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At 87, John Conyers says he's still got the juice to be an effective congressman.
Some think that is debatable including Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey, who is running against him in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
“We all love Mr. Conyers, me included, and that’s why you’ll never hear me disrespect him,” Winfrey, 58, who was elected clerk in 2005, tells Leonard Fleming of The Detroit News. “But at the end of the day, more than 50 years in office, 87-years-old. . . . we all begin to diminish. And the district is suffering because of it.”
Conyers, curently the longest-serving congressman, has been in the House since 1965 and is the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
Conyers says he has no intention of slowing down and denies Winfrey's claim that he's losing his effectiveness. “My mind is sharp,” he tells The News.
Winfrey counters:
“We can no longer ignore the ills of the district. Nor can we allow one to hide behind their legacy. It’s not fair. We’re allowing him to. We all love him, we all adore him, but we also all know that the district is suffering.”
When the Rev. Horace Sheffield challenged Conyers for re-election in 20143, he said bluntlyy: “The congressman is not all there.”
Detroit News columnist Nolan Finley wrote during that campaign: "Conyers is no longer fit to serve.”
