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Bush Administration 'Duped' by Jesse Jackson Event
By Marc Morano
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
January 06, 2003

(CNSNews.com) - Conservative critics of Jesse Jackson and his liberal political agenda are railing about what they see as a "terrible mistake" by two prominent Bush administration officials who have agreed to speak at Jackson's annual Wall Street fundraiser next week.

Some say the administration is being duped into participating in Jackson's event, while others say they're appalled by the participation of Bush administration officials.

Michael Powell, the Bush designated chairman of the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), and Roel Campos, the Bush appointed commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are both scheduled to appear Jan. 16 at Jackson's 6th annual Rainbow/PUSH Wall Street Project.

Powell is a Republican and the son of Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Fenimore Fisher, the deputy director of the Wall Street Project confirmed to CNSNews.com that Powell and Campos are going to appear at the awards luncheon.

Powell is scheduled to introduce NYSE chairman Richard Grasso and Campos will be a keynote speaker for the event titled "Necessities for Economic Stimulation & Parameters for Corporate Governance." The 2003 Wall Street Project is being billed as "Equity for All: Establishing the Economic Agenda for Growth" and runs from Jan. 14 -17.

Powell's office did not respond to four inquiries seeking comment, but Campos' office did confirm that the SEC commissioner would be speaking at the awards luncheon.

When asked whether the appearance of Campos at Jackson's event would amount to an endorsement of Jackson's politics, an official with the SEC who did not wish to be identified downplayed Campos' role as "very limited."

Jackson's detractors were quick to denounce the appearance of the two Bush administration officials.

"The good efforts by the Bush administration are being manipulated by Jackson in an attempt to rehabilitate his cash cow machine," said Niger Innis of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a conservative African American civil rights group.

"It is a terribly dangerous signal to send for the FCC chairman and the commissioner of the SEC to participate in any way shape or form with Jesse Jackson's endeavor," Innis told CNSNews.com.

Innis believes Jackson stokes racial controversies in order to direct corporate dollars to Jackson's friends and associates.

"Jesse Jackson's Wall Street Project helps Jesse Jackson's Wall Street friends. Certain members of the Bush administration are unknowingly being duped," Innis said.

"Michael Powell needs to know that Jesse Jackson is not on our team," Innis added.

Last October, it was Jackson who complained that Colin Powell was ''not on our team," while defending the comments of entertainer Harry Belafonte. In lambasting the Bush administration, Belafonte had described Colin Powell as the Bush administration's "house slave."

Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), called the Bush administration's involvement in the Wall Street Project "appalling." NLPC is a Washington, D.C.-based legal watchdog group that filed a formal complaint regarding Jackson's finances with the IRS in 2001.

"Jackson has a very tawdry history of using his association with government figures improperly and unethically. [They] should stay as far away from Jackson as they can possibly get," Boehm said.

The Wall Street Project is Jackson's "premiere fundraiser," Boehm said, adding that for the administration to send two members to the event "shows bad judgment."

Last year's Wall Street Project also featured at least one Bush administration official. Connie Newman, the assistant administrator for Africa from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), made an appearance.

Launched in 1997, the Wall Street Project is designed to promote minority participation in corporate America. The annual conference was once one of Jackson's proudest accomplishments, but the stock market crash and corporate accounting scandals have made Wall Street a less inviting place lately.

Financial investigations of Jackson's own organizations and the acknowledgement that he fathered a child out of wedlock may also have tarnished his image among corporate investors.

Some in the press last year commented that Jackson's Wall Street Project was notable for who was not in attendance. The New York Daily News cited the absence of Kenneth Chenault, chairman of American Express; Stanley O'Neal, president of Merrill Lynch and Richard Parsons, AOL Time Warner executive -- three of the top black executives in America. The paper also pointed out that neither New York Gov. George Pataki nor New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg attended.

In explaining the necessity for his 2003 Wall Street Project, Jackson complained in a statement that, "Workers, entrepreneurs and consumers of color in America today are not valued, respected and employed in the way that we all deserve."

The 2003 Wall Street Project is being sponsored by such corporate giants as Citigroup, Coca Cola, AOL Time Warner, Freddie Mac, AT&T, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, IBM, Kodak, Boeing and the Daimler Chrysler Corporate Fund.