Conyers: Son Inappropriately Used SUV

U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, said his son’s use of his congressional vehicle over the Thanksgiving holiday was “inappropriate” following reports that the SUV had been broken into and laptops and concert tickets stolen.

Under rules in the House of Representatives, nongovernmental use of a government-paid vehicle is strictly limited–even for members of Congress. The House Ethics Committee could investigate any possible violations–either on its own or if a complaint were made.

The longtime congressman released a statement from Washington after news broke that his son, John Conyers III, filed a police report early Thanksgiving morning that the 2010 Cadillac Escalade had been broken into when it was parked at the corner of Brush and Congress in Detroit.

The vehicle is registered to his father’s Detroit office in the federal building downtown and had two Apple laptops and $27,500 worth of concert tickets stolen from it.

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Conyers, 81, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, did not address why his son was driving the vehicle.

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The police report said Conyers III parked the car around 11:30 p.m. and when he returned an hour later, the burgundy SUV had been broken into.

The tickets were intended to be distributed to select retail locations as part of a Black Friday promotion for Detroit rapper Big Sean’s concert at the Fillmore on Dec. 26.

Conyers III is affiliated with Big Sean and the promotional group selling the tickets, an executive at the Fillmore confirmed.

When the break-in occurred, Conyers III and Big Sean were attending a performance by Detroit rapper Earlly Mac at the Shelter.

Big Sean expressed concern the tickets, which have been voided, would wind up in the hands of unknowing ticket buyers.

“The people who they’re selling them to might buy them thinking they’re real,” Sean said Tuesday. “That’s my only concern.”

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