The Democratic Afrosphere: September 2009

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Andrew M. Cuomo Trying to "Shuck and Jive" His Way to New York Governorship

Do you remember when New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo accused Senator Obama of "shucking and jiving" at his news conferences?

Now, I hear that President Obama's Administration has been suggesting or trying to lean on one of the nation's only two Black governors, Governor David A. Paterson of New York, who constitutionally received the office when Governor Spitzer resigned in a scandal, and Obama's Administration is endeavoring to convince Gov. Paterson not to run for election in 2010, purportedly because Paterson's polling numbers are low, at this point. If Paterson did get out of the race, one of the chief beneficiaries might be the same Andrew Cuomo who tried to color-arouse the electorate for Hillary Clinton back in 2008.

Gov. Paterson, meanwhile, has always made it clear that he intends to run for re-election, just as anyone else in his position would probably do.

When white people hold a political office, they run for re-election unless a state or national constitution forbids it. Regardless of how low Governor Paterson's poll numbers may be right now, (and I haven't seen them), few white governors would forsake a chance to run for re-election under the same circumstances.

Republicans, like Black Republican Party chairman Michael Steele, have criticized Mr. Obama for trying to drive Mr. Paterson out of office, and have been quick to point out that (white man) Jon Corzine in New Jersey has low poll numbers as well, but Democrats are not calling on Corzine not to run for re-election.

So, is Governor Paterson being treated differently because:

he's Black,
because he's not as wealthy as Jon Corzine,
because he was not elected to the seat he holds, or
because he rejected President Obama's attempts to get Caroline Kennedy appointed to the Senate seat that Hillary Clinton vacated when she agreed to serve as Obama' s Secretary of State?

I don't know the answer to that, but I know one of the chief beneficiaries of Patterson out would be New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, "who has been debating for months whether to take on Mr. Paterson in a primary." Once again, Cuomo believes that he should run against the Black man who has all his ducks in a row.

I don't think that any Black person ought to help Andrew Cuomo with anything, first because Cuomo accused Senator Obama of "shucking and jiving" during the presidential primaries against Hillary Clinton. (Even if Obama has "color-blindly" forgotten that, I haven't.) That alone should cause President Obama to tell Cuomo to go flagilate himself.

And Cuomo's shucking and jiving comment was part of a relentless but ultimately unsuccessful effort by the Clinton campaign to color-arouse the Democratic electorate into not nominating Barack Obama. It was a dispicable statement that ought to forever make Blacks thing twice and then thrice before doing anything for Andrew Cuomo. If Cuomo runs against (legally blind) Governor Paterson, will Cuomo tell the media that 'New York needs a white male governor who can see the state's problems,' and not a Black man blindly shucking and jiving'? Andrew Cuomo might very well say something like that based on his history.

As African American Political Pundit pointed out at the time at the Democratic Afrosphere blog,

Clinton Supporter Andrew Cuomo, Referring To Obama, Said
"You Can't Shuck And Jive At A Press Conference.

Clinton-supporting NewYork Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said the thing that's great about NewHampshire is that you have to go out and meet people rather than "shuck and jive" through press conferences there.

"All those moves you can make with the press don't work when you're in someone's living room."

Cuomo said of New Hampshire on an Albany radio station: "It's not a TV-crazed race. Frankly, you can't buy your way into it. You can't shuck and jive at a press conference. All those
moves you can make with the press don't work when you're in someone's living room." [Newsday, 1/11/08]

Secondly, Andrew Cuomo ran against Black New York elected official H. Carl McCall's campaign for governor in the Democratic Primary, resulting in the election of neither Cuomo nor H. Carl McCall, but a different Democrat. Cuomo was the spoiler and partly responsible for New York not having its first Black Governor earlier. Cuomo has shown that he couldn't care less about that.

Andrew Cuomo is an unacceptable alternative for New York governor because Blacks cannot trust him and he shows a callous indifference to Black's political aspirations.

I hear that President Obama's Administration has been suggesting or trying to lean on one of the nation's only two Black governors, Governor David A. Paterson of New York, who constitutionally received the office when Governor Spitzer resigned in a scandal, and Obama's Administration is endeavoring to convince Gov. Paterson not to run for election in 2010, purportedly because Paterson's polling numbers are low, at this point.

Paterson, meanwhile, has always made it clear that he intends to run for re-election, just as anyone else in his position would probably do.

When white people hold a political office, they run for re-election unless a state or national constitution forbids it. Regardless of how low Governor Paterson's poll numbers may be right now, (and I haven't seen them), few white governors would forsake a chance to run for re-election under the same circumstances.

Republicans, like Black Republican Party chairman Michael Steele, have criticized Mr. Obama for trying to drive Mr. Paterson out of office, and have been quick to point out that (white man) Jon Corzine in New Jersey has low poll numbers as well, but Democrats are not calling on Corzine not to run for re-election.

So, is Governor Paterson being treated differently because:

he's Black,
because he's not as wealthy as Jon Corzine,
because he was not elected to the seat he holds, or
because he rejected President Obama's attempts to get Caroline Kennedy appointed to the Senate seat that Hillary Clinton vacated when she agreed to serve as Obama' s Secretary of State?

Clinton Supporter Andrew Cuomo, Referring To Obama, Said
"You Can't Shuck And Jive At A Press Conference.

Clinton-supporting NewYork Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said the thing that's great about NewHampshire is that you have to go out and meet people rather than "shuck and jive" through press conferences there.

"All those moves you can make with the press don't work when you're in someone's living room."

Cuomo said of New Hampshire on an Albany radio station: "It's not a TV-crazed race. Frankly, you can't buy your way into it. You can't shuck and jive at a press conference. All those
moves you can make with the press don't work when you're in someone's living room." [Newsday, 1/11/08]

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Is Milwaukee's Therapist/Client Sex Felony Statute Applicable When the Therapist is a White Man and Victim is a Black Woman?

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare put social worker Peter J. Nelson in charge reviewing of Theola Nealy's custody of her two children. After taking her two children from her, Peter J. Nelson fathered a child with his client, Theola Nealy, and then took that child from her as well, and took the child to his own home, with the approval of the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare.

In this therapist/client sex case, many parties are putting pressure on the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare, which was Nelson's employer until this April.. The reason I call it the "therapist/client sex case" is that those are the words used in the Wisconsin statute makes therapist/client sex a crime a felony, with the therapist punishable by up to a ten thousand dollar fine and or 15-year prison term, and required to register as a sex offender if convicted.

Wisconsin Statutes 940.22(2), Entitled "Sexual Exploitation by Therapist . . .", provides:

(2) SEXUAL CONTACT PROHIBITED. Any person who is or who holds himself or herself out to be a therapist and who intentionally has sexual contact with a patient or client during any ongoing therapist−patient or therapist−client relationship, regardless of whether it occurs during any treatment, consultation, interview or examination, is guilty of a Class C felony. Consent is not an issue in an action under this subsection. (Emphasis added.)

Among the parties putting pressure on the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare is Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Frederick C. Rosa, who ruled today that an unbiased social worker, from a different county, who does not work for the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare, and does not know the potential criiminal defendant Peter J. Nelson, must be appointed to make unbiased child custody recommendations in this Peter J. Nelson/Theola Nealy criminal therapist/client sex case.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is covering the case (below) as it progresses. What I want to know is whether Peter L. Nelson will be prosecuted under Wisconsin Statutes 940.22(2), Entitled "Sexual Exploitation by Therapist . . .". Or will this crime not be prosecuted simply because the sexual predator is a white man and the his victim is a Black woman?

Equal justice is a two-way street. Equal justice requires not merely that Blacks not be arrested, charged and prosecuted more harshly than whites, as we saw occur in the Jena Six case. But equal justice also requires that whites be prosecuted equally for crimes against Black victims, which has yet to happen in the Peter J. Nelson/Theola Nealy criminal therapist/client sex case, .even though there is a Wisconsin law that specifically forbids he white offenders behavior in this case, Wisconsin Statutes 940.22(2), Entitled "Sexual Exploitation by Therapist, saying, "Consent is not an issue in an action under this subsection."

More facts below in the Journal Sentinel article of yesterday.

[Judge] wants inquiry in case of client's baby

By Crocker Stephenson of the Journal Sentinel, Posted: Sept. 9, 2009

A judge Wednesday ordered the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare to appoint a worker from another county to manage the case of a child born to a Milwaukee bureau social worker and the bureau client he impregnated.

Calling the behavior of the social worker, Peter J. Nelsen, "despicable," Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Frederick C. Rosa agreed with the woman's attorney, Scott Phillips, who said that a case manager from outside the bureau, one who hadn't worked with - or was familiar with - Nelsen, was necessary to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

"This is an unusual request," Phillips told the judge. "But this is an unusual case."

Case managers are employed by the bureau or by one of its private agencies to work with children who allegedly have been abused or neglected and also to work with their families.

Their decisions and logged observations are critical in deciding whether these children should remain in their homes or be placed in foster or kinship care.

Nelsen, who is 56 and a 12-year-veteran of the bureau, was allowed to resign in April, shortly after the bureau learned of his relationship with the 31-year-old mother, Theola Nealy.

The bureau has taken the girl from Nealy and has placed her, for the time being, with Nelsen.

Rosa said that one of the issues he will have to decide is, "Did the child need to be removed in the first place?"

The investigations of an independent case manager will be critical in making that decision.

A Journal Sentinel investigation exposed Nelsen's relationship with Nealy last month. In the story, Nelsen admits that he impregnated Nealy after investigating what turned out to be an unsubstantiated report of child abuse and that he hid his relationship with Nealy even as she sought to retain custody of two other children.

A follow-up story reported that the state Department of Children and Families, which runs the Milwaukee welfare bureau, did not report Nelsen to the Department of Regulation Licensing until the day before the story ran - months later than required by law.

Rep. Stephen Nass (R-Whitewater) has asked Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen to investigate whether bureau or department officials were involved in a coverup.

In letter obtained by the Journal Sentinel on Wednesday, Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) takes department Secretary Reggie Bicha to task for not informing the Milwaukee Child Welfare Partnership Council about Nelsen.

The council, of which Darling is a member, is a panel of public and private child welfare leaders who advise the state about Milwaukee County child welfare services.

"I am requesting an explanation as to why myself and other Partnership Council members were not briefed on the situation with the BMCW social worker," she wrote in the letter, which is dated Aug. 28, the day the first Journal Sentinel story ran about Nelsen.

More at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

References:

Wisconsin State Rep. Nass Requests State AG Investigation of Therapist/Client Sex Case, Milwaukee Child Welfare

Wisconsin State Representative Steve Ness has written to the Attorney General of the State of Wisconsin, requesting an investigation into the Peter J. Nelson Therapist/Client Sex case, saying he believes that is a strong basis in law for an investigation to commence that could lead to prosecution of the offending therapist, a white man who took two children away from a Black female client, then fathered another child with her and took that child away as well. Representative Ness has also issued the letter as a press release on his website.

Rep. Nass: Letter to AG Van Hollen requesting investigation of social worker and DCF
8/28/2009

August 28, 2009

J.B. Van Hollen, Attorney General
Wisconsin Department of Justice
PO Box 7857
Madison, WI 53707

RE: Department of Children and Families and Social Worker Peter J. Nelsen

Dear Attorney General Van Hollen:

I am requesting that your agency commence an investigation into the conduct of Peter J. Nelsen, former social worker in the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare of the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families. Based on the reporting of Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (MJS), Mr. Nelsen while employed under state authority may have violated the administrative code of ethics for social workers and state law by engaging in sexual contact with a client, Ms. Theola Nealy.

Mr. Nelsen came into contact with the client as part of his duties to investigate a report of child abuse involving Ms. Nealy’s two children. As a result of Mr. Nelsen’s official duties, he entered into a sexual relationship with Ms. Nealy leading to the birth of a child. The MJS story alleges that Mr. Nelsen hid his inappropriate conduct from officials in the department even though he was involved with the review of potential child abuse by Ms. Nealy. Ms. Nealy alleges that the sexual relationship was in exchange for Mr. Nelsen’s assistance in keeping custody of her two children.

Once the department learned of Mr. Nelsen’s conduct, he was allowed to resign on April 15, 2009. There is ample basis for the Wisconsin Department of Justice to review Mr. Nelsen’s conduct to determine if he abused his governmental powers and violated Wisconsin law.

More at Rep. Ness's website.

References: