Interview: Rep. Conyers with Will Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Interview
Thursday 06 January 2005
I was able to interview Rep. John Conyers, ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, just before the Electoral hearings began.
PITT: How are you feeling about what is happening today?
CONYERS: We have come a mighty long way. It seems to me, as we began this adventure, to make the ballot as important as it is, and that it be counted, and that it be available to every single qualified American voter, that I had always suspected that it would be hard for the United States Senate to do, again, what they did in 2000. To close down any possibility of any debate, of any investigation, of any recount, and it turns out that my hunch was correct.
The fact of the matter is that we have everything to gain and nothing to lose by doing this. This isn't like there is a down-side to this. It is all up, because as everybody knows, all the phones are jammed, emails are coming in, faxes. People are coming in from all over. This is a test of American democracy, just as in 1878. They passed the law to deal with the presidential election of 1877. We have to, in 2005, pass some more election reform laws to deal with what happened in 2004.
Senator Boxer, in her press conference with Rep. Tubbs-Jones today, said that she regretted not having stood up in 2000. What do you think about that?
I'm sure that a lot of people have done some reconsideration of their silence from four years ago. It was totally uncalled for, but it was asked for by the then-candidate, Al Gore, and they went along.
A little while ago, there were some Republican Representatives denigrating the whole process, describing this as an attempt to overthrow the election. How do you respond to that? What do you see as being the main purpose of this event today?
Anyone opposed to us re-examining the balloting process in the state that had the most complaints and grievances and errors of any other state, they've got to have some kind of reason. This is not to change the outcome of the results. But I hasten to add that until we complete our investigation, I don't know if it will change the result or if it won't change the result.
But that's not what I'm after. What I'm after is understanding what things were not done properly, what things were done fraudulently, what things were done unintentionally, so that we can correct it. There is an election coming up again. We thought we had taken care of this with the Help America Vote Act. It turns out that, in many instances, the provisions of the Act were misconstructed and not really followed, particularly on provisional voting ballots. Many people who voted provisionally were disqualified for reasons that are directly in conflict with the intentions of those of us who put that into law.
So where does this go from here?
We, here, are asking today to have a joint House/Senate committee reconsider and review all of the investigatory work that me and the members and our staff have brought together. We want to get a commitment that we are going to come out of this looking for additional election law reforms, because there are a lot of people who don't want to do that. This brings it all into focus. It tests the will of every member in the Senate and the House as to what they stand for in these elections.
Is there anything else you'd like to add?
I think what the American people did and are doing, in calling and letting everybody know that they are outraged, that this has to be something that somebody would study to determine whether they want to object to the Electoral College report from Ohio, has been extraordinary, and has had a huge impact. Of course, the one person not in any government position, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, deserves tremendous praise for all he has done in coordinating so many efforts here, including right up until today.
I think a lot of people would agree that your opening of the hearing in the beginning of December, and then later in Ohio, gave people an opportunity not only to hear the evidence and grievances, but also gave people the chance to begin moving towards doing something about it. So I think a lot of people owe you a debt of gratitude, as well.
That's very kind of you.
