While
Berry may have postponed discussion of Memogate, her day of reckoning
regarding the finances of the Civil Rights Commission may come much
sooner.
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Democrat
Memogate: Standoff at the Civil Rights Commission
The
United States Commission on Civil Rights did not meet on May 17,
the date marking the 50th Anniversary of the unanimous
Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education that
mandated integration of Americas public schools.
The
Commission was scheduled to meet and, as readers of this website
and Robert Novaks column know, set to discuss Commissioner
Peter Kirsanows request that staff monitor investigations
of attempts to fix a more recent civil rights case. The Commission
was also set to discuss potential financial improprieties under
the leadership of dictatorial Chairperson Mary Frances Berry.
Neither
discussion was likely to feature Berry in a favorable light, although,
after years of controversy at the Commission, Berry has demonstrated
time and again that her reputation, and that of the Commission,
are secondary to the survival of her fiefdom. It is no secret that
Kirsanow and others believe the Commission is an embarrassment of
government waste and abuse, a political platform for Berrys
biases and diatribes.
The
Commission didnt meet on May 17 because a number of Commissioners
were between 10 and 15 minutes late, and Berry gaveled the proceedings
into adjournment before they ever really started for lack of a quorum.
That, despite the fact that Commission meetings rarely start on
time, as most of the Commissioners live elsewhere and travel to
Washington for the sole purpose of attending meetings. Berry, herself,
is frequently late to meetings, but they dont get cancelled
when shes late.
The
media, alerted by Novaks
timely column to the potential war of words between the unstoppable
Kirsanow and the immovable Berry, had turned out. But Berry dodged
the oncoming train by her parliamentary ploy, demonstrating, in
yet another venue, the organized stonewalling of the Memogate scandal.
While
Berry may have postponed discussion of Memogate, her day of reckoning
regarding the finances of the Civil Rights Commission may come much
sooner. Attorneys for the House Judiciary Committee, which has oversight
responsibilities for the Commission, were in the audience awaiting
the discussion of finances when the meeting was abruptly adjourned.
They then attempted to meet privately with Berry, who instead quickly
disappeared through a back door.
"Congress
provides the commission with approximately $9 million a year of
taxpayer money. It is an insult to Congress and to taxpayers for
Ms. Berry to sneak out the back door and refuse to account for hers
and the commissioners actions." Thats what Julia
Tomala, chief oversight counsel for the House Judiciary Committee
told Steve Miller of The Washington Times.
Mary
Frances Berry undoubtedly thinks of herself as a civil rights leader.
So did Elaine Jones, the former president of the NAACP Legal Defense
and Educational Fund, now inextricably at the center of the Memogate
scandal. Both disgrace a worthy and once mighty cause. Both now
stonewall inevitable judgment. The true cause of civil rights would
benefit immensely if that judgment was issued from within rather
than from without.
[Posted
May 20, 2004]
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