Got yet another call last night from the GOP asking for money. Their sense of timing is just absurd. I’m sitting in my chair watching Republican senators getting ready to vote FOR a Supreme Court nominee who had show herself to be a liar and a bigot, because, as the puppet press would have use believe, her nomination was a lock, and any vote against her would show Republicans to be bigoted and they would lose Hispanic votes.
What tripe.
So I hung up on them. There’s a first time for everything.
Many times I have given money and many times I have not. But I always talked with them and the caller at least seemed to listened.
Not this time. This time I wanted to send a message loud and click.
I will not support these wimps. I can’t. Until I see some “stones” up on capital hill I won’t be sending my hard earned money.
Where were they when this “Transparent White House” would not release some 300 boxes of documents covering Sotomayor’s work at the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. They claim the documents are irrelevant to the nomination.
Yeah…I can see right through that.
But in a July 2nd letter to Sen. Jeff Sessions from the nominee, Sotomayor did reveal the different positions she held over her 12 year tenure at PRLDEF:
• Member of the Board of Directors: 1980-1992
• Education and Professional Development Committee: 1980
• Nominations Committee: 1980, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1987, and 1990
• Litigation Committee: 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1991
• Chairperson of the Litigation Committee: 1983, 1984, 1987, and 1988
• Executive Committee: 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988
• Treasurer: 1982
• Special Vice Chair of the Board: 1984, 1985
• Second Vice Chair of the Board: 1986
• First Vice Chair of the Board: 1987, 1988
• Finance Committee: 1986, 1987, 1988
• Personnel Committee: 1988
That covers a lot of years and a range of capacities that are shrouded in secrecy in these hearings.
When Sen. Sessions confronted her with documentation contradicting her statements, Sotomayor answered as she did with every other answer she offers: it’s all about context. Not one line taken out of context, mind you, but entire speeches, court decisions and PRLDEF board minutes.
SEN. JEFF SESSIONS: “Isn't that true that you were more active than you may have suggested to Senator Graham yesterday?”
JUDGE SONIA SOTOMAYOR: “…That memo has to be examined in context. The memo was a moment in our 12-year history where the board was planning a retreat. To think about what directions, if any, we should consider moving into or not. We were not reviewing the individual cases to see if the individual cases, what positions were taken, the type of strategies…
From only 300 pages Republicans were able to obtain of the over 300 boxes of contemporaneous documents, there were ample references that refute the nominee’s claims that her duties were mainly fundraising.
March 25, 1981 Litigation Committee meeting minutes of a committee meeting Sotomayor attended, stated: “The Committee was provided copies of the Fund’s Docket of Cases . . .”
The minutes also state: “There was a discussion regarding possible new issues that could be addressed by the Fund,” and “The Board also unanimously resolved to request the Staff to examine what legal avenues might be available to challenge the cuts in federal entitlements.”
To me, these minutes clearly show discussions of legal strategies. In fact, in 1987 when she was the Chair of the Litigation Committee, Sotomayor was responsible for reviewing current litigation.
In a November 11, 1985 PRLDEF report obtained by the Senate Judiciary Committee, the responsibilities of the Litigation Committee were outlined and included:
“(1) Review[ing] docket of current litigation;
(2) Exploring areas of potential litigation and setting priorities for the Fund for the year.”
The documents include Litigation Committee minutes that confirm Sotomayor routinely briefed the committee on the status of litigation:
In October 8, 1987 PRLDEF board minutes: “Chairperson Sotomayor summarized the activities of the Committee over the last several months which included the review of the litigation efforts of the past and present…”
On January 14, 1988, “Committee Chairperson Sonia Sotomayor reviewed the scope of the Committee’s work and indicated a fuller report would be presented at the upcoming Board meeting.”
These and other documents clearly show, to me anyway, that the nominee had a much more extensive role than she indicated. What Republicans saw or gleaned, that’s another story. But Sotomayor was not only integrally involved but led PRLDEF litigation efforts to offer or deny promotions to city workers based solely on race -- which clears up some of the confusion over her actions in Ricci v. DeStefano, the controversial New Haven firefighters’ racial discrimination case.
And the GOP has the audacity to call in that 5:00 o’clock hour when the news of the day is being trumpeted from coast to coast, and ask for my financial support. Not going to happen today guys and gals. These RINO’s and rollovers we keep sending to OUR doom are a most pathetic lot. The problem comes when you realize they have so much to gain by standing their ground and resisting this nomination as well as the policies and czars this anti-constitutional administration has foisted upon us.
I have found the only way to make them pay is hitting them in the wallet, I mean why not, by their actions, they’re hitting me in mine!?
For those of you in the fundraising are of the GOP who read this blog, and I know you do, I’m sure I’m not the only one out here saying this. Are you deaf? We need warriors not wimps in Washington. If they haven’t the stomach to stand up for the people who voted them in, then by God we will vote them out.
Do I feel bad? Well, let’s just say reports of my contrition are greatly exaggerated.
And by the way, I won’t roll over for your “We need you now more than ever” line.
That line is already reserved… For the voters.
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