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John Conyers, Call Your Office

By Doug Bandow on 7.1.09 @ 4:59PM

Rep. John Conyer's wife has gone down for corruption.  He wasn't involved in her bribery, but his congressional actions may have been affected by her lobbying of him.  Reports the Washington Times:

Rep. John Conyers Jr. reversed his opposition to a controversial hazardous waste project in his district, writing a letter of support to the federal government with the help of his wife, former Detroit City Council member Monica Conyers, whose aide later linked her to receiving money from the contractor in the project.

The letter, sent in July 2007, was written in support of permit transfers for a hazardous waste injection well project in the city of Romulus, Mich., which was operated by a company with ties to Mrs. Conyers, who has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery in a federal investigation unrelated to the hazardous waste project.

In his letter to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Michigan Democrat, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said many things had changed in favor of the project since he stood in opposition along with fellow Michigan congressman, Rep. John D. Dingell, in 2003. He also said Detroit's pension funds, which were heavily invested in the project, could not afford to write off those investments.

Mr. Conyers' spokeswoman, Karen Morgan, said in a statement to The Washington Times: "In the context of the congressmans representational duties to his constituents, including the Detroit pension board, he determined that this was something the EPA should reconsider.