Posted on 12/07/2004 5:09:00 PM PST by Mike Fieschko
WASHINGTON - Mary Frances Berry, blunt-spoken chairwoman of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, resigned Tuesday after more than two decades of criticizing the governments, both Democratic and Republican, that she served.Berry, an independent, and Democratic Vice Chairman Cruz Reynoso sent resignation letters to President Bush (news - web sites) a day after the White House moved to replace the two. Both had resisted leaving Monday, arguing their terms wouldn't expire until midnight Jan. 21, 2005.
The White House maintained that their six-year terms expired Sunday, and Berry and Reynoso had been replaced.
In brief letters to Bush, Berry and Reynoso said they believed they still had more time to serve but it wasn't worth the fight.
"Given that the conclusion of my tenure is only a few weeks away, a legal challenge would be an unwise expenditure of resources," wrote Berry, a civil rights history professor at the University of Pennsylvania. "Therefore, I am resigning my position as commissioner on the United States Commission on Civil Rights effective immediately."
Berry did not reflect in her letter on her more than two decades on the commission, during which she served under five presidents and criticized them all.
White House spokesman Ken Lisaius said Berry and Reynoso's terms on the commission had ended.
"While we are grateful for the service of Berry and Reynoso, their terms ended, and their replacements have been named, and we're working on an orderly transition," Lisaius said. "The president is moving now to ensure the commission has direction and leadership to continue its work."
First appointed by President Carter, Berry became chairwoman in 1993. She earned plaudits from supporters as a civil rights hero but criticism from opponents as overly divisive.
President Reagan fired her but had to reinstate her after a lawsuit. Former Presidents Bush and Clinton also came in for criticism.
Most recently, Berry sided with other Democratic-leaning commissioners to keep a report critical of the current President Bush on the commission's Web site before the election.
When the commissioners finally voted on the report the vote split four to four, a typical division between Democratic-leaning and Republican-leaning commissioners that could change with the new Bush appointees.
The newly named commissioners are Gerald A. Reynolds, former assistant secretary for the office of civil rights in the Education Department, and attorney Ashley L. Taylor of Richmond, Va. Bush intends to designate Reynolds the commission chairman, succeeding Berry, and to name Abigail Thernstrom, already a commission member, as vice chairwoman.
The eight-member panel investigates civil rights complaints and publicizes its findings but has no enforcement power.
Now if we could abolish the corrupt, partisan "U.S. Civil Rights Commission", we might be making progress.
Too bad we can't just disband this useless federal boondoggle.
"Resigned"???
ROFLMAO ;-D
Can anyone explain why the panel wasn't retired years ago.
Didn't know her first name was Mary--thought it was "the detestable"...
President Bush should NOT accept her resignation. If he does so he is acknowledging that her term has not yet expired. There was no need for her to resign any more than there was for President Clinton to resign before he could be replaced by George W. Bush.
A worthless POS!
She's showboating IMHO.
Better yet...charge dingle Berry and her accomplice with forging Federal documents (dating back to when their term expired)
Berry is FINALLY gone?!? Free at last, free at last, thank GOD Almighty, we are FREE at last!
Berry, another one of Jimmy Carter's pathetic 'legacies' to America. Good riddance baby, and try not to wail the blues too much when you have to go out now and get a REAL job!
Ironically, when Zell Miller was Governor of Georgia, and began the process to remove the Confederate Symbol from the State Flag, he asked Carter for his opinion, and according to Miller, all of the people he consulted understood his position and generally supported it, except for Carter who asked "why would you want to do a thing like that?"
Like everything else in life, Carter was, and is a hypocrite among hypocrites, setting the standard for hypocrites the world over.
As for Mary Frances?
Mary Frances who?
About darned time.
She was "supposedly" an independent commissioner, not a political appointee. Political appointees serve "at the pleasure of the President" and their terms correspond to Presidential terms. Were she a political appointee her term would have ended on January 20, 2001.
Good for her..........now she can go back to smoking crack with Marion Berry.........
Moss? More like manure :-)
Given the refusal by the Commission's administrative staff to account for budgetary expenditures (with Berry's backing), we may see these two in the headlines again - WHEN THEY ARE INDICTED FOR MISAPPROPRIATION OF GOVERNMENT FUNDS!!
If you want to say goodbye to her, you can do so at:
mfberry@sas.upenn.edu
As it was, she resigned in late 1999 so that she could be reappointed by Clinton - thereby extending her term.
Let's all pretend she didn't know this until she got the letter from Bush.
She's known for YEARS her date was this month.
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