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WASHINGTON — Members of the Congressional Black Caucus met Wednesday on Capitol Hill to discuss the apparent fallout after Color of Change, a national grassroots organization, blasted the caucus's political arm for its decision to not endorse Democratic Maryland Rep. Donna Edwards' run for the Senate.
Politico reported last month that the CBC PAC voted not to endorse Edwards, citing among other unknown factors a lack of support among black leadership in Maryland. The non-endorsement came on the heels of the CBC PAC's endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president.
Color of Change's email campaign, first reported by BuzzFeed News Monday, asked supporters to sign a petition demanding that the CBC remake its board and "cut ties with industries that harm Black people, including Private Prison lobbyists, Big Tobacco, and the anti-worker National Restaurant Association."
"If corporate lobbyists on the CBC PAC's board can decide to withhold support from someone like Rep. Edwards, why are they being allowed to operate under the banner of the Congressional Black Caucus?" the email blast read.
On Wednesday, Politico reported that the PAC's chairman, Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, said the critique by Color of Change was overblown because the board members represent themselves, "not their companies or clients."
But the impact was still being felt. On Wednesday, the New Republic published a widely shared piece titled "Has The Congressional Black Caucus Lost Its Conscience?"
On Tuesday night, Michelle Alexander, the author of The New Jim Crow, a seminal text on mass incarceration in the U.S., got behind the petition, calling it "critically important."
"Two weeks ago, the CBC PAC, with it's lobbyist-dominated board, made a high-profile endorsement of Hillary Clinton and quietly decided NOT to endorse fellow CBC member Rep. Donna Edwards' historic bid to become only the second Black woman to be elected to the Senate," Alexander wrote on Facebook.
"Read this petition to learn why Donna Edwards wasn't endorsed and get a small glimpse of how utterly corrupt our politics have become," she continued. "The Congressional Black Caucus presents itself as the 'moral conscience' of our government, yet its PAC exemplifies so much of what is wrong with our withering democracy."
Rashad Robinson, the executive director of Color of Change, said Alexander's involvement lent legitimacy to the campaign.
"I think Michelle Alexander's points underscore why we launched this campaign, knowing that we are going against the current and could potentially lose some friends," Robinson told BuzzFeed News. "We've heard from too many folks that this is how it is done in Washington or this is just part of the system — and we are tired. 'Business as usual' doesn't serve black people and our communities and, in fact, it hurts us. So CBC members have a choice, force the CBCPAC to clean up its business or risk squandering reputation, trust and moral authority."
Members also discussed low voter turnout among Democrats, a source said.
Source BuzzFeed - Politics http://ift.tt/1TSYkoj
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