Loretta Lynch Deserves Confirmation bY Julianne Malveaux

Nov. 17, 2014

Loretta Lynch Deserves Confirmation
BY Julianne Malveaux

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(TriceEdneyWire.com) - African-American women were excited about President Obama’s nomination of Loretta Lynch to replace Eric holder as Attorney General of the United States.  Since she has sailed through two Senate confirmations, her current confirmation ought to move quickly and without controversy.  But Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Tenn.) and his crowd seem to want to drag the process along, insisting on their “right” to question Loretta Lynch, and to make a spectacle of this confirmation.  There are dozens of vacancies in the ambassadorial ranks, among others because Republicans have blocked Senate consideration of these appointments.  This Senate keeps saying they want to work with the administration.  One way to show it is to move some of the appointments out of gridlock.

Loretta Lynch would be the first African American woman to hold the position of Attorney General.  This history-making nomination should not be tarnished by partisan nonsense.  If Republicans are really trying to reach out to the African-American community, conducting a non-hostile hearing in this last session of Congress signals their willingness to “do the right thing” by African Americans.  President Obama is entitled to his choice for Attorney General.  She has been fully vetted by the White House and has an exemplary record trying cases that range from police brutality to corporate fraud.   This is a piece of cake for the woman nominated attorney general. Why would the Senate not choose this woman?  Simply to flex their partisan muscles and flaunt their power?

I might remind the Senate of the mobilization that black women organized when the Honorable Alexis Herman had a rocky road in her confirmation for Secretary of Labor in President Clinton’s second term.  Prominent African American women like Dr. Dorothy Height and Dr. C Delores Tucker were present, as were others.  The message – don’t mess wit Alexis.  The foundation of another mobilization is there, and opposition to the highly qualified Loretta Lynch sends a signal to African American women, and to others, that this is a hostile Senate.  This is not new information, but is the kind of information, given adequate publicity, repels many from the Republican Party.

Maybe Republicans don’t care.  Maybe, after their November rout, they feel no need to play nice with the President or with the people.  Memo to Republicans – two years from now you will have to defend your record.  What will your vote on the Loretta Lynch confirmation say about you and your party?  Republicans were the winners in the 2014 elections, but in some case they didn’t win by much (neither did Democrats).  The electorate is divided, and angry enough to simply stay home.  Both parties need to activate their base so that more people are excited about participating in elections.  Low voter turnout signals “none of the above”.

There is no African American woman in the Senate, and precious few in the House of Representatives.  Undoubtedly these women will speak up for Loretta Lynch, perhaps walking from the House offices to the Senate as they did in support of Anita Hill.  The confirmation of Loretta Lynch is likely to be a watershed moment for the Senate.  Will they act out of integrity or ignorance? Loretta Lynch deserves to be confirmed sooner rather than later, and the senators who talked bipartisan cooperation on the campaign trail need to proactive what they preach.

CORRECTION: A few weeks ago, my column focused on for-profit colleges and erroneously posted the salaries of some of the senior officers in DeVry Inc.   DeVry is a publicly traded company, and the company includes five colleges including a medical school, School of Business and Management and the school of Liberal Arts & Sciences.  As a publicly traded company with a Board of Directors (who earn approximately  ($170,000 a year), which sets the salary for CEO Daniel Hamburger, who earned $6.4 million in fiscal year 2013.  The president of DeVry University, David Pauldine, earned about $1.5 million in fiscal 2013.

Julianne Malveaux is an Author and economist based in Washington, D.C.