'Cancer' in the Congressional Black Caucus as That Body Has Become Increasingly Pro-Corporate and Anti-Community

When the Congressional Black Caucus began its slide into irrelevancy, Al Wynn was there, one of four Blacks to vote to authorize George Bush's Iraq invasion, in 2002. By 2005, the list of irredeemable backstabbers had grown to ten, with nine CBC members joining Wynn in support of a Republican bankruptcy bill.

The cancer in the Caucus must be removed one cell at a time, but that requires courageous candidates backed by enough non-corporate money to go the distance. The larger challenge is to recognize that Jim Crow is over, and it's long past time to make Black politicians accountable.

In recent years, a cabal of corporate-bought members have degraded the cohesion and progressive legacy of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), reducing the once-proud body to an impotent shell. The fracturing of the CBC is largely the work of the Democratic Leadership Council, the bastion and bank of corporate power in the Party. As a Trojan Horse for Big Business on Capitol Hill, the DLC has suborned the most opportunistic members of the Caucus, awarding them with key positions and prime access to campaign cash. Among the worst malefactors is Albert Wynn, the mis-Representative from the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC, and the DLC's corporate bagman within the Congressional Black Caucus.

By slavishly voting for corporate-backed legislation -- Republican bills supported by the DLC's right wing of Democrats -- Wynn's faction in the CBC give credence to the fiction, that African Americans are drifting politically to the right. Although having no basis in fact, this wishful canard holds that Blacks in more affluent districts are becoming more "conservative" -- especially in places like Prince George's County, Wynn's base and the most prosperous majority-Black county in the nation.

However, Albert Wynn looks like he's on the rocks. Donna Edwards, who came within a few percentage points of ousting Wynn, in 2006, despite a late start and bone-dry treasury, has the derelict congressman running scared and desperately attempting to revise his sordid record before Democratic primary voters have their say on February 12. A solid progressive, Edwards is confident she can dethrone the pretender, this time around.

"There is no excuse for somebody representing the 4th congressional district voting with Republicans and voting with President Bush," says Edwards, a longtime executive in the non-profit sector. "Where it's really coming home to roost, today, is with his bad vote on bankruptcy. When he sided with Republicans to undermine consumers' and homeowners' positions in bankruptcy court, we're seeing that come to roost today in the number of foreclosures going on in our district and around the country."

Edwards is referring to the disastrous Spring of 2005, when ten Black Caucus members voted with Republicans (and DLCers) to limit citizen access to bankruptcy court. A total of 15 Black congresspersons -- more than a third of the Caucus -- supported at least one of three key GOP measures on bankruptcy, the estate tax, and energy. Albert Wynn was one of four Blacks that supported all three Republican bills -- a total sellout.

But Wynn had been working for the other team for years. He and Harold Ford Jr. (TN), Sanford Bishop (GA), and William Jefferson (LA) were the only CBC members to support giving George Bush authority to invade Iraq, in 2002 -- the very same treasonous faction that would pitch their tents solidly in the Republican camp on bankruptcy, energy and the estate tax, in 2005.

It was the beginning of the end for the Congressional Black Caucus, as presently constituted. Ever since Wynn, Ford, Bishop and Jefferson defected to Bush, five years ago, the CBC has been incapable of taking a firm position to end the Iraq war, forcing progressive members to work outside of the Caucus. Beginning with Wynn's original Four Saboteurs, political corruption has spread like a cancer in the Caucus. In the Spring of 2006, two-thirds of the CBC caved to the telecom industry to support a bill that would have rolled back decades of hard-won Black gains in cable access -- a higher percentage than among Democrats in the House as a whole!