Great Lakes Politics

U.S. Representative John C. Conyers, Jr. (D-14, Detroit) gave a speech at the Univeristy of Detroit-Mercy's Law School recently.  When an audience member showed up with a sign that simply read "Impeachment", Mr. Conyers admonished the student to give the impeachment issue a rest.

I can't help but think that this is interesting.

The man who single-handed campaign for the impeachment of President George W. Bush (R) is now back-peddling from the very idea and doing so on the eve of assuming the chairmanship of the House Judiciary Committee, the committee that would normally be responsible for any impeachment hearings.  Some commentators have said that this change in thinking is because is wants to focus on issues that have a greater chance of getting passed since an impeachment would require a 2/3 vote in both Chambers of Congress.

Personally, I don't believe this rationale for a minute.  Mr. Conyers has long gone after issues that had even less of a chance at passing than the impeachment of Mr. Bush.

I think this has a lot more to do with a recent agreement that he reached with the House Ethic Committee, whereby they agreed to drop an official investigation into his use of congressional staff members for personal errands as well as paying them a congressional salary while they were performing political duties.  The Ethics Committee agreed to drop the investigation, only requiring Mr. Conyers to more closely monitor his staff.  Right after that, Mr. Conyers indicates that he no longer has an interest in impeaching Mr. Bush.

A coincidence?

I seriously doubt it.