Historian should clarify Van Jones comments or resign
Madison County Commissioner Gary Deaton told the commission Monday that he wants the county's official historian, Linda Higgins, to explain her sympathetic comments about Jackson native and former White House green jobs adviser Van Jones. If she is lacking an explanation, Deaton said Higgins should resign.
Deaton, a Republican, said he wants to put the discussion on October's commission agenda.
Jones, a University of Tennessee Martin and Jackson Central-Merry High School graduate, stepped down this month, saying he did not want criticism about his past political stances and causes to distract from the Obama administration's agenda.
Jones has said he became a communist after he met several anarchists and communists while working for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco during the aftermath of the Rodney King police brutality trial. He eventually walked back his philosophy in fear that being considered part of the left-wing counterculture undercut his ability to get results in his work, Jones told the East Bay Express newspaper in 2005.
Before joining the White House in the spring, Jones, an attorney, wrote a bestselling book and founded an organization aimed at creating environmentally friendly jobs for the disadvantaged.
Jones also had signed a petition circulated by "Truthers" - or those who allege government involvement in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Higgins, who is appointed by the commission, spoke to The Jackson Sun days after Jones' resignation about how she was disappointed and frustrated with the conservative uproar over Jones' past. Her comments were used in a story in The Sun and in its "Motion Carried" politics blog.
She said she was deeply frustrated with how Jones was portrayed by conservative pundits such as Fox News' Glenn Beck and concerned about some comments posted on articles on newspaper Web sites.
Higgins said that any past comment Jones made about being a communist was "little-C communism" - that is, the egalitarian political philosophy, not the Russian Communist dictatorship - from when he was a younger man feeling out his personal politics. She said she was shocked by the misinformation being spread about his background.
"He's not a Communist," Higgins said in a post on the "Motion Carried" blog. "He wasn't ever in prison."
But Deaton said that Higgins should clarify what she said to the commission, particularly her "little-C communism" comment. He said after the meeting he would not have voted for her to hold the historian job if he knew she was sympathetic to any form of communism...
Read entire article at Jacksonsun.com (Jackson, TN)
Deaton, a Republican, said he wants to put the discussion on October's commission agenda.
Jones, a University of Tennessee Martin and Jackson Central-Merry High School graduate, stepped down this month, saying he did not want criticism about his past political stances and causes to distract from the Obama administration's agenda.
Jones has said he became a communist after he met several anarchists and communists while working for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights in San Francisco during the aftermath of the Rodney King police brutality trial. He eventually walked back his philosophy in fear that being considered part of the left-wing counterculture undercut his ability to get results in his work, Jones told the East Bay Express newspaper in 2005.
Before joining the White House in the spring, Jones, an attorney, wrote a bestselling book and founded an organization aimed at creating environmentally friendly jobs for the disadvantaged.
Jones also had signed a petition circulated by "Truthers" - or those who allege government involvement in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Higgins, who is appointed by the commission, spoke to The Jackson Sun days after Jones' resignation about how she was disappointed and frustrated with the conservative uproar over Jones' past. Her comments were used in a story in The Sun and in its "Motion Carried" politics blog.
She said she was deeply frustrated with how Jones was portrayed by conservative pundits such as Fox News' Glenn Beck and concerned about some comments posted on articles on newspaper Web sites.
Higgins said that any past comment Jones made about being a communist was "little-C communism" - that is, the egalitarian political philosophy, not the Russian Communist dictatorship - from when he was a younger man feeling out his personal politics. She said she was shocked by the misinformation being spread about his background.
"He's not a Communist," Higgins said in a post on the "Motion Carried" blog. "He wasn't ever in prison."
But Deaton said that Higgins should clarify what she said to the commission, particularly her "little-C communism" comment. He said after the meeting he would not have voted for her to hold the historian job if he knew she was sympathetic to any form of communism...