Bush Civil Rights Appointee Denied Seat by Commission, Refused Recognition

AP ^ | 12/7/01 | Will Lester

[Defiant]

I think it's time for O'Reilly to look into this lady's finances. No way she's clean. She cares WAY too much about maintaining her power, and you know she's not in it for equal rights. Turn up the heat!

[kcvl]

bttt

[SuziQ]

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."

Well, I think Congrss should hold hearings about just WHO is the obstructionist here. Apparently Pres. Bush is within his rights, and the REQUIREMENTS of the Commission in appointing a 4th Republican. After all the commission is supposed to the half Dem and Half Repub, right? At this moment, the Commission doesn't sound very independent does it?

[lady lawyer]

She probably gets a six figure income from this job.

[elfman2]

"Either send in U.S. Marshalls and arrest Berry or disband the Commission."

That's what they want. Publicity

[Jean S]

And there are how many 'RATS on the commission???? Hmmmm.

They get around that requirement by calling themselves Independent.

The Commissioners are:

Presidential Appointees (4):

Mary Frances Berry (Chairperson)
Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought
Professor of History and Adjunct Professor of Law
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
POLITICAL AFFILIATION: Independent

Cruz Reynoso (Vice Chairperson)
Professor of Law
University of California at Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
POLITICAL AFFILIATION: Democrat

Yvonne Y. Lee
Yvonne Lee Consultants
San Francisco, California
POLITICAL AFFILIATION: Democrat

Victoria Wilson
Vice President and Associate Publisher
Alfred A. Knopf
Vice President, PEN Executive Board
New York, New York
POLITICAL AFFILIATION: Independent

Congressional Appointees (4):

Christopher Edley, Jr.
Professor, Harvard Law School
Founding Co-Director, The Civil Rights Project
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
POLITICAL AFFILIATION: Democrat

Elsie M. Meeks
Executive Director, Lakota Fund
Co-owner and operator of Lone Creek Store in Wanblee, South Dakota
Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota
POLITICAL AFFILIATION: Democrat

Russell G. Redenbaugh
Partner and Director, Cooke & Bieler, Inc.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
POLITICAL AFFILIATION: Independent

Abigail Thernstrom
Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute
New York City, New YOrk
POLITICAL AFFILIATION: Republican

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

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."

What really frosts my pumpkin about this cretin is her continued habit of being disingenuous about what is really going on here. She knows what this is all about and yet she makes statements like the one above.
To her it's all a big pissin' contest. It's about power and just how much she gets to hang onto. Pathetic.

[carton253]

No, I think she is acting like an idiot because she is one. No one needed to prompt her... who do we call to let her know that her employer (the american people) is very unhappy with her...

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

This is an outrage.- AMEN! How can we get involved to get this Marxist to stop her illegal actions?

[Irene Adler]

"W will handle this correctly and I predict the results will be quite satisfying."

That's what I'm thinking. I would guess this might just be a trap for Berry and an opportunity for Bush to get rid of her, one way or another.

[kezekiel]

According to her bio on the Commission's website, she was appointed to the Commission in January of 1980, which would make her a Carter appointee. She has been on the Commission for 20+ years, and must think she's tenured by now.

What I don't understand is that, if each commissioner receives a 6-year appointment, then she would have been reappointed in '86 by Reagan, who in '83 tried to fire her. Can that be right? Assuming successive 6-year terms, her current 4th term would be up in January '04, Bush's last year in office.

[mvscal]

It's a moot point - Clinton's appointment specifically stated, in writing, that the term would expire on 11/29/01

If the point was moot, there wouldn't be any controversy. I don't care what Berry says and honestly I don't care what Bush's administration says either. What does the LAW say?

[eastforker]

Relax everybody,haven't y'all learnt this is W's style,give enough rope so they can hang themselves.What would it have looked like if w had sent US Marshals this morning,just think of the headlines that would have brought.W will handle this and in his own way,hell of a poker player he is.

[Publius]

Cruz Reynoso! Boy, that's a name I haven't heard in years!

In 1986, Reynoso, Grodin and Rose Bird were voted off the California Supreme Court by an angry electorate. Grodin and Reynoso were dumped by a 2-1 margin, and Bird by 3-1.

[Carolina]

They get around that requirement by calling themselves Independent.

So calling themselves Independent to "get around" a requirement is not subterfuge.

However, appointing a new commissioner because of an expiration spelled out by the letter is the rank act.

Truly rat behavior.

[Psycho_Bunny]

I don't belive it's too strong to say Berry is commiting an act of sedition.

Against her employer, no less.

[jaime1959]

Why not simply dissolve the Commission by Executive Order? What's the downside? Going from 8% of the black vote to 7?

[Havisham]

How could the Bush administration allow this humiliation of the appointee take place? Do they not know what a lunatic this Mary Frances Berry is? She's a certifiable nut with plenty of video to demonstrate her psychosis and the President dares her do it again. I'm mad at Bush and his people for giving this cretin another victory.

[Publius]

The commission cannot be dissolved by an executive order, only by an act of Congress because it was created by an act of Congress.

[writmeister]

She would not have been re-appointed by President Reagan. Four of the members are congressional appointees. So you can assume that her mid-1980s reappointment was by the Congress Rats.

The more devious aspect is how she changed her political affiliation from Rat to Independent to get around the "four members of the same party" limit. She's about as independent as ... (I don't know what, but she is no independent).