By Elaine Donnelly
Extending sexual misconduct to combat units
House Speaker John A. Boehner kicked off the 112th Congress by saying Americans are ready for an adult conversation on spending and deficits. Two years later, that broader conversation has yet to happen.
For two decades, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson has been an outspoken voice for Democrats in her signature bright blazer and multicolored scarf.
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) has not had a good run of luck before the House ethics committee lately. Two of its senior members face trials before the panel. Rep. Charles B. Rangel, New York Democrat, is accused of cheating on his taxes, abusing New York rent-control laws and improperly using congressional stationery. Rep. Maxine Waters, California Democrat, is alleged to have steered bailout money to a bank in which her husband had a sizable financial interest. Now come Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, Texas Democrat, and Rep. Sanford D. Bishop Jr., Georgia Democrat, who have admitted to improperly doling out Congressional Black Caucus Foundation scholarship funds to their relatives and a staffer's children.
Credit the Dallas Morning News for its determination to get to the bottom of the scandal surrounding Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, Texas Democrat, and the nepotism of her Congressional Black Caucus scholarship awards. After the Morning News exposed the fact that Mrs. Johnson had broken the rules set out by the caucus barring relatives from receiving scholarships, Mrs. Johnson attempted to parry that charge by claiming she had nothing to do with selecting the recipients and had left that to aides.
A Texas congresswoman admitted that she wrongly steered thousands of dollars in college scholarships from the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation to her own relatives and the children of a staff member but said she did so unintentionally.
The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation will investigate its scholarship program following the admission by a House member that she wrongly steered scholarships to her relatives and the children of a staff member, the longtime attorney for the tax-exempt group said Tuesday.
"They want balance. They want us to cooperate. They want to make sure that all the balance of the books are not on the backs of the poor and certainly want to balance the tax burden, because right now, the tax burden is basically level," said Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, Texas Democrat. "I think that I've had some discussions, but not with the GOP leadership."
"Those people know that there is a nexus between their experience, and the youthful vigor and zeal that I bring to the table," said Mr. Johnson, who at 38 was born eight years after Mr. Conyers took office in 1965 following his work with civil rights leaders Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks.
