Ron Dellums | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Official portrait, 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 48thMayor of Oakland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office January 8, 2007 – January 3, 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Jerry Brown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Jean Quan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office January 3, 1971 – February 6, 1998 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Jeffery Cohelan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Barbara Lee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Constituency | 7th district (1971–1975) 8th district (1975–1993) 9th district (1993–1998) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Ronald Vernie Dellums (1935-11-24)November 24, 1935 Oakland, California, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | July 30, 2018(2018-07-30) (aged 82) Washington, D.C., U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Democratic | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouses | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 6, includingErik andPiper | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relatives | C. L. Dellums (uncle) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Education | Merritt College San Francisco State University (BA) University of California, Berkeley (MSW) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Military service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Allegiance | United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Branch/service | United States Marine Corps | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years of service | 1954–1956 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank | Private first class | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dellums outlining the conference report for the FY1995National Defense Authorization Act. Recorded August 17, 1994 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ronald Vernie Dellums (November 24, 1935 – July 30, 2018) was an American politician who served asMayor of Oakland from 2007 to 2011. He had previously served thirteen terms as a Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's 9th congressional district, in office from 1971 to 1998, after which he worked as alobbyist inWashington, D.C.
Dellums was born into a family of labor organizers, and enlisted in theUnited States Marine Corps before serving on theBerkeley, California,City Council. He was the firstAfrican American elected to Congress fromNorthern California and the first successful openlysocialist non-incumbent Congressional candidate afterWorld War II.[1] His politics earned him a place onPresident Nixon's enemies list.
During his career in Congress, he fought theMX Missile project and opposed expansion of theB-2 Spirit stealth bomber program. When PresidentRonald Reagan vetoed Dellums'sComprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, aDemocratic-controlled House and aRepublican-controlled Senate overrode Reagan'sveto, the first override of a presidential foreign-policy veto in the 20th century.[2]
Dellums was born inOakland, California, to Verney and Willa (Terry) Dellums. His father was alongshoreman. His uncle,C. L. Dellums, was one of the organizers and leaders of theBrotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. He had a younger sister, Theresa. His mother Willa died on August 17, 2008, at the age of 89.[3]
Dellums attended St. Patrick Catholic School,Oakland Technical High School andMcClymonds High School.[4] He served in theUnited States Marine Corps from 1954 to 1956.[5] Dellums later received hisA.A. degree from theOakland City College, now Merritt College, in 1958, hisB.A. fromSan Francisco State University in 1960, and hisM.S.W. from theUniversity of California, Berkeley in 1962.[6] He became apsychiatricsocial worker and political activist in theAfrican-American community beginning in the 1960s.[6] He also taught atSan Francisco State University and theUniversity of California, Berkeley.[7]
Dellums was a member ofAlpha Phi Alpha fraternity.[8] He was also a member of the fraternity'sWorld Policy Council, athink tank whose purpose is to expand the fraternity's involvement in politics, and social and current policy to encompass international concerns.[9]
Dellums was married three times. He married his second wife, attorney Leola "Roscoe" Higgs, in 1961. The two divorced in 1998.[10] He married his third wife, Cynthia Lewis, in 2000.[11]
One son, Michael, was convicted of a drug-related homicide in 1979, and remains in prison, being repeatedly denied parole due to bad behavior.[12] Dellums had five other children: anthropologist Rachel R. Chapman, professional actorErik, authorPiper, Brandon and Pam; six grandchildren: Danielle Henderson, Jacob Holmes, Sydney Ross, Dylan Ross, Olivia Dellums, and actressSolea Pfeiffer; and two great-grandchildren: Jared Henderson and Charli Henderson.[11][13][14]
Dellums was elected to theBerkeleyCity Council, after prompting fromMaudelle Shirek,[15]and served from 1967 to 1970.[16]
Dellums was elected to theUnited States House of Representatives in 1970 after being recruited by anti-Vietnam War activists to run against the incumbent,Jeffery Cohelan, a whiteliberal close toorganized labor who had not opposed the war early enough to win reelection in the district. Dellums defeated Cohelan in the Democratic primary and won the general election, serving without interruption for 27 years.[17]
In 1972, Dellums was reelected to Congress, 60 to 38 percent over his Republican opponent,Peter D. Hannaford, an advisor to thenGovernorRonald Reagan.[18]
His politics earned him a place on the so-calledNixon's Enemies List, where his notation stated Dellums "had extensiveEMK-Tunney support in his election bid."[19][20]
During his tenure in Congress, Dellums opposed every major Americanmilitary intervention, except for emergency relief in Somalia in 1992.[11] Dellums also supported the restriction of foreign aid to repressive African governments inZaire (present-dayDRC),Burundi,Liberia andSudan.[21]
In 1972, Dellums began his campaign to end theapartheid policies ofSouth Africa. Fourteen years later, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Dellums's anti-apartheid legislation, calling for a trade restriction against South Africa and immediatedivestment by American corporations. The bill, theComprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, had broad bipartisan support. It called for sanctions against South Africa and stated preconditions for lifting the sanctions, including the release of all political prisoners. President Reagan called for a policy of "constructive engagement" andvetoed the bill; however, his veto was overridden. It was the first override in the 20th century of a presidential foreign policy veto.[2]
Dellums's fight against apartheid in South Africa was the subject of aDisney Channel made-for-TV film,The Color of Friendship, released in 2000. The role of Congressman Dellums was played in the film by actorCarl Lumbly.[22]
As part of theCold War struggle for influence in southern Africa, theUnited States joined with the apartheid government of South Africa in support ofUNITA, led byJonas Savimbi, against the ultimately victoriousAngolan forces of theMPLA supported by theSoviet Union andCuba. Dellums was criticized for his support ofFidel Castro's involvement with theMPLA in Angola and was called "the prototype of the Castroite congressman" by the conservative press.[23] He also introduced legislation (which was unsuccessful) in September 1987 to prohibit economic and military assistance toZaire, citing poor human rights, corruption, and collaboration withSouth Africa.[24]
In 1990, Dellums and 44[25] of his congressional colleagues sued then-presidentPresident George H. W. Bush inD.C. Federal District Court in 1990, in the caseDellums v. Bush, 752 F. Supp. 1141 (1990) attempting to halt a preemptive military buildup in the Middle East in response toIraq's invasion ofKuwait.[26] The plaintiff members of Congress asserted that military action without adeclaration of war would be unlawful underU.S. Const. art. I, § 8, cl. 11 of the United States Constitution.Dellums v. Bush is notable in that it is one of only a few cases in which the Federal Courts have considered whether theWar Powers Clause of the U.S. Constitution is justiciable in the courts. The Court inDellums v. Bush indicated that, in that instance, it was, but because Congress had not yet acted as a majority, the lawsuit was premature.[26]
Throughout his career Dellums led campaigns against an array of military projects, arguing that the funds would be better spent on peaceful purposes, especially in American cities. Programs he opposed included thePershing II andMX missiles, and theB-2 bomber (popularly known as the "stealth bomber").[27] Because of his commitment to theclosing of unneeded military bases, Dellums did not oppose the closing of the formerNaval Air Station Alameda in his own district.[28]
TheB-2 Stealth Bomber is a long-rangestrategic bomber, that featuresstealth technology that makes it far less visible toradar. The B-2 was a major technological advance; however, it was designed during theCold War for military scenarios that some argued were less relevant following the collapse of theSoviet Union. Its total program cost was estimated in 1997 at over US$2.2 billion per airplane.[29]
Although Dellums opposed the B-2 project from the start, Congress approved initial funding for production of 135 bombers in 1987. However, with the winding down of theCold War, total B-2 production was reduced to 21 aircraft in the early 1990s. But in 1997, seven formerSecretaries of Defense signed a letter urging Congress to buy more B-2s, citing the difficulty of assembling a similar engineering team in the future should the B-2 project be terminated.[30] Dellums, citing five independent studies consistent with his position, offered an amendment to that year's defense authorization bill to cap production of the bombers with the existing 21 aircraft. The amendment was narrowly defeated;[31] nonetheless, Congress never approved funding for additional B-2 bombers.
In January 1971, just weeks into his first term, Dellums set up an exhibit ofVietnamwar crimes in an annex to his Congressional office, coordinated with theCitizens Commission of Inquiry (CCI).[32] The exhibit featured four large posters depicting atrocities committed by American soldiers, embellished with red paint.
TheMy Lai massacre was followed shortly thereafter by a series ofhearings on war crimes in Vietnam, which began April 25, 1971. Dellums had called for formal investigations into the allegations, but Congress chose not to endorse the proceedings. As such, the hearings weread hoc and only informational in nature. As a condition of room use, press and camera presence were not permitted; however, the proceedings were transcribed.[33] A small number of other anti-Vietnam War congressional representatives also took part in the hearings.
In 1993, Dellums was chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Though he argued in favor of integration, Dellums was the sole sponsor of H.R. 2401, introduced on June 14, 1993,[34] adding language to the Defense Authorization Act of 1994 to ensure continued support forunit cohesion in the military. Although the bill contained that language, Dellums pointed out that he personally found the language unacceptable, stating in the Congressional Record on August 4, 1993: "The bill also contains at least one policy that, while unacceptable to this Member in substantive terms, is not as retrograde as it might have been: It supports the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the issue of allowing gay and lesbian service members to serve their country." Remaining in the bill was Title V Section G "[e]xpresses as congressional policy the prohibition against homosexual conduct or activity in the armed forces. Requires separation from the armed forces for such conduct or activity. Directs the Secretary to ensure that the standards for military appointments and enlistments reflect such policy."[35] Dellums's "yes" vote on the bill with the unit cohesion support language was the first time in his 22-year congressional tenure that he voted in favor of any defense spending bill, previously opposing them on economic principles.[36] However, Dellums gave several economic reasons in the Congressional Record for his "yes" vote, on H.R. 2401, including that "It cuts ballistic missile defense to $3 billion—less than one-half the level planned by the Bush administration ..." and: "it devotes a record $11.2 billion to environmental cleanup and improvement, and does so in a way that will stimulate the development of new technologies and new markets for American firms".[36]
Dellums served as chairman of theHouse Committee on the District of Columbia and theHouse Armed Services Committee.[37]
Dellums also served on theForeign Affairs Committee, thePost Office and Civil Service Committee, thePermanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Select Committee to Investigate the Intelligence Community.[38]
Dellums co-founded theCongressional Black Caucus in 1971 and co-founded theCongressional Progressive Caucus in 1991.[39][40]
Dellums was reelected 11 times from this Oakland-based district, which changed numbers twice during his tenure–from the 7th (1971–75) to the 8th (1975–93) to the 9th (1993–98). He only dropped below 57 percent of the vote twice, in 1980 and 1982. In his last House election race, in 1996, Dellums bested his opponent,Republican Deborah Wright, by a 77%–18% margin.[41]
In 1997, Dellums announced that he was retiring from Congress in the middle of his term, and his resignation forced aspecial election for the balance of his term–– which created aseries of five special elections in 12 months as various East Bay politicians ran for different political offices.[27]
Dellums's successor,Barbara Lee, won the 2000 election by an even larger, 85%–9% margin.[42]
Upon his resignation, several members of Congress, includingNancy Pelosi,[43]Jane Harman,[44]William Coyne,Nick Rahall,Ike Skelton,Juanita Millender-McDonald, andTom DeLay gave speeches on the floor of the House in honor of Dellums. Millender-McDonald described Dellums as a "distinguished, principled [and] educated man." Her tribute went on:
Congressman Ron Dellums is revered on both sides of this aisle because of his integrity and his commitment to progressive ideas. He was always on the cutting edge of the issues. California will miss him in the ninth district, but the State has been enriched by Ron Dellums. While he towers above most of us physically, this attribute is matched by his intellect, faith in the process and optimism for peaceful resolution of conflict.[45]
CongressmanDanny Davis of Illinois described Dellums:
A creative, piercing, probing, incisive, thought-provoking, inspiring, charismatic, careful, considerate and deliberative mind. The mind to stand up when others sit down. The mind to act when others refuse to act. The mind to stand even when you stand alone, battered, bruised and scorned, but still standing. Standing on principle, standing tall and standing for the people.[46]
House Majority LeaderTom DeLay described Dellums as "...one of the most giving, open and stalwart, a real stalwart man when he was Chairman"
We are losing one of its finest Members, a Member that I have great respect for, because he always did his homework, was so articulate and eloquent on this floor.
He always got my attention when he stood up and took the microphone. He would stop every Member in their tracks to hear what he had to say, and there are very few Members that have served in this body that can claim the respect that both sides of the aisle had for the gentleman from California.And the incredible reputation that the gentleman from California has brought to this House; he has elevated this House. He has elevated the distinction of this House by serving here, and this House will greatly miss him when he leaves.[47]
Dellums's voting records in Congress were "almost without exception straight As" from groups such as theSierra Club, theNational Organization for Women and theAFL–CIO.[28] He received 100% on consumer groupPublic Citizen's scorecard.[48] In contrast, he received an "F" fromNumbersUSA, a group dedicated to limiting immigration.[49]
An eight-month investigation cleared Dellums of allegations that he had usedcocaine andmarijuana, finding there was no basis for the allegations. The investigation of Dellums and two other congressmen,Texas DemocratCharlie Wilson and CaliforniaRepublicanBarry Goldwater Jr., began in 1983, based on a complaint from a House doorkeeper,[20] who pleaded guilty to drug charges on Capitol Hill himself in March 1983.[50]
In 1976, Dellums was nominated for president by the National Black Political Assembly but refused, stating "It is not my moment; it's not my time."[51][52] That year, he received 20 delegate votes at the Democratic National Convention for the Vice-Presidency.[53]
Four years later, he was again nominated as the presidential candidate, this time for the Independent Freedom Party, but refused the nomination because the IFP had not yet created an effective political structure.[54] In that year's Democratic National Convention, Dellums received three delegate votes for the Presidential nomination.[53]
Dellums worked as a legislative lobbyist, which drew criticism described in theEast Bay Express, a local newspaper.[28] Shortly after leaving office, Dellums began consulting for an international health-care company, Healthcare Management International, which invests in health insurance programs in developing countries.[55]
Dellums worked in Washington, D.C., as alobbyist for clients such as theEast BayPeralta Community College District andAC Transit, the public transit district charged with offeringmass transit throughout theEast Bay. Dellums's firm lobbied forRolls-Royce, a company that manufactures aircraft engines. He also worked on behalf of theSan Francisco International Airport during its attempts to build additional runway capacity, which has been vigorously opposed by environmental groups. His company was engaged in community relations work for theLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory which conducts scientific research on behalf of the Department of Energy, and has long had a contentious relationship with its residential neighbors and the Berkeley city council. In addition he lobbied forBristol-Myers Squibb, a multinational pharmaceutical corporation.[56]
In 2017,Bill Browder testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee that representatives of Vladimir Putin had hired "Howard Schweitzer ofCozen O'Connor Public Strategies and former Congressman Ronald Dellums to lobby members of Congress on Capitol Hill to repeal theMagnitsky Act and to remove Sergei's name from the Global Magnitsky bill." The bill is named for the Russian lawyer who was murdered in prison for pursuing the corruption of Putin's allies.[57] Dellums also worked with theHuman Rights Accountability Global Initiative to oppose sanctions on Russia.[58][59]
Dellums lobbied for theHaitian government in 2001–2002[60] and worked to supportJean-Bertrand Aristide, the first democratically elected, former President of Haiti who was deposed in a 2004coup.[61]
When running for mayor of Oakland, Dellums listed his most recent profession as "retired Congressman" in election filing forms.[62] When assistant City Clerk Marjo Keller informed the Dellums campaign that this description was unacceptable, the campaign elected to leave the occupation field blank.
A former East Bay Express columnist once wrote a column titled "Dellums for Dollars" criticizing Dellums's lobbying.[28] Speaking in defense of Dellums, Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson said that, if asked, Dellums would likely say "just because I'm advocating for a company that may be paying me consulting fees, I'm not selling out my beliefs."[28]
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After Oakland Council PresidentIgnacio De La Fuente and District 3 City Council memberNancy Nadel declared their mayoral candidacies, Dellums was recruited to run for mayor of Oakland. An informal committee, "Draft Dellums", collected 8,000 signatures and presented them to the former Congressman at a public meeting at Laney College. Crowds of Oaklanders chanted "Run, Ron, Run".[63]
In October 2005, reportedly after weeks of deliberation and speculation, Dellums announced that he would run for mayor ofOakland. The incumbent mayor, formerCalifornia GovernorJerry Brown, was prohibited byterm limits from running again.[64]
On June 16, 2006, after a careful ballot count, and a dispute over whether votes for unqualified write-in candidates such asGeorge W. Bush andHomer Simpson counted towards the total, Dellums was unofficially declared the winner in the Oakland mayoral race. Dellums garnered a 50.18 percent majority to win the election. This was 155 votes more than needed to avoid a runoff. Dellums received 41,992 votes, while his nearest challengers received 27,607 votes, and 10,928 votes respectively.[65]
Mayor-Elect Dellums's transition to office involved 800 Oaklanders who joined 41 task forces to make recommendations on issues ranging from public safety to education and affordable housing.[66]Many of these recommendations helped to shape the policy agenda of the Dellums administration. The task forces recommended a land use policy which would emphasize zoning for job-creating business. This policy was adopted in 2007, and the city is being zoned. The task forces recommended a stronger policy on the hiring of local residents, and the City Council appointed a group to pursue this change. The task forces recommended a focus on the green economy, and the Mayor, along with a variety of community organizations created the Green Jobs Corps, an office of sustainability and theEast Bay Green Corridor. Mayor Dellums reported that approximately two-thirds of the recommendations had been implemented as of the end of 2009.[67] The Task Forces and the Inauguration itself, which included hundreds of the city's least affluent residents, were considered examples ofgrassroots democracy.[68]
Crime rates were high when Dellums took office in January 2007 and at his first State of the City Address in January 2008, Dellums called for hiring more police officers. Dellums promised that by year's end, the police department would be fully staffed at 803 officers.[69] On November 14, 2008, 38 Oakland police officers were added to the force after graduating the 165th academy, bringing the department's force to 837 officers, the most in OPD history.[70]
In addition, to follow through on his calls for hiring more officers, Dellums offered Measure NN on the November 2008 ballot, a voter initiative parcel tax to hire 70 additional police officers at a hiring and training cost of $250,000 each. Though 55 percent of Oakland voters supported Measure NN, this failed to meet California's "two thirds" constitutional requirement for the enactment of a new tax.[71]
Dellums's administration negotiated the passage of a new police contract which was especially noteworthy, as it broke the Oakland Police Officers Association's opposition to the civilianization of certain OPD positions which were previously staffed by "sworn," uniformed police officers, with concomitant payrolls and police academy training costs. OPD then hired "non-sworn" personnel to work some of its desk jobs and administrative jobs, freeing up academy uniformed officers for street patrol and investigative work.[72]
On March 21, 2009, during the2009 Oakland police shootings incident, the Oakland Police Department lost three sergeants and one officer. One of the officers left instructions in his emergency packet that if he were killed in the line of duty that Dellums not be permitted to speak at his funeral. Two of the officers' families requested the same, and when Dellums attended the March 28 public memorial service at theOracle Arena he honored the requests.[73][74]
In his State of the City address in 2008 Dellums promised to reduce the crime rate by 10% during 2009; the crime rate actually went down by 13%.[75]
In 2009 Dellums hired the highly regardedAnthony Batts, formerly theLong Beach police chief. Batts had a record of reducing both crime and police shootings in that Southern California city.[76]
Noting that reducing teacher turn-over and improving the engagement of teachers with the families of their students would require increasing the number of teachers who came from the local community, Dellums initiated a program to create more teachers who were diverse local residents. He held teacher recruitment summits in City Hall, helped theTeach Tomorrow in Oakland program to obtain $2.7 million in federal funding, and spoke to theU.S. Conference of Mayors about the national potential of such programs.[77] The Community Task Forces remained active in these efforts.
In 2009 Dellums launched an anti-drop-out initiative which included sponsoring back to school rallies at City Hall and participating with the school district in truancy reduction efforts. He accepted an invitation from the national organization, America's Promise, to join their efforts at drop-out prevention. As part of this effort, he started Oakland's Promise, recruited several dozen community-based organizations to participate, held a Summit with 350 participants, and adopted an Action Plan to cut Oakland's drop-out rate in half.[78]
As mayor, Dellums proposed the idea of Oakland as a "Model City". He argued that Oakland is "big enough to be significant and small enough to get your arms around", and that the federal government needs a city like Oakland on which to try out new urban policy inventions.[79]
From 2008, Dellums campaigned to bring millions inAmerican Recovery and Reinvestment Act federal stimulus funding to Oakland, using both his extensive Washington D.C. contacts and the idea of the Model City. By the end of 2009, his efforts had yielded US$65 million in stimulus funding for Oakland, including the largest police grant of any city in the country, and the second largest amount in competitive funding afterChicago.[80]
After his election as mayor of Oakland, Dellums came under criticism for a wide range of issues, including a lack of transparency in government,[81][82] ineffectual governance,[83] and alleged extended absence from his duties at City Hall.[84] He was criticized for refusing to disavow a staff-generated letter sent in his name in July 2007 to a FederalBankruptcy Court in support ofYour Black Muslim Bakery, whose owners were suspects in the 2007 murder of reporterChauncey Bailey.[85] In 2009, Dellums and his wife were cited with failure to pay over $239,000 in federal income taxes.[86]
In 2007, Oakland reporter Elise Ackerman launched an unsuccessful campaign to recall Dellums and released an open letter addressed to Dellums.[87] When addressing a town hall-style meeting in 2007, Dellums declared: "I'm giving it everything that I have. If that's not enough, that's cool. Recall me and let me get on with my private life."[88]
Dellums later announced he would not seek a second term as mayor of Oakland in the 2010 election.[89] He was succeeded byJean Quan.
Although he ran as aDemocrat andcaucused as a Democrat in Congress, Dellums described himself as asocialist. He was the first self-described socialist in Congress sinceVictor L. Berger. In the 1970s, Dellums was a member of theDemocratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC), an offshoot of theSocialist Party of America. He later became vice-chair of theDemocratic Socialists of America (DSA),[10] which was formed by a merger between the DSOC and theNew American Movement, and which works within and outside theDemocratic Party.
While running for mayor of Oakland, Dellums was officiallyregistered as a member of theDemocratic Party.[16][90]
On October 1, 2007, Dellums endorsedHillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary at a press conference held atLaney College in Oakland. He was named national chair of Clinton's Urban Policy Committee.[91][92]
Dellums was a member of the ReFormers Caucus ofIssue One.[93]
In 2000, Dellums published an autobiography, cowritten with H. Lee Halterman, entitledLying Down with the Lions: A Public Life from the Streets of Oakland to the Halls of Power.[94]
Dellums died of complications fromprostate cancer on July 30, 2018, at age 82.[95][96] He is interred withmilitary honors in section 82, atArlington National Cemetery.[97]
Veselnitskaya, the lawyer in the meeting, has been deeply involved in the anti-Magnitsky Act effort in the U.S. as part of a group called the Human Rights Accountability Global Initiative Foundation that has lobbied in Congress against the legislation ... Akhmetshin, who is currently in Europe, said in an email that there was one instance involving Behrends walking with former Democratic Congressman Ron Dellums, who was also part of the lobbying effort, to the office of the ranking Democrat on Rohrabacher's subcommittee.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's 7th congressional district 1971–1975 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's 8th congressional district 1975–1993 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theHouse District of Columbia Committee 1979–1993 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theCongressional Black Caucus 1989–1991 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's 9th congressional district 1993–1998 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theHouse Armed Services Committee 1993–1995 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Ranking Member of theHouse Armed Services Committee 1995–1998 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Mayor of Oakland 2007–2011 | Succeeded by |
Chairs of theUnited States House Committee on Armed Services | ||
|---|---|---|
| Military Affairs Committee (1822–1947) |  | |
| Naval Affairs Committee (1822–1947) | ||
| Armed Services Committee* (from 1947) | ||
*Alternately namedNational Security in 104th and 105th Congresses. | ||
