Conyers accused of ethics violations.

[mattclearing]

Anyone know the deal on this?

http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/030106/news2.html

[FreedomAngel82]

1. Oh please

Conyers???

[mattclearing]

2. I know. That's why I was shocked it hadn't come up in GD yet.

I had to search and then double-take. The article seems to indicate that this is old news. That's why I figured I'd ask my fellow DU'ers if they know the deal.

[FarLeftRage]

3. It's crap

See this:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2487203

[mattclearing]

4. Yeah, there's a wealth of information there.

:)

But seriously, is the stuff about having staffers campaign forbidden? Is politics banned from public offices entirely?

[FarLeftRage]

8. Don't know for sure

I'd have to a take a look into this first, to let you know more about it.

I would guess that it is unethical to let staffers campaign, but those bastard repuKKKes do it all the time...

[mattclearing]

11. DeLay sent his staffers to the Florida recount room to riot!

Fucker.

[wildbilln864]

5. Oh give me a break!

DeLay indicted for money laundering.

Conyers accused of having a staffer babysit 2 kids.

Duke Cunningham takes $2 M in bribes, is convicted and awating sentencing.

Conyers is accused with not paying a staffer's gas money to get to a campaign event.

DeLay attempts to bribe a member $100,000 in exchange for a vote. Is unbraided by the ethics committee.

Conyers is accused of having a staffer who did illegal activity, was charged and convicted and received jail time.

DeLay misused the FAA, and was unbraided by the Ethics Committee.

Conyers is accused of helping his wife win a political office. This allegation was from 2002. Why did the woman who is making the charge wait until 2006?

John Boehner passes out Tobacco checks on the House floor just before a vote on a tobacco issue.

Conyers is accused of having a staffer do legal work for a private client in her office at the congressional office building.

Rooks accuses her boss of telling her what he wanted done, and my goodness, you had to do what the boss asked for. Wow! How onerous!

I agree with Alma, we have your back.

[mattclearing]

7. Totally agreed.

I'm just wondering how bad this is on the ethical scale. Should we be concerned?

[msgadget]

6. First of all, let's not be like the conservatives we criticize and dismiss

allegations out of hand just because we like a guy. Second, at most it seems he's as high handed with his staff as most other long-term politicians. There's nothing about his votes, no bribes, nothin' like that but he's gotta clean up his office.

[mattclearing]

9. Thanks for this.

My thinking exactly.

I'm more interested in exactly what is unethical about these issues.

[BattyDem]

10. I was wondering when Rove would set his sights on Conyers

:eyes:

[mattclearing]

12. This doesn't really appear to have Rove's fingerprints on it.

Rove likes to manufacture stuff...this just looks like disgruntled former employees.

[peacetalksforall]

13. It looks like we're going to learn more about our government. Civics.

Looks like we're going to learn what staffers are supposed to do and not do and on what hours and at what compensation.

I hope these people are invited on corporate propanda networks so that we can read the body language and measure their indignation.

I think we should calculate the monetary damages and take a collection.

Personally, I frequently think about how hard he works for me, for us, for the preservation of the country.

[onenote]

14. here is a summary of the rules governing campaigning by staff

http://www.house.gov/ethicsreform/m_Campaign_Work_Staff.html

The following part appears to be where Conyers is alleged to have gone too far:

"As a general matter, when engaging in campaign activity, neither Members nor staff may make use of any congressional resources, including congressional office equipment, supplies, or files (including names or addresses contained in the files or official mailing lists). The rules on this point are detailed on pp. 7-20 of the Committee’s Campaign Activity booklet.

The prohibition against coercing or requiring staff member to do campaign work is broad. It forbids Members and senior staff from not only threatening or attempting to intimidate employees regarding doing campaign work, but also from directing or otherwise pressuring them to do such work. Members and superiors in a congressional office should be cautious in asking a staff member to do campaign work, as a request from a superior may be misunderstood to be an order."



onenote

[peacetalksforall]

16. That reminds me - do you remember the FL door-pounders -

young punks who descended on Dade Co and pounded on the door as if they were Dade residents demanding that the vote be stopped? Weren't some of them staffers?

[DURHAM D]

17. Yes - all of them. Plus they were flown there on airplanes

belonging to Enron.

[mattclearing]

15. Agreed.

It would be nice to know where this ranks with the rest of the ethics violations going on in the House.