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Politics : Al Gore vs George Bush: the moderate's perspective -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (9951)	12/10/2001 6:48:02 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 10042

Civil Rights Group Denounces Appointee " 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 " Friday December 7 7:48 PM ET By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - 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 sites) 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. White House officials say they also plan to argue that the law requires staggered terms, so that no one president can fill the commission with appointees. 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. The Justice Department planned to ask the District of Columbia Superior Court to rule on which commissioner is entitled to serve, White House officials said late Friday. 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.'' - Commission on Civil Rights: usccr.gov dailynews.yahoo.com Email this story