Posted on 12/07/2001 8:13:22 AM PST by Jean S
WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights refused Friday to seat - or even recognize - a new commissioner appointed by President Bush.
Cleveland labor lawyer Peter Kirsanow watched quietly from the audience as attempts by the three Republican commissioners to have him seated or acknowledged were repeatedly voted down 5-3. Kirsanow attempted to vote for the first 10 minutes of the session but he was ignored and eventually sat silent as his allies continued debate.
The meeting opened with an attempt by Republican commissioners to adjourn until the dispute over the commission's makeup is resolved. But Chairwoman Mary Frances Berry persuaded the commission to reject that effort, saying it is impossible to know when the legal dispute will be resolved.
Berry recounted how President Reagan fired her in 1983 and how she fought through the courts to get back on the board.
She said accepting the White House or Justice Department interpretation of the law on the commission's makeup "would threaten the very independence of the commission."
Commissioner Christopher Edley, an ally of Berry, said he has told House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt that the White House is trying to reshape the commission in an apparent retribution for some of his work.
Berry - a frequent critic of the 2000 elections and particularly of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, younger brother of the president - presides over a panel on which six commissioners lean Democratic and two lean Republican. The White House has already announced it plans to appoint Jennifer Cabranes Braceras to replace Yvonne Lee, whose term is expiring in early December. If Kirsanow is seated, the commission would be split 4-4.
Kirsanow was sworn in Thursday night to fill the seat of Victoria Wilson, an independent whose term, the White House says, expired Nov. 29.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said there was no legal merit to Berry's claim that Wilson's term has not expired, noting a ruling by the Justice Department's legal counsel and Clinton administration records that indicate it has expired. He denied rough politics on the White House's part, saying Kirsanow was installed within the letter of the law.
Berry said the White House's moves were "about muzzling us and it's scary to have them take all of this time and energy. It makes me even more afraid for the preservation of the commission."
The dispute between the Republican White House and a prominent black civil rights leader surprised the Bush team.
By taking the disputed seat held by Wilson, Kirsanow, a member of the largely conservative Center for New Black Leadership, would effectively rein in Berry's power over the commission.
The Bush administration maintains Wilson's term ended Nov. 29, when the term of the man she succeeded, Judge A. Leon Higginbotham Jr., would have expired. Higginbotham died in 1998.. This expiration date was spelled out in the Clinton administration's paperwork on Wilson's appointment, the White House says.
Berry argued the documents are wrong and are trumped by federal law, which says new commissioners will fill a six-year term.
Democratic Reps. John Conyers of Michigan and Jerrold Nadler of New York wrote Berry on Thursday to say the law as amended in 1994 reflects her interpretation.
The commission received a letter from the Justice Department late Thursday informing Berry that she is not allowed to retain outside legal help without Attorney General John Ashcroft's permission. Berry rejected that opinion.
Election report fraud
The majority of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission - that is, the six Democrats (there are two Republican appointees) - has shamed itself on many levels.Somehow, a draft report on Florida's conduct of the 2000 election was leaked to three liberal newspapers, the New York Times, The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times a day before the non-Democrat members of the commission had been sent copies. By law, all commissioners are entitled to 30 days to review reports and make ....
IMHO her previous divisive statements and her current actions should certainly be considered grounds for her removal from the Commission or, at the least, removal as chairperson.
It might be worthwhile for the media to go over the backgrounds of all the Commisioners. The one from Knopf Publishing, for instante, who is at the center of this dispute == was she connected with the $12 million Clinton (him) book? Who is she? What is she? Doesn't sound like an "indepondent" to me.
Congressman Billybob
Click here for Billybob's daily stint at 7:30 a.m. EST on "American Breakfast" with Phil Paleologos.
WHAT? SHE certified the 2000 election? Do you mean HER conclusions about it, or what?
By establishing the precedent that Ms. Wilson is duly seated, while Mr. Kirsanow sits passively in the audience, not even being recognized, Bush runs the risk of entrenching Ms. Wilson in this position and then having to fight an uphill battle justifying why she should be removed from her seat and have it given to Mr. Kirsanow.
Bush needs to deal with this woman swiftly, strongly, and say to hell with the Democrat and race-baiter squawking.
Looks like Bill Clinton was running this committee against the law, eh?
The President also designates the Chairperson and Vice Chairperson from among the Commission's members with the concurrence of a majority of the Commission's members.
That is what Ms. Berry, the little troll, is afraid of.
She is also a law breaker, and should be brought up on charges.....
If I were GWB, I would have sent the Marshals
ROLF.........I love that man!
Why is it only FOX seems interested in this story? Think about the liberal story line here, a Right Wing, fraudulently appointed president is trying to destroy the commission. This is classic liberal crap. I bet this story would get 24/7 coverage if President Bush had appointed a white guy.
She works for Knopf. Guess who's publishing Clinton's book?
The GAO also reported that the commission filed few of the reports to Congress and other departments of the government that they were required to by law . Seems to me if there are financial discrepancies and they are not following the letter of the law, it should have been disbanded on the spot.
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