Great idea!
Posted on 12/06/2004 9:25:45 AM PST by xsysmgr
Mary Frances Berry's term as a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights ended at midnight Sunday, but as of this writing she maintains that her term doesn't end until January 21, 2005, and imperiously refuses to step down.
Her claim is nonsense. Her primary commission documents, signed by President Bill Clinton when he appointed her to her now-expired term, show that her term ended on December 5, 2004. If that alone wasn't enough, the Congressional Research Service issued an opinion to the House Oversight Committee to the same effect. Finally, the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals in U.S. ex rel. Kirsanow v. Wilson involving the specific issue of commissioner terms, uncontrovertibly instructs that her term ended Sunday.
Unimpressed, Berry clings to the seat she's held for almost 25 years, the last 12 as chairman. She's summarily cancelled this coming Friday's commission meeting in violation of federal regulations and over the strenuous objections of Republican commissioners. The action deflects a face-to-face confrontation between Berry and the newly appointed commissioners — at least momentarily.
None of this is particularly surprising to anyone who's followed the commission over the last dozen years. A culture of unaccountability has become an entrenched feature of the commission's administrative character. Numerous governmental reviews of the commission have concluded that the agency is wholly dysfunctional.
In 1997, a Government Accountability Office report noted that management is in disarray, projects are poorly managed and take years to complete, spending data isn't maintained by office, program, or function and the agency's policies and procedures are unclear. GAO couldn't even verify project spending because of the commission's indecipherable record keeping.
The Office of Personnel Management conducted two reviews of the commission in the 1990s. Yet despite evidence of pervasive management problems, the civil-rights commission failed to implement five of six substantive OPM recommendations.
The GAO's 2003 review of the commission showed that the commission had also failed to comply with the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993. The civil-rights commission has not updated its strategic plan since 1997.
Moreover, the commission has not had a full independent audit in at least 12 years. The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution is currently investigating the commission's finances, management, and contracting practices. Good luck. Many commissioners have found the agency to be financially inscrutable.
The commission that was once known as "the conscience of the nation" has become a theater of the absurd. Anyone reading a transcript of a commission meeting might well believe it was authored by Lewis G. Carroll. Berry habitually releases to the public statements, reports, and press releases (usually critical of Republicans or at least consistent with her positions) that have been voted down previously by the commission as a whole.
Just last week she released a deeply flawed and biased report critical of the Bush administration's civil-rights record, despite the fact that such report had been rejected by the commission at its November 12 meeting (the report was originally scheduled for release just days before the presidential election but Republican commissioners succeeded in tabling it, noting that the report on the Clinton civil-rights record wasn't released until after his second term, expressly to avoid politicization). Why even vote on reports if the chairman will simply issue them as she sees fit?
The commission's mounting problems have caused the chorus of those who contend that the agency has outlived its usefulness to become larger and louder. I don't agree with them. While it becomes increasingly difficult to defend the commission's usefulness, it could function as the nation's conscience if its deliberative processes were rational, open, and fair; its findings objective, unbiased, and unimpeachable; and its membership fully engaged in framing, shaping, and drafting its reports. As the Washington Post recently editorialized, "a serious, rigorous commission could create breathing space for creative civil rights dialogue unbeholden to the orthodoxies of either the left or the right."
By engaging an independent audit, implementing structural forms, and adopting sound GAO recommendations, the commission would be taking the first steps toward becoming the kind of agency described by the Washington Post. But not before Ms. Berry observes the rule of law and steps down.
— Peter Kirsanow is a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
May I suggest a friendly tap on the shoulder with a Taser?
Get a court order and have the U.S. Marshals serve it and, if necessary, forcibly remove her. If she resists, throw her in the clink for contempt of court.
Sheesh.
This calls for an ugly mace incident!
Who cares... If she won't hold a meeting until the end of January, then no business will get done (I've got no problem with that). This is a good excuse for our President to eliminate a department.
Amazing, another mentally unhinged leftist in government. /sarcasm
Can't someone just disolve the commission and then if needed (I stress the point) recreate the commission with new members?
Just ignore her and go about business. Since her term has expired, she has no legal authority and anything she does is void. Put the new director in a different office and let Berry hold her breath until january 21 - who cares.
This isn't difficult.
The President should nominate her successor and direct the appropriate agencies to cancel her salary, etc., as of the effective dates.
She would have to sue to reinstate, allowing the a proper legal ruling.
Hold the meeting anyway. She cant cancel it- she is not in charge. If she shows up call security. what is the problem here?
Geez republicans,... grow a pair already willya?
You may not have noticed that "our" President doesn't do things like that. He'll probably reappoint her.
No. Just let her stay till next month. No big deal.
Ms Berry has created a new 'civil right' for herself. I think it is unbelieveably hilarious. There ought to be some good cartoons come out of this.
....saw Mary Francis on C-Span several years ago...she is one hateful racist.....
I'd say her current presence on federal government property is already a violation of the law.
It is a very big deal.
You cannot let people dictate that they will not obey the law, and she IS breaking the law by not vacating her position.
She should be locked out and her pay should be terminated.
How many times are Republicans going to let Democrats run ripshod over them before they will stand up to this garbage?
Whats next? Refusal of a Democrat President to vacate the seat because he doesn't like the outcome of an election?
Great idea!
People like Berry are worth an additional 1,500,000 Republican votes in '06. Go, Mary!
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