It seems to me the DNC has learned nothing from their loss in November 2016. Their loss of the House, the Senate, State Houses, State Senates, and Governors. Instead of introspection they seem to be in a race to the left. The campaign slogan for each of the people vying for DNC Chairperson seems to be "Resist, Protest, Destroy."
How can that be good for the Country? How can it even be good for the Democratic Party? In this article we will look at Tom Perez, said to be the new "frontrunner."
From Wikipedia:
 | |
| 26th United States Secretary of Labor | |
|---|---|
| In office July 23, 2013 – January 20, 2017 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Deputy | Chris Lu |
| Preceded by | Seth Harris (Acting) |
| Succeeded by | Ed Hugler (Acting) |
| United States Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights | |
| In office October 8, 2009 – July 23, 2013 | |
| President | Barack Obama |
| Preceded by | Wan Kim |
| Succeeded by | Joycelyn Samuels (Acting) |
| Secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation | |
| In office March 15, 2007 – October 7, 2009 | |
| Governor | Martin O'Malley |
| Preceded by | James Fielder |
| Succeeded by | Alexander Sanchez |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Thomas Edward Perez October 7, 1961 Buffalo, New York, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Ann Marie Staudenmaier |
| Children | 3 |
| Education | Brown University (BA) Harvard University (MPP, JD) |
| Signature |  |
Born in Buffalo, New York, Perez is a graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law School. He worked as a law clerk for the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado before serving in the Department of Justice from 1989 to 1995, where he worked as a federal prosecutor, and as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights under Attorney General Janet Reno. He worked as a Special Counselor for Senator Ted Kennedy until 1998 when he served as the Director of the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the final years of the Clinton administration.
Perez was then elected to the Montgomery County (Maryland) Council in 2002, serving as the council's president from 2005, until the end of his tenure in 2006. He attempted to run for the Democratic nomination for Attorney General of Maryland, but was disqualified for not having 10 years of legal experience in Maryland (he was admitted to the Maryland bar in 2001).[1] Perez was appointed by Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley to serve as Secretary of the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation in January 2007, until his October 2009 confirmation by the United States Senate as Assistant Attorney General.
March 2013, Perez was nominated by President Barack Obama to be the United States Secretary of Labor, replacing outgoing Secretary Hilda Solis. He was confirmed by the Senate on July 18 and sworn in on July 23, 2013.
Perez announced his candidacy for Chair of the Democratic National Committee in the 2017 election on December 15, 2016.
Some of the controversies that have surrounded Mr. Perez in his career:
1. Perez Dropped Voter Intimidation Charges Against Black Panthers Who Brought Weapons to a Polling Place.
In 2008, two men from the New Black Panther Party, one brandishing a nightstick, stood in front of a polling place in Philadelphia and became aggressive when a video tracker asked them what they were doing. The Department of Justice had a straightforward case against the two, according to former attorney J. Christian Adams, until Perez, then head of the agency’s Civil Rights Division, intervened. Adams resigned in protest after the charges were dropped. He called Perez the “most extreme cabinet nominee” he had ever seen.
It was an open and shut case, we all watched it happen on T.V. Maybe the next controversy will shed light on the reason Mr. Perez dropped the case.
2. Perez Doesn’t Think White People Are Protected Under the Voting Rights Act
An investigation into the Civil Rights Division by the Department of Justice’s inspector general revealed extreme views held by Perez. He told investigators that white people were not entitled to protection under the Voting Rights Act.
Perez revealed to investigators that he saw the Voting Rights Act as only providing protection to specific, historic minorities, not all citizens:3. Perez Abandoned a Whistleblower Lawsuit That Cost Taxpayers Millions
CRT AAG Perez stated that interpreting Section 5’s retrogressive-effects standard to not cover White citizens was consistent with the Division’s longstanding practice, as well as case law interpreting the provision and the intent behind its enactment… Perez noted that the Division has always understood the term ‘minority’ to mean not numerical minority but rather ‘an identifiable and specially disadvantaged group.
Perez defended unequal protection to investigators as a practical matter:
According to Perez, applying Section 5’s retrogressive-effect protections to White citizens would create ‘dramatic complications’ … noting that ‘many voting changes … will almost always have some racial effect in some direction,’ and if the retrogressive-effect standard protects everyone, then virtually no proposed voting changes would ever be approved.
The House Oversight Committee found that Perez engaged in a quid pro quo that cost taxpayers $200 million in order to prevent a discrimination case from reaching the Supreme Court.
Perez pressured underlings to cover up the deal by omitting any mention of the reasons behind the decision. “Mr. Perez inappropriately used a whistleblower as a bargaining chip,” said Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), the committee chairman. Issa said the deal was “arranged to ensure an ideological pet policy of the Obama Administration would avoid Supreme Court scrutiny.”
The committee discovered communications from Perez telling local officials that withdrawing the case was a “top priority” and was looking for “leverage” to pressure the city to do so.4. He Used a Private Email Address to Dodge Accountability
Perez found his leverage in a $200 million federal whistleblower lawsuit against St. Paul called U.S. ex rel. Newell v. City of St. Paul. Perez met with several senior advisers in the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to discuss dismissing the federal suit if the city withdrew the case, according to the committee …
Perez was vetted as a running mate for Hillary Clinton as V.P.
Perez would have been a fitting running mate for Clinton given his use of private email to dodge accountability laws and his refusal to surrender potentially damaging material to the public.
Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), at the time, said it appears Perez used his personal email account almost 1,200 times since 2009 to conduct official department business, including communicating with organizations such as Planned Parenthood, the New York Times, and Talking Points Memo …Sound familiar?
Perez has yet to fully comply with the subpoena, Issa wrote. Oversight officials were only given the opportunity to review 34 emails from Perez’ personal account.
5. His history shows a willingness to ignore and mislead Congress
Perez came under fire when congressional investigators discovered coordination after uncovering files from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)—records that did not turn up in Perez’s submission to the committee.
See this letter sent to Mr. Perez from Congress in 2016:
http://edworkforce.house.gov/uploadedfiles/osha_oversight_letter.pdf
Again I have to ask reasonable Democrats, is this really who you want as your Chairperson?
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