and the one receiving it. It is adverse against everyone else. Therefore, if those two parties are willing that it should be abrogated, there is no party with standing to keep it in force.
Put another way, an NDA is a contractual right to sue for disclosure. The holder of that right, which in this case is the federal government, is at liberty to renounce it at any time.
Rabel said...
(of those, 1 member's expulsion, William K. Sebastian of Arkansas, was posthumously reversed).
You suppose he learned anything from that?
Mind numbing babble. That's what Nancy does best---well maybe second best after fund raising for the Dims, which is why this old harridan has kept her leadership position.
OTOH, I suspect that if Congress passed a law so we could see what is in Nancy's brain (to paraphrase one of her idiotic statements) I suspect that when her skull was cracked open we'd only discover a vast left wing vacuum.
Conyers' resignation as Ranking Member is such an easy, no-brainer of an "out" for Dems. A sizable part of the caucus wanted Conyers out of that position (and in a perilous place to embarrass his party) more than a year ago. And it had little if anything to do with any sex harassment stories. Everybody who has known Conyers closely over the years has a story (or several) of Conyers failing to show up without explanation; wearing his pajamas; appearing incoherent; drug use; federal corruption charges in his family; etc., etc.
Jerry Nadler has openly wanted to oust Conyers for years.
Nobody cares about Conyers' seat; that is a guaranteed vote for the (D) caucus. He's a placeholder. But the possible Chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee is a prize of real rarity. That's all that Dems wanted from Conyers.
And of course a big problem that made this result inevitable is that Conyers simply doesn't have the cognitive ability to defend himself anymore. He's demented. I have to believe that this news story with Conyers is more likely to have been timed by a Democrat than a Republican.
Conyers knows all the other dems that pull this stuff.
Thats why Nancy and Inga and the rest of the hypocrites wont be calling for his expulsion.
Nope. What the dems have to have is an "ethics investigation" that takes about 3.2 more years to ccomplete its work.
For obvious reasons.
Naturally pelosi and crew know they can count on the voice-actuated automatons on the left like Inga as well as their "lifelong republican" allies to play along.
Conyers should resign and if he refuses he should be expelled. Sorry Drago, you’re batting 0.
Drago isn't this one of those pages where your incessant shit-headedness becomes clear for all to see?
I'm not defending a single Democrat on this story. Conyers is an incompetent. Pelosi's parsing of Conyers is an embarrassment. The Dems just wanted Conyers out of his Judiciary status for their own benefit and convenience.
And yet isn't this where you accuse me of being a closet Dem supporter? Some sort of liberal enabler?
Conyers refuses to resign and the dems wont make him.
Someone is batting zero alright.
Pelosi couldnt even PRETEND to apply pressure to another of the Lefts beloved ICONS!
An Icon!
Yes, thats what the "principled" lefties and their LLR allies call Conyers! After all, all he did was harrass multiple women over many years and "greet" liberal female lobbyists in his underwear!
Gee, I wonder where a leftist like conyers would get the idea that lefty gals like Inga would never hold him to account? Its like he knows them too well.
In other "Inga batting zero" news, Franken isnt going anywhere either! Why should he? He knows the lefties like Inga are hust lying about their brand spanking new and "evolved" positions!
So many dems calling your bluff Inga! What are you going to do about it?
Lol
"Therefore, if those two parties are willing that it should be abrogated, there is no party with standing to keep it in force."
I didn't mean that the agreements couldn't be abrogated - I meant that they shouldn't be. It's a matter of principle.
"bowe bergdahl republican" Chuck: "And yet isn't this where you accuse me of being a closet Dem supporter?"
I have never accused you of any such thing.
Drago’s not having a good evening.
Inga: "Drago’s not having a good evening."
Fantastic evening.
Pelosi just buried the liars on the left, like you, that pretend certain behaviors and accusations require immediate action.
Interestingly, I saw quite a few dems/lefties today, fearing what Conyers might say, begin to play the -Conyers is a lunatic/senile guy-card.
Like the dems/lefties/Clintons were beginning to pull on Monica until the blue dress showed up.
And wouldn't you know it? LLR Chuck pops by with the precise same talking points as all the dems!
Wow. I did not see that one coming!
LOL
So, lets summarize shall we?
Inga and lefties pretend to be so super-duper outrageously outraged at republicans (to hide their culpability for decades of enabling abusers).
And then, right in the middle of this new "war on women" meme, good old Franken pops up (he STILL has not denied the accusations by the way!) along with "I like to feel the breeze on my "guys" during lobbyist meetings" Conyers and the entire left has to contort itself, once again, into a moebius-strip of non-logic to simultaneously defend the dem culprits all the while continuing to portray themselves as "caring".
LOL
Pelosi's performance this morning was as big a magnificent failure as we've seen in a long time.
Even called him an ICON!
I guess you can be called a Sexual Harassment Dem Icon if you keep the number of your victims below the century mark!
So, Inga, where are all the marches demanding the removal of Franken and Conyers?
LOL
As if.
Gotta give the Con-man credit for sourcing Hoes from Detroit on occasion.
AKA keeping in touch with his constituency...
Franken "allegedly" grabbing ass while the husband was taking the pic took a lot of balls..or brain altering substances.
Drago you nasty worthless piece of shit.
The day that this story broke, I said the same thing about this story that I am saying now. I didn't wait for any Democrat talking points. And I am not doing the Dems any favors now. I am saying that Conyers' Judiciary resignation is a gold-plated favor to his party. I don't see any Democrats calling out Conyers as an incompetent, however. I am the one doing that. Dem leadership is trying to take (false) credit for their being more principled than their Republican opponents. And I say that is baloney; I am not helping the Dems, and I just want to emphasize that in order to run down Drago's idiotic constant mythologizing about me. People here who actuallt read my comments with more than a couple of brain cells to rub together ought to be able to figure it out.
If anybody is still reading your myopic and paranoid ramblings about me on this blog and accepting them, Drago, then shame on them all along with you.
HOURS ABOVE I proposed that a law be enacted under which NO FEDERAL MONEY can be used to pay judgments or settlements for such misbehavior by Congresscritters. The perpetrator should be solely responsible for his/her misbehavior. If the victim wants compensation, she/he should sue the perpetrator. If the perp has been around for several terms, he/she probably has pretty deep pockets. No one has offered any reason why this isn't a good way to address this issue.
Unknown said...
Conyers should resign and if he refuses he should be expelled. Sorry Drago, you’re batting 0.
Says someone who voted for a rapist twice and recently voted for the woman who attacked and intimidated his victims.
"Accidental Leftist" Chuck: "Drago you nasty worthless piece of shit"
Words LLR Chuck would never use to describe any leftist/dem anywhere at anytime.
LLR Chuck: "People here who actuallt read my comments with more than a couple of brain cells to rub together ought to be able to figure it out."
Oh, they have. Don't worry about that.
But hey, on the bright side, just like Bowe Bergdahl, you've got lots and lots and lots of lefty commentators approving of your "performance", day in and day out.
"Accidentally"
BTW, I'll take your last few comments as an admission that you falsely stated that I had called you a "secret democrat" (8:05pm)
If I had ever done so, then by now you would have cited it.
In the future, when you are exposed as falsely asserting something, your credibility would take less of a hit (not that it matters now, of course) if you would acknowledge the error before "moving on".
The Inga's of the world hope Susan Sarandon is raped
"I got from Hillary people ‘I hope your crotch is grabbed’, ‘I hope you’re raped’. Misogynistic attacks."
These people are haters. They don't believe a thing they say and are only concerned with gaining power over others.
Drago and Chuck,
Get a room.
She forgot to use the shabby IRS argument that taxpayer privacy laws protect corrupted government officials from scrutiny in carrying out - or rather in not properly carrying out - their duties. Better get a consult from Lerner.
Walter, you are always free to excuse yourself.
I wrote about this a few days ago- it is harder for a Republican to keep such behavior secret given the political leanings of the D.C. press corpse (yes I know), so I would expect that new revelations about past/present behavior from House and Senate members is going to be over-represented by Democrats. It is a simple fact of political life in D.C.
I know a lot of the stories today floating around are about present members, but there are few I expect to find in past members- I wouldn't be surprised to find Handsy Joe Biden on that list.
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