Monica Conyers, wife of House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI), has a court-appointed appellate lawyer, paid for by taxpayers’ dollars, says the Detroit Free Press. How can she be unable to afford counsel when her husband’s annual salary is $174,000? “It could be that their assets are separate, even though they are married,” said Wayne State University law Prof. Peter Henning.
The former Detroit city councilwoman is appealing a 37-month prison sentence she received for her bribery conspiracy guilty plea. Bill Ballenger, publisher of Inside Michigan Politics, said, “If John Conyers jumped in himself and said, ‘Oh my God, we have to appeal this and I’ll pay for an attorney,’ that probably would cause him a lot more problems personally and politically than what’s going on now,” Ballenger said. “The idea that he is unwilling to help her, or she doesn’t have any access to his money, is probably good for John Conyers.”