Why Dan Kildee & Detroit Land Bank Authority Call For Conyers To Resign

Dan Kildee & Bill Clinton

Dan Kildee & Detroit Land Bank Authority join the ranks, with Nancy Pelosi, Kathleen Rice, Mike Quigley, and Raul Grijalva for John Conyers to resign from Congress.

Dan Kildee was the one who spearheaded the creation of the land bank in Michigan.

And now we know why Dan Kildee & Amy Hovey want Conyers to resign.

Conyers steps down from committee post amid harassment claims

Congressman John Conyers has stepped down from his powerful perch as Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee. His colleague in the House, Representative Dan Kildee, reacts to this development 

What is a Land Bank? Dan Kildee, Co-Founder and President Amy Hovey, Co-Founder and Senior Vice-President... by Beverly Tran on Scribd

Amy Hovey is the Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President of Capacity Building for Community Progress. Prior to helping launch the organization, Amy founded The Protogenia Group LLC in 2002, after working with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) for six years. At the consulting firm, Amy provided technical assistance in several areas including organizational development, leadership development, board governance, administrative management, and program and real estate development. She also provided support to Genesee County in the creation of the Genesee County Land Bank Authority. In addition to technical assistance, Amy has extensive training and meeting facilitation experience including an annual fifteen-day training program on comprehensive real estate development.

Prior to Protogenia, Amy was a Program Director with the Michigan State office of the Local Initiative Support Corporation. During her time with LISC, Amy worked with local community development corporations, government agencies, and for profit business, promoting collaboration among community organizations, to revitalize urban neighborhoods. Amy worked closely with several non-profits engaged in commercial corridor revitalization utilizing the Main Street approach. She completed analysis of organizations requesting loans, grants and training. Amy created and facilitated several group trainings to build capacity of non-profit staff and boards. In addition, she provided technical assistance to non-profits on a variety of topics.

Amy joined LISC after four years in private business, working in management, finance and community relations with First of America Bank.

Amy is also part of the Western Reserve Land Conservancy and it seems so is Quicken Loans.

It also seems that there are many U.S. Representatives and Senators who are part of these land bank organizations.

It also seems Dan Kildee & his Land Bank "Legal Geniuses" (trademark pending) are the ones behind the Flint Water Crisis.

But, hey, what do I know?

Stay tuned.  We are just getting started.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Why U.S. Representative Raul Grijalva Called For Conyers To Step Down

The list continues to grow.

Stay tuned because Ethics has been very, very busy the last three years.

I did not stutter when I typed "three years", either.

Top House Democrat Took $50K From Taxpayers To Keep A Former Staffer Quiet

The top Democrat on the House Committee on Natural Resources used taxpayer dollars to pay off a former staffer who threatened to sue, claiming the lawmaker was often drunk and created a hostile workplace.

Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva’s secret deal with a former female staffer was revealed by The Washington Times on Monday. The payout was negotiated by the House Employment Counsel, the body’s attorney, and cost taxpayers $48,395.

The settlement, however, may have violated House rules, The Times reported. It’s against House rules for a lawmaker to retain “an employee who does not perform duties for the offices of the employing authority commensurate with the compensation such employee receives.”

Grijalva’s payout also should have been handed over in a lump sum, not paid out in monthly installments, The Times reported. Taxpayers paid Grijalva’s disgruntled staffer five month’s severance. The female staffer left her job after just three months, and didn’t pursue the matter after leaving Grijalva’s employment.

“On the advice of House Employment Counsel, I provided a severance package to a former employee who resigned,” Grijalva told The Times in a statement.

“The severance did not involve the Office of Compliance and at no time was any allegation of sexual harassment made, and no sexual harassment occurred,” Grijalva said.

“Under the terms of the agreement, had there been an allegation of sexual harassment, the employee would have been free to report it,” he said. “Regrettably, for me to provide any further details on this matter would violate the agreement.”

News of Grijalva’s payout comes amid debate over the $17.2 million in taxpayer funds used to settle 264 complaints of sexual harassment and other issues in Congress. The settlements are kept secret.

Grijalva is only the latest lawmaker to come under fire for paying off staffers for workplace issues. Michigan Democratic Rep. John Conyers paid a former staffer more than $27,000 after allegedly firing her for spurning sexual advances.

Minnesota Democratic Sen. Al Franken has been accused of sexual harassment by four women — two of them anonymous. Franken has apologized, though he has refused to resign from office.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

CONYERS: In The Wake Of Vegas Mass Shooting, Top Judiciary & National Resoures Dems Call On Speaker Ryan To Pull Gun Silencer Bill From House Floor

Washington, D.C. – Following the tragic shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, that has taken the lives of 58 people and injured more than 500, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) and House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) sent a letter, below, to House Speaker Paul Ryan calling for him to remove H.R. 3668, the so-called “Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act,” from the House calendar indefinitely.

The firearms-related provisions of H.R. 3668 would (1) weaken regulation of the interstate transportation of firearms; (2) make it easier for private citizens to obtain silencers by removing silencers from the protections in the National Firearms Act (NFA), which currently restricts the possession and sale of certain particularly dangerous firearms and accessories; and (3) remove the “sporting purposes” clause, which restricts the importation of firearms with certain features, and eliminate the ability of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to reclassify certain ammunition as “armor piercing ammunition.”

In their letter, the Members wrote, “…we ask that you immediately announce that this legislation will not be taken up by the House of Representatives.  It is not enough to simply hold a moment of silence, or place U.S. flags at half-staff; rather we believe that, in the wake of the horrific shootings last evening in Las Vegas, you must clearly state that the House will not seek to make matters worse by passing this legislation, which includes a number of provisions that would make us more vulnerable to mass shootings and subject our citizens and law enforcement personnel to an increased risk of gun violence.”

The Members continued, “…In active shooter situations, law enforcement must respond quickly to locate the shooter in order to prevent the carnage from continuing.  Silencing or muffling the sound of gun shots would make this more difficult, preventing quick response, such as the brave actions of law enforcement to quickly locate and take action against the shooter last night and those of the police officers that located and took down the man who shot and killed five officers in Dallas last year.  This situation illustrates the danger posed by the proliferation of silencers, particularly when the regulation of them is proposed to be weakened substantially – even allowing them to be sold with no checks whatsoever in some circumstances. ”

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Conyers and Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) also sent a letter, below, to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte to renew their call for hearings on these issues.

Judiciary Letter to Ryan on Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act Hr 3668 by Beverly Tran on Scribd

Second Letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte to renew their call for hearings on firea... by Beverly Tran on Scribd

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Senior House Judiciary Democrats, Quad Caucus Chairs Question Impact of New Restrictive Voting Laws

Dean of the U.S. House
of Representatives
John Conyers, Jr.

WASHINGTON- Today, senior Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee and the chairs of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC), and the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) issued a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch asking the Department of Justice to review the impact of recently implemented voting restrictions across the country.

On March 22, Arizonians in Maricopa County, the most populous county in the state, experienced abnormally longer lines at polling stations.  Several allegations have also been made that there were disproportionate waiting times for minority voters. Department of Justice officials have opened an investigation into whether civil rights were violated.

In the letter, the Members request, “…that the Civil Rights Division review the impact of recently implemented voting restrictions on primary elections to determine whether the Department should implement additional monitoring programs in preparation for the November general election.”

The number of polling stations in Maricopa County, which is more than 40 percent minority, has been reduced by seventy percent, from 200 to 60 locations since the last presidential election in 2012.

“During the North Carolina primary election on March 15, voters waited for up to four hours at inner-city polling places to cast their votes. The number of provisional ballots cast last month in the North Carolina presidential primary was almost double the number of provisional ballots cast in 2012,” said the lawmakers. “These are warning signs that we cannot, and should not, ignore. These incidents raise serious constitutional concerns under both the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and the Fifteenth Amendment.”

After the Supreme Court decision in Shelby v. Holder removed the preclearance requirement of Section V of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, there has been an increase in the number of restrictive voting laws. The Brennan Center for Justice reports that, since 2010, twenty-one states have passed restrictive voting laws. The enforcement of many of these laws disproportionately impacts low-income, minority, student, and elderly voters.

The letter, spearheaded by House Judiciary Ranking Member John Conyers (D-MI), is signed by Ranking Member on the Constitution and Civil Justice Subcommittee Steve Cohen (D-TN); Ranking Member on the Crime Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX); Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA), Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus; Rep. G. K. Butterfield (D-NC), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus; Rep. Linda Sánchez(D-CA), Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; and Reps. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Keith Ellison (D-MN), Co-Chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

U.S. House Congressional Letter to DOJ Regarding Impact of New Restrictive Voter Laws Nationwide Elections

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Rep. Lawrence to host press conference regarding the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Hearing on Flint’s water crisis

TODAY, February 3, 2016, 2 p.m.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rep. Brenda Lawrence (MI-14) will host a press conference today following the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Hearing regarding the Flint water crisis. She will be joined by Reps. Elijah Cummings, Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform; G.K. Butterfield, Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus; Keith Ellison and Raul Grijalva, Co-Chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus; Dan Kildee, who represents the Flint community; and many more Members committed to ensuring a crisis of this magnitude never occurs again in America.

WHAT:

Press Conference re: OGR hearing on the Flint water crisis.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (MD-07), Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform;

Rep. G.K. Butterfield (NC-01), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus;

Rep. Keith Ellison (MN-5), Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus;

Rep. Raul Grijalva (AZ-03), Co-Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus;

Rep. Dan Kildee (MI-05), Congressional Representative for Flint, Michigan;

Rep. Brenda Lawrence (MI-14), Ranking Member of OGR Subcommittee on the Interior and host;

Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (MI-13), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee

WHEN:TODAY, February 3^rd, 2016 at 2 p.m.

WHERE:Capitol Visitor Center studios, HVC 114, House Studio A.

RSVP: Tracy.Manzer@mail.house.gov

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Cancel the Sequester Act Press Conference

To stop further job loss in the public and private sectors, it is important that Congress repeal the sequester. These across-the-board cuts will cost more than 750,000 jobs this year alone and could derail the economic recovery.

Working families are calling on Congress to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid from benefit cuts (i.e., raising the retirement age and the "chained" CPI), repeal the sequester and close tax loopholes for corporations and the wealthiest 2%. 

Social Security Works, MoveOn.org and the Other 98% gathered more than 300,000 signatures and more than 60 national organizations signed onto a letter calling on Congress to repeal the sequester.

Organizations who signed the letter include the AFL-CIO, Alliance for Retired Americans, the Strengthen Social Security coalition, the Education Trust, Every Child Matters Education Fund, Wider Opportunities for Women, Green For All, the Letter Carriers, National Education Association and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Action Fund.

http://www.aflcio.org/Blog/Political-Action-Legislation/Watch-Live-at-Noon-Repeal-the-Sequester-Press-Conference 

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©