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May
1, 2002 8:45 a.m.
For
Pete’s Sake
Kirsanow
may yet become a civil-rights commissioner.
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 here's
a chance Peter Kirsanow will take his rightful seat at the U.S. Commission
on Civil Rights before its next meeting on May 17 — but only if three
federal-appeals-court judges hearing arguments this morning in the case
against civil-rights commissioner Victoria Wilson issue a speedy ruling.
There's no reason
they shouldn't. Wilson's term as a Clinton appointee to the commission
ended last November. She didn't serve a full six-year term on the panel
because she was chosen to complete the tenure of the late Leon Higginbotham.
All of Wilson's official paperwork indicated that her term would expire;
when it did, President Bush named Cleveland labor lawyer Peter Kirsanow
to the post.
But Wilson refused
to budge. Her liberal allies on the commission, including chairwoman Mary
Frances Berry, backed her up. They claimed the Wilson is entitled to a
full six-year term, not merely the remainder of Higginbotham's. This is
a bizarre interpretation of the law, but in February a federal judge actually
bought it and said that Wilson could serve until 2006.
That decision stands
a very good chance of being overturned by the three judges considering
the appeal today. Yet Wilson, who is the defendant in the case, has excellent
legal representation — secured for her by taxpayer funds. The commission
has intervened on her behalf and bought the services of Ted Wells, a high-priced
criminal lawyer perhaps best known for defending former agriculture secretary
Mike Espy. Because the federal government is suing Wilson to quit her
post, it means tax dollars are paying for both the prosecution and the
defense.
There's no reason
why the commission had to get directly involved in the case. In February,
the General Accounting Office even ruled that the commission "does
not have the statutory authority to use its appropriated funds to hire
outside counsel" in the matter. The commission simply should let
Wilson to defend herself and accept the final judgment of the court.
Yet here is another
example of the commission's extreme politicization under the leadership
of Berry. Last month, at oversight hearings sponsored by Rep. Steve Chabot
(R., Ohio), commissioner Abigail Thernstrom blasted the panel on which
she serves: "It sullies the drive for civil rights — taints
the cause to which every American should be committed.... It has become
a national embarrassment."
Those are harsh words,
but they are also true. Even if Kirsanow wins this latest round, there's
every reason to believe the commission's liberal members, who comprise
a voting majority, would still refuse to seat Kirsanow.
If Congress had the
courage, it would abolish the civil-rights commission, which no longer
serves a useful national purpose. If necessary, it could take the panel's
annual $9 million appropriation and give it to the civil-rights division
at the Department of Justice, the civil-rights office at the Department
of Education, or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Whatever
problems exist in these places pale in comparison to the systematic malfeasance
of the civil-rights commission.
ROUNDUP
The California state board of education has made a full retreat from its
underhanded attempts to gut restrictions on bilingual education....Yet
lawmakers in Sacramento are on the verge of banning Indian teams names
at public schools, apparently unaware
that most Indians don't even oppose the practice.
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