Black Caucus Compromises in Rare Kind of Bipartisanship

At a time when Democrats and Republicans in this town are at each other’s throats, the Congressional Black Caucus has fashioned a compromise that ends months of internal bickering.

In a rare show of bipartisan collegiality that assumed the air of a peace treaty signing, the black caucus has agreed to allow Rep. Gary Franks of Connecticut, its lone Republican member, to rejoin the organization as a full-fledged member rather than continue to be excluded.

“I’ve come to realize the Congressional Black Caucus is no greater than the sum of its parts,” Caucus Chairman Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.) said Wednesday. “I will oppose any effort to exclude Gary Franks from our membership.”

Last week, in a partisan power play, the caucus voted to exclude Franks from its policy-making process, fearing the conservative black legislator, whose Connecticut district is 91% white, was nothing more than a political spy among their liberal, black Democratic ranks. Franks, however, says that he was kicked out of meetings because of his conservative political views.

According to the caucus rules, membership is granted to any black federal legislator. Some supportive non-black legislators are granted honorary memberships that entitle them to participate in some black caucus functions, but deny them a vote or a voice in the group’s decisions.

Franks argued that he was entitled to full participation because he met the membership rules and had paid his membership dues. He also reasoned that since the caucus used money from the official budgets from its members’ offices for their functions, it might be illegal for them to deny his participation for partisan reasons.

Last week, the war escalated when Rep. William L. Clay (D-Mo.), gave reporters an 11-page open letter to Franks that suggested Franks was not representing black Americans and encouraged him to resign from the caucus. Franks, however, used to back away and hinted to reporters that the caucus was using public money to behave in an illegal and partisan manner.

Jeffry E. Muthersbaugh, a spokesman for Franks, said Franks questioned whether it was legal for the caucus to kick him out since its activities were typically paid for with money from members’ offices.

Franks’ reaction to Clay’s letter led to a vote at last week’s caucus meeting that compelled Franks to exit future meetings at 12:30 p.m., after the lunch dishes were pushed aside and before the serious political business began.

But at the news conference Wednesday, Mfume said the caucus had voted to change its position. Under terms of their new agreement, no decision of the caucus can be made by Democrats only. Rather, a so-called Democratic Caucus of the Congressional Black Caucus, chaired by Rep. Cardiss Collins (D-Ill.), can hold special meetings on an as-needed basis to discuss party matters. But any decision made by this sub-caucus must be voted on by the full group--all 39 Democrats and Franks--before it becomes policy.

As a beaming Franks looked on, Mfume repeatedly stressed that Franks is “my friend and my colleague.” He played down Franks’ political and legal challenges to his exclusion.

Mfume said the caucus, which was created in 1971 to represent the interests of black Americans in Congress, could not justify excluding someone on the basis of their political beliefs. “There may come a day when there are more Republicans in the caucus,” he said.