5A
OPINIONS/tr^ charlotte ^octt
Thursday, June 8, 2006
Misjudging Rev.
Bill Jefferson’s
base of support
Let me be up front by stating first that I am not an apol
ogist for Eep. William Jefferson (D-La.) If he did use his
office to enrich himself illegally, then he should be - as they
used to say - put imder the jailhouse, not in it. As yet, he
has not been convicted of anything and despite the fact
that the FBI has a video allegedly showir^
Jefferson accepting cash for using his polit
ical influence with Nigerian officials, they
may not have a clear-cut case. That may be
why in addition to a raid of his home by the
FBI that produced what people are joking
ly calling "cold cash” foimd in his fi^zer,
they went one step further and pulled an
unprecedented raid on his congressional
office, touching off hot button
Constitutional issues that have for 219
years appeared to shield members of
Congress fix5m such action by the executive branch.
Tb be sure, Repubhcans had attempted to blow up
Jefferson’s troubles, with the help of the media to create
the impression that Democrats are equally corrupt. For
example, The New York Times, attempted to go behind the
nickname "dollar bfll” that Jefferson earned in his rise
throi^h politics in Louisiana, with a half page article that
presented a large picture featuring the graves of his par
ents, in a thoroughly distasteful effort to stir prurient
interests in his origins.
The Jefferson case compares in no way to the magnitude
of the Abramhoff scandal, where a confessed Republican
lobbyist was convicted of breaking the law using cash and
influence, the tentacles of which wind around through
Congress down into the state of Marjdand involving one of
the candidate for governor, Doug Duncan, then up to the
White House with pictures showing him and Geoige W.
Bush together.
Moreover, the most powerful member of the Republican
Party in the House, Tbm Delay was forced to resign amid
corruption allegations also involving Abramhoff, and one
notes that the attorney general did not raid his office to
secure documents. Delayusedhisposition, andthatofthe
federal Department of Homeland Security to find mem
bers of the Tbxas state legislature who had disappeared
fiom their session, refusir^ to vote on a redistricting
scheme that was a possible violation of the Voting Ri^ts
Act.
But if you say that Jefferson was violated because he was
Black, someone will find another reason. Well, there is
another reason and it is the same arrogance attitude
toward the use of unbridled power and the expansion of
the ^ecutive branch that has characterized the conserva
tive movemeat. It was witnessed in the impeachment of
Bfll Clinton, in tiie propagation of the Iraq war, in spying
on American citizens by the National Security Agency in
the partisan conduct of everyday business of the House
and Senate, in outing CIA agents for political reasons, and
now in crossing the fine between the major institution of
government.
A problem that has often arisen in the irse of such power
by the conservatives is that while shooting at liberals, they
often wound themselves and in this case, they have pro
voked a constitutional crisis. None other than the
Republican chair of the House Judiciary Committee,
James SensenbrennerCOhio) was angered by the midnight
raid on Jefferson’s office and called hearings to investigate
the constitutional basis for this action.
In his opening statement, he called attention to Artide 1,
Section 6, of the Constitution that says that members of.
Congress were "privileged” for "any speech or debate in
either House” and "shah not be questioned in any other
place.” In other words, legislative speech is privileged and
because of this he questioned whether the attorney gener
al’s investigators would - or even coifld - privilege such
material when they rifled through the docmnents taken
fiom Jefferson’s office.
Saisenbrenner went on to say that in several cases the
Supreme Court had routinely interpreted the "speech and
debate” language to reinforce the separation of powers and
to protect against inquiry of members of Congress in the
course of their legislative duties. The problem here was
outlined in the hearings by ccoiservative legal scholar
Bmce Fine who said that even armed witli a warrant from
a court, "A search warrant allows the FBI to ransack files
of a Member, reading each and every document in hopes of
discovering those described in the warrant” but these files
"invariably indude volumes of documents within the pro
tection of the [speech and debate) dause.”
George W Bush is between a rock and a hard place. He
needs the Congress to continue with his legislative agen
da, not the least of which is to support spending for the
Iraq war and other matters, so he cannot afford to inm
rou^ shod over its leadership.
RON WALTERS is Professor of Government and Politics at the
University of Maryland College Park.
Let’s not go down
the GOP marriage
ban road again
You know it’s an election year when gays become the topic of con
versation at the White House. Not satisfied with dividing the
entire coimtry over immigration reform, for extra added insur
ance, President Bush has dedded to bring up the issue of bannir^
marriage for lesbians and gays... again.
In his weekly Presidential address, the president
reconfirmed his commitment to banning marri^e
for gays in America. Citing that “marriage is the
most enduring and important human institution,
honored and encouraged in aU cultures and by
every religious faith,’’ he went on to say that, “an
amendment to the Constitution is necessary
because activist courts have left om Nation with
no other choice.”
We’ve been down this road before and it wasn’t
pretty In 2004, eleven states, including Ohio,
Mississippi, Georgia and Michigan, passed amendments to their
constitution definir^ marriage as a union between a man and a
woman. The black leadership allowed ri^t wing conservatives to
come in and message directly to African Americans on gay mar
riage and supporting the re-election of President Bush because he
woifld protect America’s morals. Seemir^y black pastors allowed
their congregations to be bought with faith-based money in the
guise of protecting the institution of marri^e. And where did all
ofthatgetus? Absolutely nowhere.
There is still a disproportionately number of black Americans
that are still unemployed, disenfranchised, uneducated and unin
sured. Two years ago, the black leadership failed African
Americans by not exposing Bush’s political pandering for what it
was. Choosing instead to focus on the war on terrorism, the econ
omy, education, healthcare and affirmative action, they didn’t see
gay marriage as an issue they were ready to tackle.
We simply cannot afford to have that attitude today like in
2004, but even more so today there is simply too much at stake for
us to be bamboozled into taking up an agenda that is not om own
or in our best interests, Look around yoii. Are lesbians and gays
the cause of the gai^ viol^ce that is suffocating your neighbor
hoods? Are gays the reason why you can’t afford decent health
care? Are gays the reason that your child’s school is tmder fimd-
ed and that the minimuTn wage hasn’t been raised? No.
Just like you, gays are tryir^ to make it day to day and provide
for their families. Black gays who tend to live where Blacks live in
general and have the same economic charactoistics as their het
erosexual counterparts, are dealing with the same issues that
most Blacks are.
We cannot afford to alienate any part of our community going
into the 2008 presidential dection. We need every person at the
table, heterosexual and gay We are going to have to get over our
homophobia as a community We all have a relative, co-worker, or
friend who identifies as leslaan, gay, bisexual or transgender.
And no matter how you feel personally about gays, at the end of
the day they are not the source of what’s wrong with this coimtry
President Bush and his ri^t wing conservatives are. Members of
the Cor^ressional Black Caucus, the black church and our tradi
tional black institutions like the NAACP are going to play a cru
cial role in exactly how far the GOP is able to sink its tentacles into
our communities.
If they continue to be silent on this issue and still see it as a non
issue while the rest of the country uses our votes to further their
pohtical ^enda, then we are doomed to see a repeat of four years
ago. You don’t have to support equal rights for gaj^ to not support
the GOP’s bigoted eigenda. It just means that this time around, we
aren’t falling for the old divide and conquer scheme. Marriage
bans, like immigration, continue to be one of those issues that
GOP political strategists love to puU out their doaks when all dse
fails.
As blacks, we know fijsthand who stands to benefit the most
fiom our community being divided, and it’s not us. In dosing, I
pose the following questions: Was the judge who presided over
Loving V. \drginia, the landmark case that allowed whites and
blacks to get married, an activist judge? Were the courts being
activists when it dedded that black children could go to school with
their white counterparts? Was it activism extending the right to
vote to Blacks? No. It was an attempt to try and right the wror^
this country had committed against a group of people. Sound
familiar?
JASMYNE CANNICK is a social and political commentator and a mem
ber of the National Association of Black Journalists. She is tlve co-chair of
the National Stonewall Democrats Black Caucus and a board member of the
National Black Justice Coalition. Based in Los Angeles, she can be reached
via her website at www.jasmynecannickcom .
As blacks, we know firsthand whostands
to benefit the most from our community
being divided, and it’s not us.
Connect with TOJe ^ot
Send letters to The Charlotte Post, P.O. Box 30144 Charlotte, NC 28230 or
e-mail editorial@thecharlottepost.com. We edit for grammar, clarity and
space. Include your name and daytime phone number.
Letters and photos will not be returned by mail unless accompanied by a
self-addressed, stamped envelope.
D.G.
Martin
Watching political
non-profit groups
There is a new game in North Carolina pohti.es. It
coifld be called “My Non-Profit vs. Your Non-Profit.”
Ambitious, attractive, but out-of-office, peJitidans
are organizing non-profit groups. Each one is to push
for some impeotant poHcy goal and give the pohtidan
a platform to get attention.
Newspaper reporters are learning. They now auto
matically ask, “Are you planning to use this organi
zation as a jumping off point to run for pohtical
office?’
A good answer to this question
came last week from Kieran
Shanahan. “I wouldn’t rule it out,” he
said when reporters for the Raledgh
' I News & Observer asked him about a
f future campaign for state attorney
^ general.
a Shanahan, a former Raldgh- dty
councilman, announced last month
that he is organizing the North
Carolina Property Ri^ts Coahtion
to push for a constitutional amend
ment that would add restrictions to the power of gov
ernment to take private property usir^ eminent
domain.
Heading up the Property Rights Coahtion puts
Shanahan on the side of all people who don’t want the
government to take their homes away fix)m them -
which is ah of us. More than that, it gives bim the
opportunity to travel across the state, to oiganize
supporters, to create news events that will get cover
age in the local papers, to buy televisiSn and newspa
per advertising that features bim prominently, and to
build lists of potential supporters and contributors
should he ever run for attorney general.
No doubt Shanahan was inspired by the example
set by anotiiOT possible future candidate. Salisbury
attorney Bill Graham is considering a run for gover
nor. Bather than open up his campaign headquarters
he organized a movement to roU back a recent “auto
matic” increase in the state’s gasoline tax. His efibrts
put him on the side of all people who woifld like to pay
less for their gas.
Again, that’s everybody
Then Graham reportedly spent more than a million
dollars of his own money to oiganize a “roU back the
gas tax” rally in Raleigh last month. His efforts
brought him a good round of fi:’ee media attention. His
million dollars also bought television and print media
advertising that featured Graham and gave bim a
favorable introductictn to the North Carolina public.
Graham’s money and his eflbrts have turned him
fix)m a political unknown to a legitimate candidate for
the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2008.
Amazingly he may now be the leading candidate.
Why else would the friends of another leadir^ candi
date be trying to discredit Graham by leaking stories
to the newspapers about Graham’s past pohtical con
tributions to Democratic candidates?
The success of Graham’s aggressive efforts may
finstrate his potential RepubHcan primary oppo
nents. But his attempts to gain pubhc attention are
more likely aimed at the possible Democratic candi
dates, Lt. Gfovemor Beverly Perdue, Attorney
General Roy Cooper, and Tteasurer Richard Moore.
Their statewide offices give them the opportunity to
be in the pubhc spothght on a regular basis.
Graham, Shanahan, and other non-officeholder
candidates know that they are at a disadvant^e
when they run against people who have been on tele
vision regularly Both Shanahan and Graham may
have learned some lessons from former Senator John
Edwards about the challenges an “out of office” can
didate faces. Edwards, a likely presidential candidate
in 2008, must compete for pubhc attention and credi-
bihty with someone like Senator Hillary Clinton.
Clinton can use her pubhc office to make news any
time she chooses.
One of Edwards’ smart moves was to help estabhsh
the Center on Poverty Work and Opportunity at
UNC-Chapel Hill “because millions of hard-working
Americans still find themselves hvir^ in poverty”
Maybe “eliminating poverty” is not as much a “hot
button” concern as “rolling back the gas tax” or ‘keep
ing the government fiom taking our property” But it
is a positive goal that almost everybody can share
with Edwards. And, of course, the new center gives
Edwards a much-needed platform to speak and stay
• in the pubhc eye while he plans for his next cam
paign.
Graham, Shanahan, and Edwards have demon
strated how to play the new “non-profit” game. From
now on, ambitious aspiring candidates will be expect
ed to answer these questions: “When are you going to
oiganize your non-profit and what important issue is
it goir^ to tackle?’
D.G. MARTIN is the host of UNC-TV’s “North Carolina
Bookwatch, ” which airs on Sundays at 5 pm.
by Aaron McGntder
VHBCLXCifABLE ' I
CAN'T mm HOW Mxet
! m AT THIS GAWE.
WATCH THIS. HUEY .. HERE
IT goes ... HA HAAA.'/
TftA SAVIN'. THOUGH. ARE YOU GONNA
give AAE SOME COWpnmON OR PO
I NEED TO PlAY AGAINST THE
COMPUTER? LOGIC, WHY PON'T YOU
GO REAP THE aUE POOIC 'CAUSE YOUR
SICILLS ARE STINICIN' UP THE SPOT
SOfAETHlNG TERRIPLE
OH MY GOOPNESS,
I'l/E NEVER SEEN A
SMAClC-POWN THIS B.
PO YOU EVER PRAC
TICE? MAN, THIS IS
EMBARRASSING ...
HOW NICE IT
WAS FOP RILEY TO
TEACH YOU HOW TO PlAY
AWO TAUC A MOUNTAIN
L OF TRASH. TOO .. y