Free Republic

BERKELEY - What's in a name? If we're talking about the Berkeley post office, we're talking a Category 5 storm of petty partisan politics, compliments of congressional Republicans. But liberal-minded Berkeley may get the last licks in this brouhaha, which has city leaders and citizens alike spitting mad. First, a little history. In case you missed it, our fearless leaders in Congress outdid themselves last week with their thumbs-down vote on a normally routine matter: the naming of a post office. According to Roll Call, measures to name post office buildings make up 12 percent of the laws Congress passes...

I'd bet most people wouldn't know what the most common type of legislation approved in Congress is. It is naming a post office after a former elected official or local person of renown. And usually it's so typical that it barely gains notice. Until this week. For possibly the first time ever, and most assuredly the only time in the last three U.S. congressional delegations, a bill to name a post office after someone has been rejected. A proposal by Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, to rename the main Berkeley post office after Maudelle Shirek, a longtime Berkeley city councilwoman and...

National panel sends out political attack to districts where it hopes to make gains. A political dustup over congressional efforts to name a Berkeley post office for a longtime councilwoman and left-wing activist intensified Wednesday when Republican leaders accused Maudelle Shirek's supporters of being soft on communism. "Cardoza votes for naming U.S. post office after reputed communist,'' blared the headline of a release sent out late Wednesday afternoon by the National Republican Congressional Committee. The attack was aimed at Rep. Dennis Cardoza of Atwater (Merced County), Rep. Loretta Sanchez of Garden Grove (Orange County) and 43 other Democrats in districts...

Maudelle Shirek may not get her name on a post office in her hometown, but the city could name a different building after the godmother of Berkeley progressives. She is so revered in one of the nation's most liberal cities that a committee of city officials and citizens has been meeting for four months to find ways to honor Shirek, who left the City Council last year after 20 years and was known for her political activism on national and global issues. On Wednesday, the day after Republicans in the House of Representatives rejected an effort to name Berkeley's main...

(AP) - WASHINGTON-House Republicans rejected a Democratic resolution to name a post office in Berkeley, California, 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, an Iowa Republican 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...

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...