Jon Reisman

My June 2 column took Senators King and Collins to task for confirming Kristen Clarke as the top civil rights attorney at President Biden’s Department of Justice. Ms. Clarke is a stone cold anti-Semite racist who had advocated defunding the police and discriminating against whites and Jews for “equity.” Senator Collins was the only Republican who supported Ms. Clarke.
I let both Senators know my displeasure with their votes, and here are their responses:

Dear Mr. Reisman,
Thank you for contacting me to express your opposition to the nomination of Kristen Clarke to be Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division in the U.S. Department of Justice. I appreciate your taking the time to do so.
The confirmation of presidential nominees is a serious matter and a constitutional duty of senators. Throughout my service in the Senate, I have worked to help ensure that qualified nominees receive fair consideration, regardless of the political party controlling the White House.
Ms. Clarke brings years of civil rights experience to her new role as Assistant Attorney General, including serving as a federal prosecutor during President George W. Bush’s Administration. She assured me in writing that she does not support defunding the police and will not advocate for such policies at the Department of Justice. Ms. Clarke also told me that she is committed to ensuring that law enforcement officers have the resources that they need to do their jobs. With these assurances in mind, I decided to support her nomination.
Again, thank you for contacting me.

Dear Jonathan,
I appreciate knowing of your support for Kristen Clarke’s nomination to be Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. I agree that Ms. Clarke was a qualified nominee, which is why I supported her nomination when it passed the Senate on May 25. I applied the same philosophy to her nomination as I have to all other executive branch nominees throughout my time in the Senate: I believe that any President—regardless of party affiliation—should have the latitude to choose his or her team, as long as those nominees are not diametrically opposed to the mission of the agency in which they would serve. After reviewing Ms. Clarke’s credentials, I found good reason to believe that her commitment to maintaining an independent Department of Justice and her breadth of experience in advocating for the civil rights of all Americans will make her a good choice to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division.  
Thanks, again for your message—in all matters that come before the Senate, I will continue to stand up for the rule of law and seek to promote independence and fairness at the Department of Justice. Please be in touch if I may be of service in the future.
Best Regards,
ANGUS S. KING, JR.
United States Senator

Here is my response to Senator King:
Dear Senator King-
Your response appreciating my "support" for Ms. Clarke is either staff malpractice or senatorial malfeasance. My communication stated my disappointment with your support for Ms. Clarke and my belief that her tenure at DOJ will correspond with worsening race relations and increasing anti-Semitism, especially from the Black woke community she purports to represent. The coming Kristallnacht that Ms. Clarke and the left are creating will be on you.
I expect you will also be supporting the OPM nominee, a Critical Race Theory enthusiast who will undoubtedly do great harm to race relations and federal employees.
After your previous support for the Iran nuclear appeasement deal, I guess I should not be surprised at your willingness to support anti-Semites for high federal office.
Jon Reisman is an associate professor of economics and public policy at the University of Maine at Machias. His views are his own. Mr. Reisman welcomes comments as letters to the editor here, or to him directly via email at [email protected].