Dodd apology is not enough
By JOSEPH STRAW , Special To The Herald 04/16/2004
WASHINGTON -- <font size=4>The president of the Greater New Haven NAACP is not satisfied with U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd’s apology for his sweeping praise of a Senate colleague who has a checkered past on matters of race relations. <font size=3>
Scot X. Esdaile argued Thursday that Dodd must address the people of the state and meet personally with civil rights officials to discuss the matter, citing Dodd’s candidacy for a fifth term this November.
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Esdaile pointed to both Dodd’s blanket praise of U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., and Dodd’s February 2001 vote in favor of confirming U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft’s nomination.
The NAACP opposed Ashcroft's nomination based on his voting record when he was one of the U.S. senators from Missouri.
"It's just my opinion that it’s strike two for Senator Dodd," Esdaile said. "First he supported Ashcroft when the NAACP was totally against Ashcroft’s appointment, and here we’ve got him supporting Senator Byrd."<font size=3>
Added Esdaile: "It’s going to take more than an apology. We need to sit down and really deal with this. Due to the fact that this year is his election, he should come out and state his case, not just to a few, but to the state."
In February 2001, the Senate voted 58-42 to confirm Ashcroft’s nomination. Dodd was one of only eight Democratic senators who voted in favor of Ashcroft.
Dodd said at the time that while he was troubled by some of Ashcroft’s record, he did not believe Ashcroft was a racist, calling him a "decent human being, a person of his word" who deserved the benefit of the doubt.
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Along with other senators, Dodd delivered a floor speech two weeks ago commemorating Byrd's 17,000th vote during his 45-year tenure in the Senate. Dodd said Byrd "would have been a great senator at any moment."
Byrd was a member of the Ku Klux Klan during the early 1940s, and participated in a failed filibuster of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.<font size=3> Byrd has since apologized repeatedly, and expressed regret for past actions on matters of civil rights.
Dodd phoned constituents and members of the civil rights community in Washington Wednesday to apologize for his speech, which he characterized as a matter of omission and a poor choice of words.
He could not be reached for comment on Esdaile’s remarks Thursday.
Jimmy Griffin, president of the Connecticut NAACP, accepted Dodd's apology.
Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP's Washington Bureau and the group’s top lobbyist, said Dodd need not have apologized at all.
zwire.com. |
