In a 1971 story (“Nora”), Washington novelist Ward Just wrote about a senator in trouble. “If you’re an architect or a lawyer and you get into trouble, you can resign and go practice somewhere else,” Just wrote. “If you’re a politician and get into trouble, that’s the end of it.”
With the sexual harassment scandal in play on Capitol Hill, this phenomenon is as true today as it was 46 years ago. Except there’s a second part, a twist: Those mired in sex scandals don’t see political death as inevitable. They imagine they can escape. And perhaps they can.
Even Representative John Conyers, who at 88-years-old is the longest-serving member of Congress, is maneuvering to hold on. He’s accused by at least two women of some sort of sexual misconduct and of paying a third with government funds to make her complaint go away.
Surely Conyers, now under investigation by the House Ethics Committee, is on the way out. His response so far, besides denying the charges, has been to step down as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary committee. That very small step aims to appease those who would force him out. But it’s worked for the time being with Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader.
On Meet the Press, she adopted the tactic used to defend Bill Clinton from sexual harassment charges in the 1990s—and it worked then. Pelosi said Conyers is an “icon in our country. He’s done a great deal to protect women.” At least three of them don’t think so.
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01.22.2025