Former top staffer accuses Conyers of inappropriate touching
John Conyers
A former deputy chief of staff said  Rep. John Conyers  made an unwanted sexual advance toward  her  and touched  her  inappropriately twice in the late 1990s  the Detroit News reported Tuesday  in the latest sexual misconduct allegations against the veteran lawmaker.
Deanna Maher  77  who ran a Michigan office for  Conyers  from 1997 to 2005  told The Detroit News that there were three instances of inappropriate conduct.
 She  says the first was in 1997  when  she  rejected his offer to share a hotel room and have sex. The others involved unwanted touching in a car in 1998 and unwanted touching of  her  legs under  her  dress in 1999.
âHe was trying to feel me up with his right hand â  she  told the paper. âI kept pushing his hand away. Then he put his hand on my neck and started trying to tickle me. We were on I-75  and he was driving erratically. I was saved by the bell because we got pulled over by the police for the way he was driving.â
Maher said the first instance of harassment happened shortly after  Conyers  hired her in 1997 during an event with the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington.
Conyers' attorney Arnold Reed told the newspaper that he questioned why Maher would work for  Conyers  for so many years after the alleged allegations. He said her allegations are uncorroborated and  Conyers  denies wrongdoing.
Maher said she didn't report the harassment because  Conyers  is a powerful man in Washington and she didn't think it would be taken seriously.
The House Ethics Committee has launched an investigation of  Conyers  and he said Sunday he would step aside as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee  after a news website reported last week that  Conyers  settled a complaint in 2015 from a woman staffer who alleged  she  was fired because  she  rejected his sexual advances.
 Conyers  is among a number of prominent men in politics  entertainment and journalism who have been accused of sexual misconduct in the wake of explosive allegations against former Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein.
A former deputy chief of staff said   [TGT] made an unwanted sexual advance toward   [TGT]   and touched   [TGT]   inappropriately twice in the late 1990s  the Detroit News reported Tuesday  in the latest sexual misconduct allegations against the veteran lawmaker.
Deanna Maher  77  who ran a Michigan office for  Conyers  from 1997 to 2005  told The Detroit News that there were three instances of inappropriate conduct.
 She  says the first was in 1997  when  she  rejected his offer to share a hotel room and have sex. The others involved unwanted touching in a car in 1998 and unwanted touching of  her  legs under  her  dress in 1999.
âHe was trying to feel me up with his right hand â  she  told the paper. âI kept pushing his hand away. Then he put his hand on my neck and started trying to tickle me. We were on I-75  and he was driving erratically. I was saved by the bell because we got pulled over by the police for the way he was driving.â
Maher said the first instance of harassment happened shortly after  Conyers  hired her in 1997 during an event with the Congressional Black Caucus in Washington.
Conyers' attorney Arnold Reed told the newspaper that he questioned why Maher would work for  Conyers  for so many years after the alleged allegations. He said her allegations are uncorroborated and  Conyers  denies wrongdoing.
Maher said she didn't report the harassment because  Conyers  is a powerful man in Washington and she didn't think it would be taken seriously.
The House Ethics Committee has launched an investigation of  Conyers  and he said Sunday he would step aside as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee  after a news website reported last week that  Conyers  settled a complaint in 2015 from a woman staffer who alleged  she  was fired because  she  rejected his sexual advances.
 Conyers  is among a number of prominent men in politics  entertainment and journalism who have been accused of sexual misconduct in the wake of explosive allegations against former Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein.