Tennessee congressman disputes Tancredo's version of events

Scripps Howard News Service

Published January 26, 2007 at midnight

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Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo is seeking to end race- based caucuses in Congress by citing a white Tennessee Democrat's failure to become a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

But Rep. Steve Cohen said Tancredo's press statement, under a headline that says Cohen was rejected "because of his race," misstates the facts. He never asked to join the caucus and was never rejected, he said.

Cohen had told The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal in July that he was considering asking to join the CBC, but later said that he had reconsidered.

The influential Capitol newspaper The Hill reported Jan. 4 that Cohen decided he wouldn't join but would just be "buddies" with CBC members.

But a new Washington tabloid, The Politico, reprised the story on its front page this week, quoting CBC member Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo., as saying of the caucus' exclusively black membership: "It's an unwritten rule. It's understood. It's clear."

Tancredo, a Republican, maintained that it's "disgraceful" that "an organization sanctioned by the U.S. Congress maintains a policy of racial exclusivity."

Cohen sees it differently. He said that, after slavery and Jim Crow laws, he understands the reasons for a race-based caucus for black lawmakers.

"We've given them reasons that they have joined together, and they have certain issues they still have to overcome to get to where Dr. (Martin Luther) King and others of goodwill want our society to be."

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