This is an excerpt from a column I wrote this week for Deadline Detroit.

 

By Chad Selweski

Like father, like son, like mother . . .

The sordid saga of the Conyers family took another turn in recent days as the son of former congressman John Conyers took a cue from his dad and engaged in election irregularities that knocked him off the ballot and ended the brief, bizarre bid by John Conyers III to succeed his father.

The elder Conyers, who resigned in disgrace last year due to a sex scandal, experienced a similar bouncing from the ballot in 2014 when election officials ruled that the longtime Detroit lawmaker had improperly used people who were not registered voters to collect signatures for his nominating petitions. But a federal court later intervened, placing Conyers back on the ballot, which allowed him to continue his path of a half century in office.

In recent months, John Conyers III had followed a similar road to ruin by collecting boxes of invalid petition signatures from people who were not registered to vote in the 13th Congressional District where he was running. He did not receive a reprieve.

No one is saying this was election fraud but John III, who needed 1,000 valid petition signatures for the upcoming election, saw more than half of his submitted signatures thrown out last week by Wayne County election officials.

The added twist to this story is that Ian Conyers, the great nephew of John Conyers, who also has is eye on the vacant congressional seat, instigated the son’s removal from the ballot. Ian was the guy who filed a complaint challenging John III’s petitions.

Conyers name was a big plus

Unlike his second cousin, John III, who has no political experience, Ian is a relatively new state senator. After serving in the Obama presidential campaign in 2012 and engaging in Democratic Party involvement locally, Ian was elected to the Senate in 2016 at age 28, making him Michigan’s youngest state senator in history. Obviously, the Conyers surname helped secure his election victory.

The end result of the nominating petition debacle of recent days is that voters won’t see a Conyers vs. Conyers race to replace the elder Conyers. A nasty campaign was anticipated by all, but the electorate will be spared yet another chapter in the Conyers family political soap opera.

Still, this turn of events will not sit well with John III’s mother, Monica Conyers. Monica hoped her son would succeed her 88-year-old husband, and she apparently was livid when Ian crashed the party.

Perhaps this is a good time to review the Conyers family’s dirty laundry that has been flapping in the political breeze for many years.

Monica Conyers before she was fired from the station

Voters will recall that Monica, former Detroit City Council president, was sentenced to three years in prison on bribery charges in 2009. After her release, she eventually hosted a local radio show until it was divulged that she had pilfered the station, including booking a luxury hotel room for $750 and scooping up a closet full of “swag” — clothing and accessories used by the station’s corporate ownership for marketing purposes.

Another complaint from the boss who fired her was that Monica was loud and obnoxious, a trait that was also on display when she served on council. Several years ago, she got into a bar fight with another woman and the victim received a black eye.

Ian, watch out for that left hook — it apparently packs quite a punch.

Continue reading here.

 

Photo: John Conyers, John Conyers III (top right), Ian Conyers (bottom).