Conyers out as ranking Judiciary Committee Member:
Rep. John Conyers said Sunday he was stepping down from his post as the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee amid accusations of sexual harassment that have put his party's leaders in a bind.
The decision by the Michigan lawmaker — who has held his seat since 1965 and who denies the harassment allegations — followed several days of internal deliberation and pressure from Democratic colleagues, including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who wanted Conyers to leave the high-profile post but didn't want to be seen as forcing him out.
“No matter how great an individual’s legacy, it is not a license for harassment,” she said in a statement.
Privately, Pelosi has been working behind the scenes with leaders of the CBC and Conyers to figure out his next steps. One senior Democratic aide said she was trying "to lay groundwork for him to step aside gracefully."
Conyers is accused of sexually harassing two female staffers, including settling a claim with one former aide who said she was fired for not giving in to his sexual advances, an incident first reported by BuzzFeed.
Another former aide, Maria Reddick, who worked as his scheduler, filed a lawsuit against Conyers earlier this year, saying he was a “repeated and habitual offender” who tried several times to get her to go home with him and engaged in unwanted touching, including rubbing her shoulders and kissing her forehead. Reddick dropped her lawsuit after a judge ruled it would not be kept confidential.
More details of the accusations against Conyers may be forthcoming. Lisa Bloom, an attorney for a woman who filed a sexual harassment complaint against Conyers in 2014, said Sunday that her client was "forced to sign a confidentiality agreement" when she initially filed her complaint. She asked the congressional office that handles harassment charges to release her client from her confidentiality agreement "so that she may have a voice to tell her own story."
In the meantime, Conyers’ departure from the judiciary position opens a powerful committee post and adds to turmoil roiling Capitol Hill amid a series of sexual harassment allegations against members and aides. Conyers served as chairman of the panel when Democrats controlled the House from 2007 until 2011. But he has faced increasing questions about how long he would lead the committee given the fact that he is 88 years old.
A group of Democrats tried to force Conyers to step aside last December — spurred by an episode in which he showed up at the Capitol wearing pajamas — but he refused to step down.
The harassment allegations aside, the idea of having a guy so out of it that he shows up at a Capitol Hill function in his pajamas serving as The Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, (and if the Dems re-take the House, he'd be the Committee Chairman) with the real chance of Presidential Impeachment hearings looming, is waaay beyond unacceptable...
A group of Democrats tried to force Conyers to step aside last December — spurred by an episode in which he showed up at the Capitol wearing pajamas — but he refused to step down."
Sexual harassment, public display of pajamas, odd marriage arrangements... hmm, Hugh Hefner comes to mind. I wonder if there's a "grotto" in Conyers' office?
“In a world whose absurdity appears to be so impenetrable, we simply must reach a greater degree of understanding among us, a greater sincerity.”
Don't disagree LJ. The fundamental problem of the Senate and House (apart from 'money talks') is that committee assignments are doled out by seniority rather than ability. Because powerful congress critters can send money to their home state (how many buildings in WV are named for Byrd?) there is an incentive to keep the same person in office as long as possible and as long as s/he keeps up the gravy pipeline. Hence all these old folk.
I am absolutely not someone who supports term limits in any way, but Jesus H. Christ, you've been in Congress for over 50 years, you're over 80 years old, you're showing up for work in pyjamas, someone should be telling you that you've reached your best before date and give you a not so gentle shove out the door. If it takes sexual harassment claims to do it because your views of women in the workplace are stuck in the 1950s, then so be it.
"The dildo of consequence rarely comes lubed." -- Eileen Rose
"Colonialism is not 'winning' - it's an unsustainable model. Like your hairline." -- Candace Linklater
I keep wondering when someone will decide to go after The Donald. It's gotta happen. If anyone is guilty of sexual harassment (and a whole lot of other BS that might have gotten Bill Clinton impeached and Richard Nixon to resign), it's him.
A friend of Doc's, one of only two B-29 bombers still flying.
Perhaps you somehow missed that 16 women already publicly accused him, he was recorded admitting to a pattern of sexual harassment, and yet he was elected anyway? His ‘bosses’ didn’t care.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
MGMcAnick wrote:I keep wondering when someone will decide to go after The Donald. It's gotta happen. If anyone is guilty of sexual harassment (and a whole lot of other BS that might have gotten Bill Clinton impeached and Richard Nixon to resign), it's him.
There are 16 identified accusers and eight that don't want their names exposed publicly. Although I don't agree, I heard that Drumpf will not face any of these women in court unless and until he's out of office. No justice... no peace.
I believe the accusers, because after 30 years working with men in everything from the fast food workplace to the professional circles of D.C., I know the pigs come in all stripes and many of them have friendly faces. It’s heartbreaking to lose beloved icons, but maybe all of this will prompt the mothers and fathers of America to look a little harder at the way they are raising their sons and the attitudes those sons are developing.
I’ll miss reruns of PHC; it was a touchstone of mine for many years as important as Cartalk.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
Apparently there's a lot more to the Lauer story than has yet been made public...
Keillor had a very cryptic response to his situation:
Veteran radio host and writer Garrison Keillor confirmed Wednesday that he was fired by his longtime broadcast home, Minnesota Public Radio, over accusations of improper behavior.
After confirming the news in an email to the Associated Press, Keillor issued a follow-up statement saying he was terminated over “a story that I think is more interesting and more complicated than the version MPR heard.” However, he did not elaborate.
I have no idea what he means by "more interesting and more complicated", but it sure doesn't sound like a denial...
And then there's this bit of irony; from the same article:
His firing came one day after publication of a Washington Post column in which he argued against the idea that Minnesota Sen. Al Franken should resign his seat over allegations he groped radio host Leann Tweeden during a 2006 USO tour before he was elected to public office.
"Eleven years later, a talk show host in L.A., goes public, and there is talk of resignation," Keillor wrote. "This is pure absurdity, and the atrocity it leads to is a code of public deadliness. No kidding."
I kind of figured that about Mat Lauer; I sincerely doubt NBC would even consider suspending (let alone firing) him unless there was a lot more than an unsupported allegation--this guy is a major part of their network.
I suspect there is much more to the story than Keillor’s version, considering PHC and The Writer’s Almanac are both very robust enterprises for MPR - I can’t think they’d terminate on less than credible allegations.
From the Guardian:
MPR did not provide details about the allegations in its statement, but Keillor told a local Minnesota newspaper that he had been accused of touching a woman’s bare back.
“I put my hand on a woman’s bare back,” he told the Star Tribune in an email. “I meant to pat her back after she told me about her unhappiness and her shirt was open and my hand went up it about six inches. She recoiled. I apologized. I sent her an email of apology later and she replied that she had forgiven me and not to think about it. We were friends. We continued to be friendly right up until her lawyer called.”
MPR said that it had been notified of the allegation last month, and that it had retained an outside law firm to conduct an investigation, which continues.
Keillor created and hosted the folksy radio variety program A Prairie Home Companion in 1974 and hosted it until 2016, when he turned over the reins to the musician Chris Thile. The popular program featured performances of folk music, skits, and Keillor’s storytelling about a fictionalized Minnesota town called Lake Woebegone.
MPR will terminate its contracts with Keillor and his media companies, stop rebroadcasting Keillor-hosted episodes of A Prairie Home Companion, and change the name of the show’s current iteration.
Keillor has also produced another radio show and podcast, The Writer’s Almanac, since 1993. MPR said it would no longer distribute or broadcast that show, which features poetry and tidbits about history.
“While we appreciate the contributions Garrison has made to MPR and to all of public radio, we believe this decision is the right thing to do and is necessary to continue to earn the trust of our audiences, employees and supporters of our public service,” the MPR president, Jon McTaggart, said in a statement.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
I think you're probably right; I haven't really followed his career since PHC, but I imagine he's still a force in public radio who would not be fired on a whim.
Here are some of the other shoes dropping on Lauer...(Which undoubtedly the brass at NBC was aware of when they decided to can him)
A very high Ick Factor :
Matt Lauer Accused of Sexual Harassment by Multiple Women (EXCLUSIVE)
As the co-host of NBC’s “Today,” Matt Lauer once gave a colleague a sex toy as a present. It included an explicit note about how he wanted to use it on her, which left her mortified.
On another day, he summoned a different female employee to his office, and then dropped his pants, showing her his penis. After the employee declined to do anything, visibly shaken, he reprimanded her for not engaging in a sexual act.
He would sometimes quiz female producers about who they’d slept with, offering to trade names. And he loved to engage in a crass quiz game with men and women in the office: “f—, marry, or kill,” in which he would identify the female co-hosts that he’d most like to sleep with.
These accounts of Lauer’s behavior at NBC are the result of a two-month investigation by Variety, with dozens of interviews with current and former staffers. Variety has talked to three women who identified themselves as victims of sexual harassment by Lauer, and their stories have been corroborated by friends or colleagues that they told at the time. They have asked for now to remain unnamed, fearing professional repercussions.
On Wednesday, NBC announced that Lauer was fired from “Today.” It was a stunning move for a co-host who was widely considered the crown jewel of the network’s news division, with a $25 million annual salary. The cause of his dismissal, according to sources, was a detailed complaint from another current NBC employee about inappropriate sexual conduct from Lauer that started on a trip at the Sochi Olympics in 2014 and continued for several months.
The employee met with human resources at NBC on Monday night. In a statement, NBC News Chairman Andy Lack called this the first complaint about his behavior in over 20 years and acknowledged that it may not be the last: “We were also presented with reason to believe that this may not have been an isolated incident,” Lack said.
He would sometimes quiz female producers about who they’d slept with, offering to trade names. And he loved to engage in a crass quiz game with men and women in the office: “f—, marry, or kill,” in which he would identify the female co-hosts that he’d most like to sleep with.
"Fuck, marry, kill"... that's a game often played on Howard Stern's radio show.
Ironically, I bet he won't be accused as a serial sex offender as the #MeToo movement forges ahead. With all of Stern's flaws he's pretty loyal to his marriage vows.
As to Garrison Keillor's sexual proclivities, that's exponentially more creepy.
“In a world whose absurdity appears to be so impenetrable, we simply must reach a greater degree of understanding among us, a greater sincerity.”
I always thought Matt Lauer is creepy, so I’m not surprised. Not a fan of Keillor or PHC, either.
But honestly, women have been trying to tell you all that harassment goes on all the time, in all sorts of places, and from all sorts of people. Maybe one of these days the rest of you will actually believe us.
Last edited by Guinevere on Thu Nov 30, 2017 1:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké
In 2001, the woman said, Mr. Lauer, who is married, asked her to his office to discuss a story during a workday. When she sat down, she said, he locked the door, which he could do by pressing a button while sitting at his desk. (People who worked at NBC said the button was a regular security measure installed for high-profile employees.)
The woman said Mr. Lauer asked her to unbutton her blouse, which she did. She said the anchor then stepped out from behind his desk, pulled down her pants, bent her over a chair and had intercourse with her. At some point, she said, she passed out with her pants pulled halfway down. She woke up on the floor of his office, and Mr. Lauer had his assistant take her to a nurse.
Journalist Ann Curry, who was reported to have a fraught relationship with Matt Lauer, has responded to the news of his firing and subsequent sexual misconduct allegations.
"The women’s movement got us into the workplace, but it didn’t make us safe once we got there," she told People in an interview. "And the battle lines are now clear. We need to move this revolution forward and make our workplaces safe. Corporate America is quite clearly failing to do so, and unless it does something to change that, we need to keep doing more ourselves."
Put bluntly, a qualified and respected woman's career suffered in order to boost a man's. Now that it's come to light that the man in question used his power inappropriately, we're left wondering how many more times this has to happen. How loud do we have to yell to stop women from suffering the consequences of men's actions? How many more have to come forward before things change? From Weinstein to Louis C.K. to Lauer, so many women were denied the chance at a career due to powerful men whose bad behavior was supported or ignored by their industry. At this point, we don't just need an apology — we need a time machine.
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké
One last point: The drain of women from professional jobs, advancement, and success due to harassment (which is all about Power - whether explicitly sexual or simply as an exercise of male privilege as in Lauer-Curry) is astonishing and, I think, still barely considered. And THIS is why we still get paid 80% of a man’s salary — not the mommy track.
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.” ~ Ruth Bader Ginsburg, paraphrasing Sarah Moore Grimké
This is from Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, commenting on his colleagues in Congress accused of sexual harassment - but it’s applicable all around, and worth sharing:
There may be differences in the allegations, he added, but none of this behavior should be tolerated.
"There are gradations of pigs," Kennedy said. "There are major-league pigs; there are minor-league pigs. There are amateur pigs. There are first-time pigs. There are experienced pigs. But they're all pigs."
With apologies to pigs, of course!
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~ Carl Sagan
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