Monica CON-yers

I bet John Conyers wishes his wife was one of those women who kept her maiden name when she got married.

Conyers, a member of the U.S. House from Detroit, is one of the movers and shakers on Capitol Hill.

His wife, Monica Conyers, is a mover and shaker, too. The same way that an earthquake is.

Monica is the president of the Detroit City Council. If you happen to be reading this from outside our burg, then feel sorry for us. Just do it. Trust me.

Monica Conyers is quickly becoming the most polarizing political figure in these Detroit parts since Coleman A. Young was the motherf***ing mayor -- his self-description -- from 1973-93.

In fact, Conyers -- and from now on, "Conyers" refers to the wife, not the hubby -- might be more aggravating because not even Detroiters themselves like her very much.

Coleman Young was a lot of things. Not all of them very nice. But I have to hand this to him: he made the folks in the city fiercely proud to live there.

Hizzoner may have achieved this self-pride at the expense of diplomatic relations between the city residents and suburbanites, but he did it.

Conyers has a lot of street in her. So did Coleman, but she makes Young look like Colin Powell.

If you don't know much about Monica Conyers, first of all, thank your lucky stars. Second, let me enlighten you.

Conyers is a clown. She's a caricature of what's wrong with race baiting and is a poster child of what can go wrong when you give power to the mentally disturbed.

She has all the class and grace of someone paid a visit to on the show "COPS" during a domestic disturbance.

Conyers was at it again yesterday.

Being queried on channel 4, a camera inches from her and a microphone even closer, Conyers tossed out a comment about fellow councilperson Sheila Cockrel -- the mayor's stepmother, by the way -- that was about as irresponsible and jaw-dropping as any I've ever heard.

And I've been hearing them since the early-1970s.

Frustrated with what Conyers perceived to be Cockrel functioning as a constant hurdle that the rest of the council needs to overcome to get things done, the council president offered this nugget.

Conyers was asked if she had told Cockrel to "get a man", as Cockrel had accused her of doing during a council meeting.

"No, I did not," Conyers said. "But maybe she should get her own man instead of being with others' men."

Huh????

The channel 4 reporter asked for clarification of that remark.

"I don't know. I'm just asking," Conyers said.

OK, but asking what, exactly?

What did she mean, the reporter pressed, by saying that Cockrel should stop messing with other women's men?

"I dont know," she said, as if someone else had said it. "I'm just asking."

Well, now THAT'S some responsible leadership!

Toss out an inflammatory remark insinuating that another member of council is going around town, functioning as a third person in various love triangles.


Monica Conyers in the middle of a trio that ought to give you the heebie-jeebies

Later in the interview, the reporter asked Conyers for some specifics regarding her assertion that Cockrel is stonewalling council.

"Can you give us some examples? Some specifics?" the game reporter asked.

"Ya know what? You start asking for specifics...we're done. I gotta go," Conyers said, walking away briskly.

Talk about a verbal drive by.

How dare we be given examples to support Conyers's outrageous accusations!

Whomever becomes the permanent mayor of Detroit -- and the city won't REALLY have one till the November election -- should immediately be swathed with the best medical care and security protection that money can buy.

Because if something, God forbid, were to happen, then city council president Conyers, by decree, would become mayor.

And you thought Kwame Kilpatrick was bad...

(If you want an example of Conyers' combativeness, check out this video)