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U.S. Rep. John Conyers
While U.S. Rep. John Conyers fights for his political life and to protect his legacy, a new allegation of sexual misconduct surfaces.
Deanna Maher, Conyers’ former deputy chief of staff who ran his downriver office from 997 to 2005, tells George Hunter of The Detroit News that the Detroit Democrat made unwanted advances toward her three times, including unwanted sexual advances and inappropriate touching.
The latest allegation is the second one to surface this month. The first became public after BuzzFeed reported that a former staffer got $27,111 by Conyers' office after she alleged she was fired after rebuffing his sexual advances.
The 88-year-old congressman, in office since 1965, stepped down Sunday as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee while a congressional ethics probe looks into sexual allegations involving former staffers.
A leading Washington journalist, Cokie Roberts, said Sunday on ABC's "This Week" program that female reporters avoided being in an elevator with Conyers:
"The fact that people are willing to be public can change things. I mean, we all talked about for years.
"Don’t get in the elevator with him, you know, and every female in the press corps knew that. . . . Now people are saying it out loud. And I think that does make a difference."
Maher says her first instance came soon after the congressman hired her in September 1997 during an event with the Congressional Black Caucus.
"I didn’t have a room, and he had me put in his hotel suite," says Maher, 77. She says she rejected his offer to share the room at the Grand Hyatt in Washington and have sex.
Other incidents involved touching in a car in 1998 and another unwanted touching of her legs under her dress in 1999, she alleged.
Conyers’ attorney Arnold Reed questioned why Maher would continue to work for Conyers for so many years.
“I needed to earn a living, and I was 57. How many people are going to hire you at that age?” Maher says.
Former Detroit Free Press reporter Joel Thurtell told The News that Maher told him about the alleged abuse at the time, but didn’t want to go on the record. She also discussed the incidents with a Detroit News reporter in 2013 and again didn’t want to be named.
