Glenn Ford & Peter Gamble
Publishers
The Black Commentator
The second biannual Congressional Black Caucus Monitor Report Card shows that a handful of "derelicts" in the CBC remain far outside of the African American political consensus - worthless to the Black constituents that voted them into office.
Yet 81 percent of the 42 African American House members (34) scored 80 percent or higher on the watchdog group's index of "bright line" issues, evidence that the corporate-financed rot that became dramatically manifest in 2005 has not infected most of a caucus that has long claimed to be "the conscience of the congress."
"CBC Monitor is a challenge both to the CBC themselves but also Black America to get more active in making the American political system function in its benefit," said Jared Ball, a founder of the CBC Monitor. "Our report cards are just that: scheduled, timely assessments meant to criticize and reward performance."
View CBC Report Card Chart
‘Somebody's watching you…'
At the top of the Honor Society, with perfect scores in both the first and second halves of the 109th Congress, were: John Conyers (MI), Barbara Lee (CA), John Lewis (GA), Cynthia McKinney (GA), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC), Charles Rangel (NY), Robert Scott (VA), and Maxine Waters (CA). They are the most brightly shining lights of progressivism in the CBC.
Fourteen other members registered an "A" on the CBC Monitor scale, with scores of 90 to 95: Donna Christian-Christensen (VI), Chaka Fattah (PA), Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX), Major Owens (NY), Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (OH), Diane Watson (CA), Melvin Watt (NC), Emanuel Cleaver (MO), Al Green (TX), Julia Carson (IN), William "Lacy" Clay (MO), James Clyburn (SC), and Carolyn Kilpatrick (MI).
However, despite their 95% combined Spring-Fall scores, Reps. Cleaver and Green were denied Honor Society status because of their votes for the GOP's infamous Bankruptcy bill, in the Spring of 2005 - a cardinal sin, by the CBC Monitor's reckoning (and BC's, too).
Grouped like dregs at the bottom of the Caucus barrel are five members whose conduct reveals them as tools for parties outside the Black community: Albert Wynn (MD) 55%, Artur Davis (AL) 40%, David Scott (GA) 35%, Sanford Bishop (GA) 32.5%, and Harold Ford Jr. (TN) 32.5. Ford was also the lowest rated congressperson in the CBC Monitor's September, 2005 Report Card (at 5%). However, perhaps looking over his shoulder at his base as he runs for the U.S. Senate this year, Ford improved his Fall score by 55 points over his abysmal Spring tally. But he remains a "Derelict" of the worst order.
All five "Derelicts" are members of the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) and/or Blue Dog Democrats.
The hapless three members rated "Underachievers" by the CBC Monitor, are: G.K. Butterfield (NC) 75% "C", William Jefferson (LA) 70% "C", and Gregory Meeks (NY) 65% "D." Meeks and Jefferson climbed out of their earlier "Derelict" status in the second half of the session, but Butterfield managed to slime his way downward from a previous "A" - the worst showing of any newcomer to the CBC.
(U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) was not included in the second CBC Monitor Report Card, because no corresponding "bright line" issues came up in his chamber of Congress in the latter part of the year. He retains his earlier grade of "C" - an "Underachiever.")
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