By Joel Thurtell
[donation]
U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr.
On Nov. 21, 2003, The Detroit Free Press ran the first of what I believed would be a steady series of exposes of U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr.’s abuse of congressional aides to further his own and his pals’ — including his wife’s — political campaigns, do personal chores, even pay his restaurant and gas bills, all of which are banned by law or House ethics rules.
All of my Free Press Conyers stories now appear under the category “Conyers Series” here on joelontheroad.com
The two Nov. 21, 2003 stories prompted the House Ethics Committee to begin investigating Conyers. The probe began right after our stories broke. As soon as it happened, I was fully aware of the inquiry and I told Free Press editors. I had copies of statements witnesses — Conyers’s staffers — sent the Ethics Committee and comments from the staffers. There was a plethora of material for many stories, a la Kwamegate.
Why didn’t the Free Press run with it? I don’t really know. Here is the reason I was given: In the first two stories, we did not use the names of several of Conyers’ congressional aides. Why not? Congressional aides are at-will employees, meaning they are employed at the pleasure of the congressperson. He or she can fire them at any time for any reason or no reason. My sources were concerned they’d be fired for talking to me. So we didn’t use their names.
On Nov. 21, the day the first stories ran, I was supposed to finish writing a third story about Conyers’ possibly illegal and unethical use of staffers to tutor his kids and wife, do housekeeping, and babysit his kids. One staffer told me how she was a live-in babysitter at the Conyers house for six weeks while Conyers’s wife, Monica, was studying at an Oklahoma law school. But on Nov. 21, I was told by an editor that the babysitting story could hold. As it turned out, that story actually held until March 1, 2006. Then, it was broken not by the Free Press, but by The Hill, a Washington, D.C. publication. We’d had the story ready two and a half years and were beaten by a small specialty newspaper.
After the first two stories ran, I was told by an editor that there would be no more Conyers stories unless our unnamed sources allowed us to identify them. I sent my editor a memo pointing out that if we named our sources, they’d probably be fired, which would be too bad for them and for us, too, since they would no longer be inside sources.
The prohibition against continuing to use unnamed sources is the reason I was given for why my reporting was stopped after November, 2003. That’s why our story about the House Ethics Committee probe ran April 10, 2004, four months after our first stories, which had prompted the investigation.
We didn’t print that story first, either. The Detroit News had it on April 9. Imagine my frustration — I’d had the story ready for months, and we were beaten by our old rival, the News. For the April 10 story, which chased the News, the high standard of no unnamed sources suddenly was abandoned. It was clear that if I didn’t name my sources, I’d be able to use far more information than if I could only use what I got from a source I named.
So, I was allowed once again to quote insiders without naming them. The principle source for this story was Deanna Maher, now retired but then chief of staff of Conyers’ Downriver office in Southgate. Deanna later decided to go on the record.
But the bar was lowered only for this story. Thereafter, with only a couple exceptions, the ban on covering Conyers was complete.
Now I’m retired from the Free Press. I’m free to roam through my files, call my old sources and piece together stories that would have run, should have run, if the Free Press were as diligent about protecting the public interest as its lawyers have claimed in their pleadings for releasing more and more text messages in the Kwamegate scandal.
If you ask me why the Free Press suddenly dropped the ball, after voting me an in-house BOBS award with $50 cash prize for my work unearthing the Conyers story, I can only say I really don’t know.
