Melvin L. Watt

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Melvin Watt is a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 12th district of North Carolina.

Background

Mel Watt was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina on August 26, 1945. He is a graduate of York Road High School in Charlotte. He was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1967 with a BS degree in Business Administration and was the president of the business honors fraternity as a result of having the highest academic average in the Business School. In 1970 he received a JD degree from Yale University Law School and was a published member of the Yale Law Journal. He has been awarded honorary degrees from North Carolina A&T State University, Johnson C. Smith University, Bennett College and Fisk University.

Mel Watt practiced law from 1970-1992, specializing in minority business and economic development law in a general practice law firm best known for its civil rights reputation. He has been an owner of several small businesses.

Mel Watt is a member of the Mt. Olive Presbyterian Church and a life member of the NAACP. He served as president of the Mecklenburg County Bar and has been a member of many professional, community and civic boards and organizations.

He is married to Eulada Paysour Watt, an educator. They have two sons, Brian and Jason, both of whom are graduates of Yale University and have earned graduate degrees.^[1]

Politics

Mel Watt was the campaign manager of Harvey Gantt's campaigns for City Council, for Mayor of Charlotte and for the United States Senate. Mel served one term in the North Carolina Senate (1985-86) where he was called “the conscience of the Senate.” He did not seek a second term in the state Senate and announced that he would not consider running for elective office again until his children completed high school.

In 1992, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 12th Congressional District and became one of only two African American members elected to Congress from North Carolina in the 20th century.

Watt is a member of the House Judiciary Committee, on which he is the Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet and serves on the Subcommittee on Courts, Commercial and Administrative Law. Mel is also on the House Financial Services Committee, on which he serves on the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit and the Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity. He was unanimously elected and served as the Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus (2005-2006).^[2]

Democratic Socialists of America connection

"Progressive caucus" meeting

In 1996 Democratic Socialists of America sponsored a progressive caucus meeting at the Democratic National Convention. Among the participants was Congressman Mel Watt from North Carolina. In his remarks, he crystallized completely the problem facing progressives inside (and also outside) the Democratic Party..."The problem" he said "is that we have lowered our expectation of what is possible."^[3]

DSA endorsement

In July 1996, the Democratic Socialists of America Political Action Committee endorsed Mel Watt, North Carolina 12, in that year's Congressional elections.^[4]

Take Back America Conferences

Mel Watt was on the list of 153 speakers at the 2006 Take Back America conference, which was organized by the Institute for Policy Studies, and Democratic Socialists of America dominated Campaign for America's Future.^[5]

The Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First

Mel Watt is on the list of Congressional Representatives who have participated in hearings/briefings since 1998, with the very radical Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First, founded by Frances Moore Lappe (Democratic Socialists of America, Institute for Policy Studies) and Joseph Collins (Institute for Policy Studies), authors of the book "Food First".^[6]

Supported by Council for a Livable World

The Council for a Livable World, founded in 1962 by long-time socialist activist and alleged Soviet agent, Leo Szilard, is a non-profit advocacy organization that seeks to "reduce the danger of nuclear weapons and increase national security", primarily through supporting progressive, congressional candidates who support their policies. The Council supported Melvin L. Watt in his successful House of Representatives run as candidate for North Carolina.^[7]

2005 trip to Cuba

In March 2005 Mel Watt spent three days in Havana, Cuba, with a Congressional Black Caucus delegation.

The trip cost $1,329.23 which was paid for^[8]by the Christopher Reynolds Foundation.

Congressional Progressive Caucus

In 1998 Melvin Watt Democrat was listed as a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.^[9]

As of February 20 2009 Mel Watt was listed as a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.^[10]

Back to Cuba

In early April 2009, Rep. Barbara Lee led a congressional delegation to Havana for a 4-1/2 hour meeting with Raul Castro, telling reporters, "All of us are convinced that President Castro would like normal relations and would see normalization, ending the embargo, as beneficial to both countries." Reuters reported that Lee's delegation "avoided specifics" with Castro "but were struck by his humor, impressed by his involvement in Third World causes and firm in their belief that he wants to end U.S.-Cuba enmity."

The meeting between Castro, Lee, and five other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, took place in secret without the customary presence of a US State Department official. No reporters attended, and according to the New York Times, Cuban television, which covered the visit, offered no details of what was said.

Reps. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), Marcia L. Fudge (D-OH), Laura Richardson (D-CA), Bobby Rush (D-IL), Melvin Luther Watt (D-CA), and Barbara Lee. "Also particpating were Patrice Willougby, executive assistant to the Congressional Black Caucus, and Eulada Watt, wife of Congressman Mel Watt,".

Bobby Rush said he found Raul Castro "to be just the opposite of how he's being portrayed in the media." AP quotes Rush as saying, "I think what really surprised me, but also endeared to him was his keen sense of humor, his sense of history and his basic human qualities." At times, Rush said, the lawmakers and Castro chatted "like old family members."

Lee says she wanted to influence President Barack Obama prior to the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Trinadad and Tobago.

Prior to the trip, Lee told her hometown Oakland Tribune newspaper that the US had to open up to Cuba, but did not demand that the Cuban government open up; she blasted US policy as "based on antiquated Cold War-era thinking." She could have used those words to describe her own views.^[11]

Staff

The following are past and present staff:^[12]

External links

• Watt's website with the House of Representatives

References