Legal Commentary

Van Jones : Prey of the Radical Right

By Jeralyn

Alex Pareen at Gawker documents the Van Jones resignation story, with some facts. One of his many achievements: He founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, which combats over-incarceration, police brutality, and urban poverty and violence. And,

... for both his activism and his charm he was rewarded with a White House job with the Council on Environmental Quality. He was tasked with making sure stimulus money for green jobs actually went to green jobs. And he's a great person to have in this administration—he is a genuine environmentalist and the only special interest he's beholden to is poor people. He is the sort of person we were all praying Obama would bring with him to DC, instead of Larry Summers. And that is one of the reasons he is now being ritually and savagely demonized.

How did the radical right force him out? Read the rest of Alex' post for "...how a smear becomes a meme. Schoolhouse Rock, 2009 style." [More...]

Think Progress has part of his resignation letter:

I am resigning my post at the Council on Environmental Quality, effective today.

On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me. They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide.

I have been inundated with calls - from across the political spectrum - urging me to “stay and fight.”

But I came here to fight for others, not for myself. I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on deck, fighting for the future.

It has been a great honor to serve my country and my President in this capacity. I thank everyone who has offered support and encouragement. I am proud to have been able to make a contribution to the clean energy future. I will continue to do so, in the months and years ahead.

Here's my book review of The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems.

We lost a great one with Van Jones.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on September 06, 2009 (boomark / email).