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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.
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.
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