A Conyers Con?
Break out the bubbly. There’s a politician willing to “accept responsibility.”
You’re thinking: “Huh? No!” But it’s true.
According to the House Ethics Committee, Representative John Conyers has “accepted responsibility” for “possibly” violating House rules by assigning campaign-related work to his official taxpayer-funded congressional staff.
Conyers, a 36-year Washington veteran, admits to a “lack of clarity” in communications with his staff about what was expected of them. He has agreed to do better from now on.
I think what we have here is a congressman who admits that he maybe accidentally gave his congressional staff marching orders to work on election campaigns, or something.
Perhaps. I sense a lack of clarity.
Possibly.
But I’m not sure.
The former aides who testified against Conyers indicate that there was no ambiguity about his demands that they work on election campaigns, and not just his own. And there’s a litany of allied charges that I can’t cram into my two minutes here. But we all know how ambiguous orders to get me elected in violation of nominal House rules can be.
Meantime, no one talks about banning franking privileges or other taxpayer-funded incumbent advantages enabling congressmen to run for re-election 24 hours a day. But at least Congressman Conyers is being made to pay, and dearly, for his own especially egregious displays of such abuse of power. All the world now knows that maybe perhaps the congressman’s instructions to staff were not completely clear. Possibly.
This is Common Sense . . . I think. I’m probably Paul Jacob.
