Posted on 09/27/2005 6:15:01 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - House Republicans on Tuesday rejected a Democratic resolution to name a post office in Berkeley, Calif., after a longtime local activist and city councilwoman, saying 94-year-old Maudelle Shirek doesn't represent American values.
The 215-190 vote was an unusual refusal of an honor that's normally routine. House rules allow lawmakers to propose renaming post offices in their district, and fellow lawmakers usually agree without debate.
But Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, who led the opposition, said Shirek's background "sets her apart from, I will say, the most consistent of American values."
King gave no details in a speech on the House floor beyond citing Shirek's support for freeing Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted for the 1981 murder of a Philadelphia police officer. In an interview later he said Shirek had an "affiliation with the Communist Party," citing her sponsorship of a Marxist library.
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., who sponsored the resolution, rejected King's comments as unsubstantiated innuendo.
Shirek, the granddaughter of slaves, is a prominent figure in Berkeley's left-wing community who has advocated for civil rights, seniors and peace and served eight terms on the City Council before losing a write-in bid for a ninth term in November.
"They are living in the days, I guess, of Joe McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover and decided they wanted to defeat a local district matter, and I think it's outrageous and unconscionable," Lee said in an interview.
Shirek is listed as a sponsor on the Web site of the Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library in Berkeley, but Lee's spokesman, Nathan Britton, said Shirek has no Communist Party affiliation and there has never been a solid accusation to prove otherwise.
King disputed Lee's criticism of his comments.
"I think that if Barbara Lee would read the history of Joe McCarthy she would realize that he was a hero for America," King said of the senator who launched investigations into alleged communist sympathizers in the 1950s but was ultimately censured by the Senate. King said Hoover, the former FBI director, "was a giant when it came to law enforcement."
Shirek is ailing, according to friends. Her niece, Renee Kitchen, answered the phone at her Berkeley home Tuesday and said she couldn't take calls.
"I'm very disappointed. She's so deserving of it," Kitchen said.
Lee has been trying since 2003 to rename the downtown Berkeley post office after Shirek, but concerns from Republicans have kept the resolution from coming to a vote. Several California Republicans who sponsored the resolution when it was first introduced in 2003 didn't put their names on it when Lee reintroduced it this year, though Lee said she thought she had addressed their concerns.
A two-thirds vote was needed for passage. Nine Republicans voted yes and 212 voted no; 180 Democrats voted yes and three voted no; and one independent voted yes.
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The bill is H.R.438.
Barbara Lee is deeply saddened.
and who the heck were the 9 Republicans that supported this the first time around?
-9 on my last post.
Who were the Republicans that supported this the first time it was submitted?
Shoot, and i thought Shreck was a Disney movie.
LOL
FRom..
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Silly old fashioned Republicans.
Don't they realize that American values have been dumbed down to mean ANY fool deviation, perversion or opinion? AFter all, diversity is a value!
She'll probably outlive Mumia ,, unfortunately.
That's one more
Big Gold Star for Steve King, R-Iowa
If we ever have another terrorist attack here, the best possible place would be the campus of Berkeley. And then, thre needs to be an Al-Qaeda video afterwards saying that all American's are targets.
ahhh.
Barbara Lee is an embarassment to the State of California, and she's not alone: Barbara Boxer, Maxine Waters, Diane Feinstein - the list goes on and on.
Isn't Berkeley itself named after some sort of radical? I heard that some time ago but forgot the details. Google didn't come up with anything.
No More Mailing!
She fought the man... now her types are the man.
I must have mis-heard what I didn't remember about Berkeley.
Perhaps one old Commie can do a fellow traveler a favor. Since she's Fidel Castro's bud, perhaps he can name a Cuban post office in her honor.
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., who sponsored the resolution, rejected King's comments as unsubstantiated innuendo.
I think my head is going to explode. Barbara Lee herself has an affiliation with the Communist Party, through her predecessor Ron Dellums and Fidel Castro, himself.
There comes a point where no lie is too big to tell.
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