The announcement that House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi has decided not to name U.S. Rep. Alcee L. Hastings, an African American from Florida, the number two Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, a pivotal committee in the House, was a wise concession to political reality. She made this decision despite an all-out effort by Hastings and some members of the Congressional Black Caucus to overcome the stain of the 1988 impeachment (the House vote was 413 to 3) that removed Hastings from the federal bench.
This was no rebuff of the CBC. Pelosi has pledged to clean up Congress after two years of scandals in the Republican-dominated House, and passing over Hastings was a prudent, politically astute move that protects the larger interests of the CBC’s constituents. We applaud her decision.
The GOP is already in attack mode as its strategists feverishly plan to return a Republican to the White House and to win back majorities in the House and Senate in 2008. They don’t need to have political red meat handed to them by Democrats.
With Democratic control of the House, at least 22 members of the CBC, including U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay, are in position to gain powerful committee and subcommittee chairmanships or other important assignments on committees that deal with such critical issues as housing, health care, justice and education. At least four members have a chance to chair prominent committees: U.S. Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (the House Administration Committee), U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson (the House Homeland Security Committee), U.S. Rep. John Conyers (the House Judiciary Committee) and U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel (the House Ways and Means Committee).
Subcommittee chairs carry clout, because they also set agendas, conduct hearings, hire and manage subcommittee staff, and coordinate deliberations on legislation. Some African Americans who could take over one of these roles are: U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings at Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources; St. Louis native U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters at the influential Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit; and U.S. Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton at the Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management Subcommittee. In addition, there are staff positions in both the House and Senate that lead to influential posts with government contractors and lobbyists. Reportedly, only 200 out of 29,700 registered lobbyists are African Americans.
African-American congresspeople need to make strategic use of their political capital and not squander it defending colleagues who have not managed their affairs as they should. It is a manner of priorities, and the peoples’ business must take preference over protecting errant colleagues.