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Unwelcome Bush Civil Rights Appointee Sworn in at White House, Fate Uncertain
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAXWZ86YUC.html
By Will Lester Associated Press Writer
Published: Dec 7, 2001
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush's appointee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
was sworn in at the White House, but the commission chairwoman says there's no room at
the table.
Cleveland lawyer Peter Kirsanow was sworn in Thursday night, in time for the panel's
regular monthly meeting on Friday. A District of Columbia judge swore in Kirsanow with
Bush's top lawyer, Alberto Gonzales, looking on.
Chairwoman Mary Frances Berry says the disputed seat on the commission "ought to be
resolved in the courts." She planned to hold the meeting without seating Kirsanow.
Kirsanow, accompanied by three lawyers, arrived 30 minutes before the commission's
scheduled starting time and took a seat with others in the audience. The nameplate of
Victoria Wilson, who has held the seat to which Kirsanow was appointed, was still at
the U-shaped table where commissioners sit.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said there was no legal merit to Berry's claim
that Wilson's term has not expired, noting a ruling by the Justice Department's legal
counsel and Clinton administration records that indicate Wilson's term expired Nov.
29. He denied rough politics on the White House's part, saying Kirsanow was installed
within the letter of the law.
"This was the most productive way to proceed in a cordial manner," Fleischer told
reporters. "If you're suggesting that Commissioner Kirsanow should have shown up today
asking Commissioner Berry to do something that she's indicated she wouldn't, that
would have been provocative."
Berry said the White House's moves were "about muzzling us and it's scary to have them
take all of this time and energy. It makes me even more afraid for the preservation of
the commission."
The dispute between the Republican White House and a prominent black civil rights
leader surprised the Bush team.
Berry says the term of the commissioner Bush wants to replace has not expired.
By taking the disputed seat held by Wilson, Kirsanow, a member of the largely
conservative Center for New Black Leadership, would effectively rein in Berry's power
over the commission.
Berry - a frequent critic of the 2000 elections and particularly of Florida Gov. Jeb
Bush, younger brother of the president - presides over a panel on which six
commissioners lean Democratic and two lean Republican. The White House has already
announced it plans to appoint Jennifer Cabranes Braceras to replace, Yvonne Lee, whose
term is expiring in early December. If Kirsanow is seated, the commission would be
split 4-4.
Wilson, an independent, often sides with Berry. She was appointed in January 2000 to
replace Judge A. Leon Higginbotham Jr., who died in 1998.
The Bush administration maintains Wilson's term ended Nov. 29, at the time
Higginbotham's term would have expired, and that this expiration date was spelled out
in the Clinton administration's paperwork on Wilson's appointment.
Berry argued the documents are wrong and are trumped by federal law, which says new
commissioners will fill a six-year term.
Democratic Reps. John Conyers of Michigan and Jerrold Nadler of New York wrote Berry
on Thursday to say the law as amended in 1994 reflects her interpretation.
The commission received a letter from the Justice Department late Thursday informing
Berry that she is not allowed to retain outside legal help without Attorney General
John Ashcroft's permission. Berry rejected that opinion.
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http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAXWZ86YUC.html
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