Embarrassing Berry
Posted on 12/10/2001 3:03:17 AM PST by Elle Bee
Incivility on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission.
Will some adult Democrats please inform Mary Frances Berry, head of the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, that last year's election is over and George W. Bush is President? Maybe then she will do her job and seat Peter Kirsanow, Mr. Bush's choice for the Commission's vacant slot.
Instead, Mr. Kirsanow had to suffer the ignominy of trying to participate in the Commission's proceedings Friday while Ms. Berry blithely pretended he didn't exist. A "member of the audience" may not address the Commission, she intoned, when Republican Commissioner Jennifer Braceras asked that he be allowed to present his credentials.
We fully understand that Mr. Bush's election must have been a shock for Ms. Berry, who has spent the past 20 years diligently using this "bipartisan" body to advance the political and social agenda of the most partisan liberals. She has made the most of the 5-3 edge that Democrats currently hold on the eight-member panel. If civil rights veteran Mr. Kirsanow is allowed to replace Victoria Wilson, whose term expired November 29, that advantage would shift to 4-4, and Ms. Berry's activism would no longer go unchecked.
Ms. Berry's claim that Ms. Wilson is entitled to a new six-year term defies precedent and logic. Ms. Wilson was appointed by President Clinton to finish the term of Commissioner Leon Higginbotham, who died in 1998. The Clinton White House even stated this at the time of her appointment, though it didn't have to. The 1983 statute is clear: "Any member appointed to fill a vacancy shall serve for the remainder of the term for which his predecessor was appointed."
In 1994, when the statute was last amended, this aspect wasn't changed in letter or spirit. Members of the Civil Rights Commission, like members of other federal commissions, serve staggered terms. The purpose is to protect the Commission's independence and integrity, which would be compromised if each Administration were permitted to clean house and bring in its own people. We know Ms. Berry is familiar with this rationale, because it's hers. Staggering was put into the 1983 statute at her urging for these very reasons.
But we guess Ms. Berry is having too good a time playing in her partisan sandbox to care much about a little matter like the law. In April 2000, smack in the middle of the Presidential election campaign, Ms. Berry issued a report attacking efforts to end race-based college admissions policies in Texas, Mr. Bush's home state, and Florida, where Mr. Bush's brother Jeb is Governor. The timing and the targets were pure coincidence, of course.
So, too, was her decision to investigate the New York City Police Department in the middle of the Rudolph Giuliani-Hillary Clinton Senate race. Al Sharpton was kind enough to inform the media at the time that her report, highly critical of the mayor and the police, was "exactly what we asked for." We're not sure which was more disturbing: Mr. Sharpton's knowing remark, which he voiced before the report was made public, or the revelation that Ms. Berry had donated to Mrs. Clinton's campaign.
The results of election 2000, however, were too much for the Chairman to bear. In August the Commission drafted an unsubstantiated report charging that black voters were discriminated against in Florida and that Mr. Bush's victory was due to "a pattern and practice of injustice."
The Civil Rights Commission was created to promote racial coexistence, but Ms. Berry has turned it into a partisan tool of racial division. Her decision to fight the White House in court over Mr. Kirsanow's appointment is nothing more than a last-ditch effort to stir up more racial animus. Mr. Bush would do the country a favor by dismissing her, but then Ms. Berry would travel the country claiming to be a racial martyr. This is one case in which Democrats should police their own.
.
.
.
Somebody should print this out on a big sign and show it to Katy Couric & Co.. The media folks are making this out to be some sort of illegal power play by Bush trying to destroy the integrity of the Civil Rights commission. To hear their reports you would never guess that it is Berry herself who is VIOLATING the rules of the Civil Rights commission.
They do not listen to Zell Miller. The AG ought to send a couple of US Marshals to aid in seating Mr. Kirsanow. Just in case there is any obstruction to his lawful appointment. Berry picking is a delightful experience.
.
If the Republicans and Bush administration won't deal firmly with this bully, they will not only lose credibility but they will always have trouble with these types. Once you start waffling it will only encourage bullies.
Berry's involvement at UPenn might explain its refusal to play collegiate sports in the great state of S.C., citing the Confederate Battle Flag as a symobl of slavery.
Problem is, she doesn't know Willie Penn, the founder of UPenn had slaves of his own!
and that is ample reason to boycott their books
Does Knopf publish any Klintoon books?
were they the one's who gave the Hilldabeast that advance? ...... or to Bubber? perhaps someone should look at just what Vicky has pushed at Knopf
.
.
democrat reality TV
.
.
Much like the reasons for our current war on terrorism.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.