|
September 29, 2006 For
Immediate Release Task Force for H.R. 5680
Professor Alemayehu Takes
Battle to Hastert’s Backyard Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam took to the airwaves
in Speaker Hastert’s backyard pleading with the Speaker to bring H.R.
5680 to the floor for a vote. He was interviewed on Wednesday, September
27, by Jerome McDonnnel on Chicago Public Radio concerning H.R. 5680;
and Thursday went on WBIG AM 1280, Aurora, IL, on the popular Rose and
Brian talk show. In an engaging interview with Chicago Public Radio,
Professor Alemayehu discussed Speaker’s Hastert’s intransigence in
getting H.R. 5680 to the floor. He said he did not believe the recent
explanation given by Hastert’s district office that the reason the
Speaker is holding back the bill is because the Speaker ”is waiting to
hear from the President of the United States on the bill,” and that
the Speaker “needed to do additional fact finding.” Prof. Alemayehu
explained that all fact finding on a bill is made in committee and not
in the private chambers of the Speaker. He said that if additional facts
are needed, the bill should be sent back to the committee. “The
Speaker is just running the clock on H.R. 5680. We know that. But we
will continue to have our voices heard wherever we can,” he added. Professor Alemayehu also raised the critical issue
of big money and foreign governments in American politics, and expressed
his view that Richard Armey, the DLA Piper lobbyist and former majority
leader may have played a significant role in sabotaging the bill. He commented on
the issue of the prisoners of conscience, and said the “Ethiopian
government had incapacitated the opposition by imprisoning its
leaders.” He noted that
there is wide support for the bill in the House. He said he could not
understand why Speaker Hastert would “cast his fate with distant
tyrants and not his Ethiopian American
constituents.” In his WBIG interview, Professor Alemayehu pleaded
with the voters of the 14th Congressional district to ask:
“Why is Speaker Hastert opposed to democracy and human rights in
Ethiopia?” He added: “All we want is for the representatives of the
American people to vote on this bill on the floor, and not be stopped
because one person does not like it.” He concluded his interview
saying: “We just want a fair chance to make our case before the
representatives of the American people. Let them decide. A fair chance
is all we ask.” Professor Alemayehu will be visiting the
Speaker’s district in the near future to meet with
community, civic, media, political and religious leaders and
groups. Professor Alemayehu said, “We have enormous support in the
Speaker’s district for H.R. 5680, and we will prove to him that the
people of the 14th Congressional district are standing with
us. We’re just not sure if the Speaker is willing to stand with us,
and help us.” Major Ethiopian community media such as Ethiomedia
and others have posted Professor Alemayehu’s analysis of issues
related to H.R. 5680. Ethiomedia has a direct audio link to the Chicago
Public Radio interview on its homepage at: http://www.ethiomedia.com/ Also available on Chicago Public Radio at: http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/programs/worldview/worldview.asp |