Sununu Appears At MLK Day Gathering But Gets Failing Grade From Civil Rights Group

For Immediate ReleaseContact: Bill Lofy
January 21, 2008(603)573-5067

Sununu Appears At MLK Day Gathering But Gets Failing Grade From Civil Rights Group

As Senator John Sununu (R-NH) appears at Martin Luther King, Jr. celebrations this weekend,
New Hampshire voters should do more than listen to his words, they should take a close look
at his record.

In 2006, the nation's premiere civil rights organizations, the NAACP and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, gave Sununu dismal ratings of 14% and 12% respectively for his civil rights voting record in Congress. Here are some reasons why:

• Sununu Supported Controversial Judge William Pryor. Since 2003, Sununu has consistently voted to confirm President Bush's nomination of William H. Pryor Jr. of Alabama to be a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. [Vote 133, 6/9/05; Vote 132, 6/8/05; Vote 316, 7/31/03] William Pryor told Congress that he opposed a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that protected minority voting rights. Pryor called this essential provision "an affront to federalism and an expensive burden that has far outlived its usefulness." [Transcript of Pryor Testimony, 7/15/97]

• Sununu Voted For Controversial Nominee Charles Pickering. In 2003, Sununu voted to confirm Charles Pickering, who was nominated to be a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit and has been criticized for his racist positions. "The debate over the nomination had centered on Judge Pickering's civil rights record as a Mississippi lawyer, state lawmaker and federal judge over the course of decades. Senate Democrats argued that he did not deserve elevation because he had written an article as a young man recommending ways to strengthen Mississippi's anti-miscegenation laws, left the Democratic Party in 1964 when the national party tried to integrate the state delegation to the national convention and, more recently, presided over a 1994 trial in which he took extraordinary steps to reduce the sentence of a man convicted in a cross-burning incident." [Vote 419, 10/30/03; New York Times, 01/17/04] The NAACP opposed the Pickering nomination, referring to him as a "right-wing extremist." [NAACP Legislative Report Card, 2003-04]

• Sununu Voted to Prohibit Colleges Practicing Affirmative Action From Participating in the Higher Education Act. On May 6, 1998, Sununu voted for the Riggs amendment to H.R.6, which was an amendment to prohibit any public institution of higher education that participates in any Higher Education Act program from using race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in student admissions. [Vote 133, 5/6/98]

• Sununu Believed That The Federal Government Should End Affirmative Action. When he was in the House, Sununu, on his Project Vote-Smart 2000 National Political Awareness Test, checked off that "The federal government should discontinue affirmative action programs." [John E. Sununu, 2000 Project Vote-Smart Congressional National Political Awareness Test]

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