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Conyers recalls tensions of Watergate as he prepares to defend Clinton
Updated November 18, 1998
7:51 p.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressman John Conyers pushes the play
button on his No. 1 stress buster and the smooth sounds of jazz
artist John Coltrane waft through his office.
"It's one of my great pleasures," says Conyers, who is so
passionate about jazz that he once sponsored a House resolution
declaring jazz a unique American treasure.
In the music Conyers finds temporary escape from the dissonance
of the House Judiciary Committee room three floors down. There, as
the committee's senior Democrat, the 34-year House veteran from
Detroit has emerged as one of President Clinton's chief defenders
against impeachment.
Conyers, 69, is the only member who also served on the panel
during the Watergate hearings.
In 1974, he voted to impeach the Republican president. But
Conyers says the allegations against Clinton in the Monica Lewinsky
case are far different.
"It never occurred to anybody before now that a president's
personal life could be the focus of an inquiry of impeachment,"
Conyers says. "We have a number of presidents who, clearly, their
personal lives were no paragon to be held up by anybody.
"What Richard Nixon did was try to subvert the executive branch
of office through the powers of the presidency. This has never
entered Clinton's mind in the wildest stretch."
Conyers has led the Democrats' attacks on Independent Counsel
Kenneth Starr, calling him "a runaway, overzealous prosecutor who
wears his politics on his sleeve and has no respect for common
decency or public opinion."
But colleagues say Conyers doesn't always mirror the party line.
His independent streak led him to express outrage with Clinton's
attorney general, Janet Reno, for the disastrous federal raid on
Branch Davidians near Waco, Texas, in 1993.
In 1987, he led an investigation into U.S. District Judge Alcee
Hastings, who had been accused of conspiring to solicit a bribe.
Conyers wanted to know if charges against the black judge were
racially motivated. But in one of the most difficult decisions of
his career, he concluded Hastings was guilty and worked to bring
the impeachment resolution through the House.
Conyers said then it would be "disloyal to the essential
principles of the civil rights movement and my oath of office to
attempt to set up a double standard for those who share my
principles and those who oppose them."
In his current role on the Judiciary Committee, Conyers insists
he is defending not Clinton, but the impeachment process.
"If this gets out of hand, and it becomes merely a political
tool, I fear for the nation," he said.
The son of a union organizer, Conyers is the dean of the
Congressional Black Caucus. He is known for his advocacy of civil
rights and commitment to the poor and downtrodden.
"You won't see John do a lot of laughing and joking around,"
said Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, a fellow Illinois Democrat.
"He's a serious man."
Intensely private, Conyers ended his lifelong bachelorhood in
1990 by marrying Monica Ann Esters, then 25, without telling close
friends, political associates or even his brother. He now has two
young sons.
—Catherine Strong
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