Imagine that a major Republican elected official – say John Boehner or Mitch McConnell – had a spouse sentenced to federal prison for accepting bribes in exchange for favorable treatment in relationship to that spouse’s position as an elected official. Would the news be confined only to local media outlets – especially when the convicted spouse begged for leniency based upon the needs of that GOP elected official?

Well, that’s the sort of thing that happened in Michigan after the sentencing of former Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers, wife of senior Democrat Representative John Conyers.

After months of silence, the combative and unpredictable Monica Conyers erupted during her sentencing in federal court Wednesday: first, repeatedly asking to withdraw her guilty plea, then exclaiming she wasn't going to jail for something she didn't do.

"I'm not going to be made a scapegoat for other people," the ex-Detroit councilwoman said in a raised voice. But U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn was unmoved. He sentenced her to 37 months in prison and two years of probation.

Left out of Monica Conyers’ rant was the minor detail that she had agreed to plead guilty to the charges, and that she had waived her right to appeal the sentence if it was less than 5 years.

But there was also this little detail.

She then invoked her husband and her two sons.

"My husband is an older man, and my son is 14, and I have done everything this court asked me to do," she said. "You asked me to quit my job. I did. You asked me to stay off television. I did. ... You asked me to see a psychologist. I did."

Excuse me? John Conyers is an old man who can’t get by without his wife? Are we sure that he is of sound enough mind and body to continue in the House of Representatives? Ought that be made a campaign issue this fall by his opponent?

So what we have here is the corrupt spouse of an elected official going to jail for taking bribes, and the national media remains silent. Is it just that corruption is expected out of one party – and, in particular, out of members of a particular ethnic caucus in that particular party?

By the way – did John Conyers properly disclose his wife’s bribe income on his Congressional disclosure forms?