By Jonathan Allen CQ Staff
Published: 01-12-09
For all the political losers in the Roland W. Burris imbroglio there is at least one clear winner: California Sen. Dianne Feinstein .
Feinstein seized a rare double-barreled opportunity to reach out to African Americans and bolster the strength of state executives in a single act by offering her support for Burris.
Burris’ appointment to the Senate has been held in limbo by Democratic leaders because it was made by Illinois Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich who was impeached on Jan. 9 after being arrested in a federal corruption probe last month.
“Does Blagojevich’s arrest affect his appointment power? The answer is no” Feinstein said Jan. 6 in arguing that the Senate should not block Burris. “It affects gubernatorial appointments all over America.”
Feinstein hinged her argument for Burris on the legal authority of a governor to fill the Senate vacancy — a power she would use to choose her own successor should she run and win the gubernatorial race in 2010.
The praise that followed for the three-term senator was noteworthy.
It included plaudits from African American officials who previously had lambasted her for not being sensitive to their political concerns when she provided the pivotal committee vote to advance the nomination of Leslie Southwick to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Like many members of the Congressional Black Caucus which unanimously endorsed the Burris appointment Feinstein did not broach the issue of race in making her argument.
But the overtones have been loud ever since Rep. Bobby Rush D-Ill. a former Black Panther dared Senate leaders — in explicitly racial terms _ to bar Burris from the chamber.
“There are no African Americans in the Senate and I don’t think that anyone any U.S. Senator who is sitting right now would want to go on record to deny one African American from being seated in the U.S. Senate” Rush said at the press conference at which Burris’ appointment was announced in late December.
While political observers across the country have marveled at the political contortions of Democratic leaders who first vowed to block Burris from entering the chamber and have since signaled a willingness to relent Feinstein deftly pressed a pro-Burris position that would quickly become the consensus view on Capitol Hill.
Rep. Maxine Waters D-Calif. a senior member of the Black Caucus refused to connect Feinstein’s stance on Burris to any past episodes with black leaders or political ambitions.
“ Dianne Feinstein took a principled position on a legal issue” Waters insisted.
But in August of 2007 Waters threatened to exact political retribution against Feinstein after Feinstein cast a Judiciary Committee vote for Southwick who had drawn the ire of black lawmakers for his role in the reinstatement of a social worker who had been fired for using a racial epithet.
Black Caucus members said at the time that Feinstein had added insult to injury by declining to return their calls on the Southwick matter.
“If in fact Sen. Dianne Feinstein continues to relate to this Caucus in the way she’s been doing ... We will have no alternative but to not only share the information but to fight against her coming back to the United States Senate” Waters said then.
Feinstein has enjoyed support from African American voters at the polls but the Southwick nomination is not the only time she has found herself at odds with black political leaders.
Some have taken exception to her effort to combat gangs by expanding eligibility for the death penalty to members of gangs that have killed people even if the gang member in question did not participate in the specific crime.
Waters could cause much more grief for Feinstein in a gubernatorial primary than in a Senate run.
“At the time in the context of re-election to the Senate Maxine’s threat seemed empty and served to make her look weak. Not so true if the question is a run for governor” said a Democratic aide familiar with California politics.
Feinstein is unlikely to draw primary opposition if she runs for re-election and African Americans who constitute a relatively small share of California’s population — about 7 percent — and vote overwhelmingly in favor of Democrats have more influence in primaries.
It is not clear whether Feinstein intends to turn her longtime flirtation with a gubernatorial bid into a campaign but some observers think her concern with preserving the authority of state executives to make Senate appointments might be a hint in that direction.
If Feinstein were to run and win she would be in the position of appointing her own successor — a fitting twist given that Feinstein first arrived in the Senate in 1992 by beating John Seymour the man Gov. Pete Wilson appointed to take his own Senate seat upon becoming governor.
Feinstein spokesman Gil Duran said the decision to back Burris was not made of politics but substance.
“Her support is not driven by anything other than her analysis of the particular situation” Duran said in an e-mail.
Several Democrats who are familiar with Feinstein’s political history offered similar assessments doubting that she made a connection between Southwick and Burris or between Burris and a gubernatorial run.
“I don’t necessarily think Feinstein works that way” said Alice A. Huffman the president of the California State Conference of the NAACP.
Huffman noted that Feinstein has won the backing of African American voters in her previous Senate bids but conceded that the dynamics of a primary could be different.
The discussion may well be moot according to Huffman.
“I don’t think she’s running for governor.”
Former Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick D-Mich. declined to speculate on Feinstein’s motives but praised the decision to back Burris and made clear that it was welcome among black lawmakers.
“She did right in saying he should be seated” Kilpatrick said. “We appreciate that.”
