CBC  says Van Hollen’s efforts not good enough

Black lawmakers told Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) Wednesday that his efforts to include African-Americans are not good enough and must be improved during a two-hour private meeting on a range of topics.

Congressional CBC  (CBC) members made it plain that attempts by the DCCC to address long-standing grievances have not gone far enough.

{mosads}Committee officials counter that they have put African Americans in senior positions and have involved black lawmakers in political operations.

After the CBC clashed with Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) over members’ dues and other issues in the 2006 election cycle, party leaders instituted several reforms.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) created an ad hoc group of lawmakers to investigate concerns with the DCCC’s management and later appointed Democratic Whip James Clyburn (S.C.), a former chairman of the CBC, to serve as a vice chairman of the party fundraising committee.

African-American lawmakers have complained that fundraising committee officials hound them for party dues without taking into account that many CBC members represent impoverished districts and have difficulty raising money. Earlier this year, Van Hollen said he would consider giving lawmakers additional credit for appearing on behalf of Democratic candidates, a proposal Clyburn championed as a way to give more recognition to African-American lawmakers and help them climb the party ladder.

CBC members say that several problems still need to be addressed. They told Van Hollen that they want him to hire more African-American contractors and venders as well as more senior African-American staff. They would also like to have greater access to DCCC resources, such as field organizers. Right now, said CBC members, any attention the party committee gives to incumbents is lavished on a small group of endangered incumbents — members of the so-called Frontline program — none of whom happen to be African-American.

“It was a lively discussion,” said Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-Mich.), the CBC chairwoman.

“We pay a lot of dues and we don’t see many minority contractors and businesses getting some of that work,” said Kilpatrick, who estimated that CBC members pay about half a million dollars in dues.

“If we pay in, we got to be able to get something out,” she said. “Before this year the DCCC had staff around the country and we knew who they were. Now DCCC is mainly doing Frontline and we don’t have any African-American members on Frontline. So we don’t get the services, we don’t get the bundling, we don’t get that kind of support.”

Other CBC members voiced similar concerns.{mospagebreak}

“We are probably the most loyal segment of the Democratic Party,” said Rep. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.), referring to African-American voters who have supported Democrats by nearly nine to one margins in recent presidential elections. “We try to be team players but yet when it comes to the issue of jobs, vendors and consultants, we are left aside so there is some inequity there.

“There should be fairness injected into the process,” said Clay, who said black lawmakers have trouble raising money from political action committees, which often steer their funds to incumbents considered more vulnerable politically.

{mosads}Brian Wolff, executive director of the DCCC, cited several senior committee posts held by African-Americans.

He noted that  the committee’s chief financial officer, head of the member service department, press secretary, head of the accounting department, and the head of the online department are African-American.

Wolff said that one of the committee’s four pollsters is African American and that the committee is considering hiring African- American consultants to run independent expenditures — a lucrative business — on behalf of Democratic candidates.

Wolff also said that two CBC members, Clyburn and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), hold senior positions at the DCCC, and Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) heads the committee’s “Red to Blue” challenger support program and chairs the recruitment program.

CBC members are free to use the DCCC’s member services department and its communications center, and have access to up-to-date information on political action committees, said Wolff.

At Wednesday’s meeting, CBC members also pressed Van Hollen to commit to supporting Andre Carson, the late Rep. Julia Carson’s (D-Ind.) grandson, in a May 6 Democratic primary. The DCCC is backing Carson in a March 11 special election against a Republican opponent, but Van Hollen has declined to promise support for the Democratic primary.

“The DCCC doesn’t usually get into primaries, that was his position,” said Kilpatrick, describing Van Hollen’s response to African-American lawmakers’ request that he back Carson.

Julia Carson was a member of the CBC and Kilpatrick wants the seat to stay within her caucus. That may not happen because Carson’s district is only a third African-American and there are at least two African -American candidates who plan to challenge her grandson. That could split the black vote and throw the nomination to state Rep. David Orentlicher, who is white.  

The African-American lawmakers’ demands put pressure on Van Hollen to abandon the committee’s general policy of not becoming involved in primary contests.

So far, the DCCC has focused on involving CBC members in the race.

Wolff said that lawmakers would either visit the district or call into local radio programs starting this weekend.