Leading members of the Congressional Black Caucus offered very different reactions to Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s decision to resign her post as chair of the Democratic National Committee.
“I think she was treated unfairly,” South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, the third-ranking House Democrat, told the Charleston Post and Courier. “Absolutely. No question in my mind.”
The Congressional Black Caucus PAC endorsed Clinton after rival Sen. Bernie Sanders defeated her in the New Hampshire primary, giving her a boost ahead of the South Carolina race. In that respect, Clyburn’s support for Wasserman Schultz is unsurprising, given that she was forced to resign after leaked emails showed DNC staff coordinating to embarrass Sanders during the primary contest.
Clyburn attributed any mistakes by the outgoing chair to her excitement to see a woman win the Oval Office.
“I don’t think it’s all that unusual for a woman head of a party to be anxious about the first woman president of the United States,” he said. “And sometimes, that kind of anxiousness, you may overlook things you wouldn’t overlook otherwise. I don’t think she did anything untoward. I think she has some very zealous people on her staff doing some very, well, let’s just say, questionable things.”
Not every CBC member who endorsed Clinton was as warm toward Wasserman Schultz, however.
“They made up this thing about what’s-her-name Schultz, just to make it exciting,” retiring Rep. Charlie Rangel, who co-founded the CBC and has represented Harlem since 1971, told the New York Times. “We don’t need her now! … So she resigned. So it’s onward to victory. Is that bad?”
