Posted on 12/07/2001 6:16:18 PM PST by anniegetyourgun
WASHINGTON- Escalating its feud with the White House, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights refused Friday to seat a new commissioner named by President Bush.
After showing up for his first meeting, Peter Kirsanow attempted to vote, but he was ignored and eventually sat silently Friday as the commissioners continued debate.
Kirsanow, a Cleveland labor lawyer, arrived with three attorneys and sat in the front row of the audience. Kirsanow's membership would split the commission's power evenly between commissioners who lean Republican and Democratic. That would blunt the clout of chairwoman Mary Frances Berry, a political independent who has been an outspoken commission member since 1980 and says she has had differences with every president she has served.
During the two-hour meeting, the three Republican commissioners repeatedly referred to "Commissioner Kirsanow," while Berry and her Democratic-leaning allies referred to Kirsanow as "some member of the audience."
"This issue will have to be decided by the courts," said Berry, who fended off repeated attempts by the three Republican members to formally introduce Kirsanow or to adjourn the meeting until the dispute is settled.
Berry called for a commission vote on every Republican effort to introduce Kirsanow - and the result every time was 5-3 against recognizing him. Commissioners finally did some commission business, reviewing their plans for the coming year.
"I'm very grateful and honored that President Bush has appointed me to this position," Kirsanow told reporters afterward. "I'm a little disappointed and chagrined that I didn't get to vote on any of the agenda items."
Kirsanow was appointed Wednesday and sworn in the next night at the White House over Berry's vehement protests. He was named to replace commissioner Victoria Wilson, whose seat is in dispute. Wilson attended and voted with Berry in the commission's small conference room above the YWCA in downtown Washington.
The commission was established as part of the executive branch in 1957 by then-President Eisenhower to monitor civil rights. The panel has no enforcement power and an annual budget of about $9 million, so its main tool is investigating civil rights complaints and publicizing its findings. Recently, the commission has looked at immigration policy, recent anti-terrorism steps by the Justice Department and the 2000 elections.
The commission sharply criticized the conduct of the 2000 election in Florida as well as the state's governor, Jeb Bush, younger brother of the president.
Berry said she did not know why the Bush administration was so determined to name Kirsanow to the board.
"I think it's very curious and very strange that this should happen," Berry said after the meeting. "I do remember that in the White House they expressed strong views about our report on Florida, calling it shoddy and politicized."
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said Friday that Kirsanow was installed within the letter of the law.
Bush's legal counsel Alberto Gonzalez and the Justice Department claim Wilson's term ended Nov. 29, at the end of the term of the commissioner she replaced in 2000, the late Judge A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. But Berry said that federal law calls for all commissioners to serve a six-year term and that any paperwork for Wilson that states differently is in error. Commission lawyers will contact the White House and Justice Department to try to resolve the issue, she said.
Democratic Commissioner Christopher Edley, a Harvard law professor, has sent a letter to House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri, complaining that "the confrontational approach announced by the White House counsel ... amounts to reckless disregard of the statute and an astonishing lack of minimal respect for an independent watchdog group."
Berry was fired in 1983 by then-President Reagan but eventually sued her way back onto the commission.
The newest commissioner, Bush appointee Jennifer Cabranes Braceras, pushed hardest for Kirsanow's seat on the commission, but was repeatedly ruled "out of order" by Berry.
Asked about it afterward, Braceras made a joking reference to the famous handbook for public meetings: "I'm not that familiar with Robert's Rules of Order. I'll have to peruse it."
The United States Commission on Civil Rights is composed of eight Commissioners: four appointed by the President and four by Congress. Not more than four members shall at any one time be of the same political party.
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.
The Commissioners serve 6-year terms. No Senate confirmation is required. The President may remove a member of the Commission only for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.
The Commissioners hold monthly meetings (except during August) and convene several times a year to conduct hearings, conferences, consultations, and briefings.
L
Mary Frances Berry is no more a "political independent" than Bill Clinton is.
What is AP's idea of "a political independent"?
Let's see:
" Mary Frances Berry, a professor of American social thought and history at the University of Pennsylvania, has served since 1980. She served President Carter in Health, Education and Welfare, running the education office. President Clinton named her chairwoman in 1993. Registered as an independent, Berry has contributed money to the campaigns of New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and other congressional Democrats as well as to Vice President Al Gore's failed presidential bid."
http://www.miami.com/herald/special/news/elect2000/decision/064260.htm
It certainly was 'shoddy and politicized'.....full of hot air, signifying nothing!
Don't bother, Ms. Braceras. M.F. Berry doesn't use it.
It might be better if you peruse Genghis Khan's "Rules of Order".
The Commission can't have more than 4 from any one political party, so some of the Dems had to list themselves as Independent. At the time of last year's election, there were 6 Dems, 1 GOP, and 1 Ind, but they declared their affiliations as 4 Ind, 3 Dem and 1 GOP.
AP, good people who care about truth and justice denounce this "Civil Rights" group.
She knows her days as chairman are numbered.
Frankly I hope she keeps this up; I can see "malfeasance" right over the horizon.
Main Entry: mal·fea·sance
Pronunciation: "mal-'fE-z&n(t)s
Function: noun
Etymology: mal- + obsolete feasance doing, execution Date: 1696
: wrongdoing or misconduct especially by a public official
I would think that her refusal to seat the new commissioner could easily be construed as wrongdoing
Pretty clear to me.
Oh geez.....no wonder the schools are in such a mess; they're probably STILL trying to undo all she did back then!
Of course the Democrats and Berry are not engaging in confrontational behavior at all.
"That would blunt the clout of chairwoman Mary Frances Berry, a political independent"
Do these people really believe that or do they think we're all incredibly stupid?
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