John Conyers - United States
Congressman John Conyers, Jr.
2005 Person of the Year
www.tvnewslies.org/
He is not a boisterous man at all. On the contrary, he's soft
spoken, rather thoughtful, and quietly direct. Chances are, if
you didn't know who he was, you'd never in a million years have
him pegged for a politician. Chances are even greater that you'd
never guess that John Conyers was as fierce a fighter for his
nation as they come.
As a class, members of Congress aren't
doing too well nowadays. As a class, they are not held in very
high regard by large numbers of Americans. As a class, they have
failed to earn the respect or trust of their constituents. And
as a class, the men and women who represent us in Washington,
DC, have done little or nothing to gain our approval.
How fortunate, then, that John Conyers
is in a class by himself.
And how proud we are to name Representative
John Conyers, Jr. our 2005 Person of the Year!
No, John Conyers is not entirely alone.
The US Congress currently is graced by a handful of very special
and very honorable legislators who have worked diligently and
bravely in very difficult times. This small group of Senators
and Representatives has been distinguished by their independence,
their courage, and their refusal to be silenced.
In the company of that small, yet resolute
group of stalwart colleagues, John Conyers has risen to the top.
We believe that he has proved himself as a most distinguished
and indefatigable leader and a tireless and intrepid fighter against
the abuses of power by the present administration. In that role,
we believe that John Conyers, in his dignified and determined
way, also has become the voice of the people.
John Conyers has served the people of
Detroit's 14th District with distinction for nineteen consecutive
terms. Presently, he serves as Dean to the Congressional Black
Caucus, which he helped to organize in 1969. Mr. Conyers also
is the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
For more than 39 years John Conyers has
fought to improve the lives of the working people he has represented.
His struggles for a higher minimum wage, for safety standards
at the workplace, and for affordable health care are well documented.
He also has worked arduously to protect the rights of women and
other minorities in this country.
John Conyers has never remained silent
in the face of wrongdoing. But his dedication to his country faced
a serious challenge after 9/11, when all Americans were being
pressured to refrain from criticizing their government. From that
day to this, lawmakers have been expected to show their patriotism
by rubber stamping the policies of the Bush administration.
Not so, this man of honor. John Conyers
would not be intimidated or stifled at a time when so many other
legislators rolled over and played dead and when so much needed
to be challenged. Along with the few people in Congress who shared
his strength and conviction, John Conyers took on the United States
government.
He has kept vital issues before the American
public that few people would even dare to acknowledge, and that
otherwise might have disappeared in the haze of political distraction.
In his measured and calming way, John Conyers has chosen to fight
back rather than capitulate to the pressures and powers that have
turned so many in Congress into shameful sycophants.
At TVNL, we view 2005 as John Conyers'
crowning year. We chose to highlight only three of his many activities
during this year to illustrate Mr. Conyers' unique contribution
to the democratic ideals of this nation. Each endeavor involved
an issue of major relevance to the lives of the American people,
and each issue was in grave danger of being swept aside in the
post 9/11 reign of terror.
In the year 2005, John Conyers has been
the leading force behind each of the following:
0. Exposing Election Fraud in the Ohio__As
early as January of 2005, John Conyers challenged Congress to
fix what he saw to be a broken election system. Citing voting
irregularities in many Ohio counties, he called for, "true
bipartisan hearings to get to the bottom of what went wrong in
Ohio and the nation on election day."__That same month, Mr.
Conyers asked the Democratic staff of the House Judiciary Committee
to conduct an investigation into irregularities reported in the
Ohio presidential election. The resulting Status Report, titled
What Went Wrong in Ohio, included detailed findings about the
election process and offered a legal analysis of the egregious
violations and irregularities that "disenfranchised hundreds
of thousands of Ohio citizens."__The report was a damning
indictment of voting and tallying procedures in the very state
that determined the outcome of the 2004 presidential election.
It was prepared before the Electoral College met to cast its deciding
votes, but in the end, to no one's great surprise, the report
had little effect on the eventual outcome.__The travesty in Ohio,
largely ignored by the media, has faded from public view. Still,
the work of John Conyers and his staff stands as a precedent in
American history. Thanks to their diligence there is now a document
whose recommendations for reform can act as a guide for all future
elections. __What Went Wrong in Ohio, now in book form, has alerted
millions of Americans to the abuses of electronic voting machines
and the illegal acts of election officials. Mr. Conyers' efforts
may prove to be invaluable in restoring integrity to the American
election process._
0.
0. Holding the Downing Street Hearings:__In June of 2005, John
Conyers took on the US government and its complicit media lapdogs.
For weeks, a media blackout had suppressed any serious coverage
of the so-called Downing Street Minutes that implicated both George
Bush and Tony Blair in a pre-war plot to sell their plans to invade
Iraq. John Conyers took it upon himself to hold an extraordinary
public hearing that would offer evidence of the Bush administration's
"efforts to cook the books on pre-war intelligence. __The
Downing Street Minutes had been published weeks before in the
foreign press, yet the news media in the US paid little attention
to the story or its importance. Despite being relegated to a tiny
basement room for his hearing by the GOP leadership, Mr. Conyers
refused to be deterred. He chaired a most dignified and memorable
conference that included a small number of other courageous Congress
persons and an array of concerned speakers. __Under the leadership
of John Conyers, these true patriots brought the message of the
Downing Street Minutes to the American public._
0.
0. Releasing "The Constitution in Crisis." __The year
2005 came to a close with a bang, not a whimper. At the end of
December, John Conyers released an explosive document aimed at
exposing a number of very serious federal violations by the Bush
administration. The document, entitled The Constitution in Crisis,
is an eagerly awaited indictment of George W, Bush, Dick Cheney,
and other high level government officials.__Mr. Conyers took this
action after President Bush ignored a letter signed by 122 members
of Congress and a half million Americans asking whether or not
the information in the Downing Street Minutes was accurate. It
was time, he said, to expose the, "arrogance, hubris and
wrong-headedness," of this administration. In his carefully
detailed document, Mr. Conyers asks for a Select Committee with
subpoena power to investigate the leaders of his government.__In
a time when any criticism at all of the President or his policies
has been a rarity, John Conyers has thrown down the proverbial
gauntlet in defiance of the Bush administration. That this challenge
comes from John Conyers is neither unexpected nor surprising.
Mr. Conyers has long led the battle against the usurpation of
executive power and has steadfastly refused to kowtow to pressures
that would silence him.__John Conyers is not playing political
games here. His document includes, "evidence of WMD intelligence
cover-ups, deception, manipulation, retribution and torture concerning
the Iraqi War," and speaks of both Congressional censure
and impeachment. With the recent revelations about warrantless
wiretaps, perhaps this extraordinary move by John Conyers comes
at a most appropriate time.__Whatever the long term results, A
Constitution in Crisis is destined to become a major part of the
legacy that John Conyers has amassed. There are very few elected
officials who would have dared to accuse the Bush government of
the violations included in this document. There are also too few
members of government who understand that they have an obligation
to the public trust. How fortunate for us all that John Conyers
does.
0.
It is for all these reasons, as well as his many years of service
to this country, that TvNewsLIES has selected Congressman John
Conyers, Jr. as its 2005 Person of the Year.
We make the selection with a focus on
the impact someone has had on the lives of others. There is no
doubt that Mr. Conyers has had a most positive influence on the
democracy he has championed throughout his political career.
As we stated earlier, he is not alone.
There is a cadre of honest men and women in elected office who
work every day to restore our nation to its former dignity. We
salute them all.
But certainly, John Conyers, Jr. stands
just a bit above the crowd. He has been relentless in his dedication
to the Constitution, and in his willingness to stand up and be
counted when the going got tough. For it was exactly when the
going got really tough that John Conyers, Jr. really got going.
Heroes
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