Cedric Richmond

Cedric Richmond

Template:TOCnestleft Cedric Richmond served as the United States House of Representatives for Louisiana's 2nd congressional district. He is a member of the Democratic Party. He is currently Senior Advisor to President Joe Biden and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement since 2021.

Early Life

Born September 13, 1973, Cedric Richmond is a lifelong resident of New Orleans. Raised in Eastern New Orleans, he grew up attending public schools and participating in New Orleans Recreation Department programs. Richmond's father died when he was seven years old. His mother, a public school teacher and small business owner, provided him with strong guidance with added emphasis on education. He credits the coaches at Goretti playground as being very influential role models and motivators in during his childhood.

Education

He graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School, Morehouse College, Tulane School of Law and the Harvard University executive program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Legislature

After passing the Louisiana Bar Exam, Richmond was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives where he has been a leader and served with distinction since 2000. Currently, he is the Chairman of the committee on Judiciary and a member of the Ways and Means, House Executive, and Legislative Audit Advisory committees.

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 Cedric Richmond (D-LA) in his 2010 Congressional election campaign.

Cedric Richmond has represented New Orleans in the Louisiana House of Representatives since 2000. Now he is running for the U.S. Congress in the 2nd Congressional District. Richmond is a progressive who supports the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons.

Congressional Black Caucus

Cedric Richmond is a member of the Congressional Black Caucus for the 113th Congress:

Leading with Love

Leading with Love was an event to celebrate 5 years of the Marxist led National Domestic Workers Alliance. It was held in Washington DC, DC, November 14, 2012.

Members of the Host Committee included Cedric Richmond.

PDA contact

In 2013 Progressive Democrats of America assigned activists to deliver their material to almost every US Congressman and several Senators, Adam Davis, was assigned as contact for Rep. Richmond. In June it was Robert Desmarais Sullivan.

DSA Pressure

From New Orleans Democratic Socialists of America.

The state has highly gerrymandered districts that aim to concentrate minority votes in one district and deny disadvantaged groups representation. Because of that, Baton Rouge shares Rep. Cedric Richmond with New Orleans. That means the DSA chapters in both cities have been able to coordinate a petition campaign for Medicare for All, with Baton Rouge contributing dozens of signatures to the effort.

Freedom Summer 50th Anniversary

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) moderated a plenary panel at the Freedom Summer 50th Anniversary Conference at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi on Saturday, June 28, 2014. The panel, entitled “Our Southern Strategy: Where Do We Go from Here,” focused on the role that the South plays in changing the way that democracy applies to all citizens in the United States. The panel included fellow congressional members: G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), Cedric Richmond (D-LA), and Bennie Thompson (D-MS). Tougaloo College was crucial to the Civil Rights Movement, a safe haven for many activists and a gathering place for the leaders of the Movement. The panel was part of the weeklong Freedom Summer 50th anniversary intergenerational conference. Danny Glover; Julian Bond; Dick Gregory; Sherrilyn Ifill, President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Legal Defense and Educational Fund; and Benjamin Jealous, former President and CEO of the NAACP, were among the participants.

ARA endorsement, 2014

The Alliance for Retired Americans Political Action Fund endorsed Cedric Richmond in 2014, also 2012.

New Democrat Coalition, 113th Congress

In the 113th Congress, 50 members of the House of Representatives belonged to the New Democrat Coalition, including:

• Cedric Richmond

Ferguson

After an emotional meeting between a dozen members of the Congressional Black Caucus and activists in Ferguson, Mo., the CBC pledges action to keep the movement going.

After a dinner meeting with 10 young activists in Ferguson, Mo., members of the Congressional Black Caucus are looking for ways to empower the Ferguson activist community. Eleven members of the caucus met with the activists Jan. 17, 2015 including leaders from the Organization for Black Struggle and activists Deray McKesson and Johnetta Elzie.

“That dinner meeting was powerful. They [the members] heard it. They got an earful from those young people about how bad it is. They spoke on how they felt that the civil rights movement had failed them and talked on the abuse they are still taking from the criminal-justice system,” Rep. William Lacy Clay, Jr. (D-Mo.) told The Root days after the CBC visit to his district.

“The next step is for the Congressional Black Caucus Institute to get behind a massive effort to educate the voters of Ferguson. It’s a community of 21,000 people, 67 percent African American; we have the numbers, and the map works for them having a voice in local government,” Clay added.

Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), who attended the Ferguson dinner, stressed during an interview with The Root, “We can’t tell them what to do” but “we can help them with what they want to do.”

Members of the CBC pledged to sponsor several young activists from Ferguson for the next CBC Political and Education Leadership Institute Boot Camp. The CBC Institute, started in 2002, has an annual political-leadership boot camp that focuses on leadership development, political campaigns and issue advocacy. In July, 55 young people graduated from the boot camp. Members can sponsor boot camp students with their campaign funds.

“Rep. Joyce Beatty [D-Ohio] agreed to sponsor one of the activists who attended the dinner at the CBC Institute boot camp. We’re gonna have about 15 of these young people in our boot camp from Ferguson,” Clay said.

Clay said the dinner meeting “was very positive, and it wasn’t really slamming the police, but it’s letting them know: OK, we’re watching you. We’re gonna take direct action legislatively to correct some of these gross inequities in the administration of justice.”

CBC member Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), currently the top fundraiser of the 46-member caucus, brought a check to the dinner meeting for each City Council candidate at the gathering. A more detailed fundraising plan is being thought out.

“We have filled the candidates in those seats, and we will be going out in each of the three wards in Ferguson, educating the voters on the importance of them having a voice in their local government,” said Clay.

CBC Chairman G.K. Butterfield told The Root on the night of the State of the Union that the caucus will soon unveil a detailed criminal-justice legislative plan.

The delegation also included reps Karen Bass, D-Calif.; Andre Carson, D-Ind.; Emanuel Cleaver, D-Kansas City; Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio; Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas; Donald Payne, Jr., D-N.J.

Intelligence scandal

Three brothers who managed office information technology for members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and other lawmakers were abruptly relieved of their duties, on suspicion that they accessed congressional computers without permission.

Brothers Abid Awan, Imran Awan, and Jamal Awan were barred from computer networks at the House of Representatives Thursday February 2, 2017.

Three members of the intelligence panel and five members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs were among the dozens of members who employed the suspects on a shared basis.

Also among those whose computer systems may have been compromised is Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Florida Democrat who was previously the target of a disastrous email hack when she served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 campaign.

The brothers are suspected of serious violations, including accessing members’ computer networks without their knowledge and stealing equipment from Congress.

Jamal handled IT for Rep. Joaquin Castro, a Texas Democrat who serves on both the intelligence and foreign affairs panels.

“As of 2/2, his employment with our office has been terminated,” Castro spokeswoman Erin Hatch told TheDCNF Friday.

Jamal Awan also worked for Louisiana Democrat Rep. Cedric Richmond, who is on the Committee on Homeland Security.

Imran worked for Reps. Andre Carson, an Indiana Democrat, and Jackie Speier, a California Democrat. Both are members of the intelligence committee. Imran Awan, also worked for the House office of Wasserman Schultz.

Then-Rep. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, employed Abid Awan for IT work in 2016. She was a member of House committees dealing with the armed services, oversight, and Benghazi. Duckworth was elected to the Senate in November, 2016. Abid Awan has a prior criminal record and a bankruptcy.

Abid Awan also worked for Rep. Lois Frankel, a Florida Democrat who is member of the foreign affairs committee.

The three men are “shared employees,” meaning they are hired by multiple offices, which split their salaries and use them as needed for IT services. It is up to each member to fire them.

A criminal investigation into five unnamed people began late last year related to serious and potentially illegal violations of House IT policies. Chiefs of staff for the members were briefed Thursday by the Sergeant-at-Arms.

Capitol Police spokeswoman Eva Malecki said the investigation was still ongoing, and arrests have not been made but staff were “asked to update their security settings.”

The Sergeant-at-Arms told staff that the subjects were four men who were brothers and one woman. It did not name them. It quoted one of the affected members as saying “they said it was some sort of procurement scam, but now I’m concerned that they may have stolen data from us, emails, who knows.”

The three brothers have all shared a house in Lorton, Virginia, that is owned by Hina Alvi. Alvi is a female House IT employee who works for many of the same members as the three brothers, as well as the House Democratic Caucus. Alvi has worked for reps Gregory Meeks, Yvette Clarke, Dave Loebsack, and Emanuel Cleaver.

Signs of trouble have long been visible in public records. The Congressional Credit Union repossessed Abid’s car in 2009, and he declared bankruptcy in 2012, facing multiple lawsuits.

Alvi, who did not respond to TheDCNF’s request for comment, has taken multiple second mortgages.

Jack Langer, spokesman for the intelligence committee, said the committee office has its own IT staff and security measures and classified information from the panel is not allowed to be sent to members’ personal offices.

The Collective PAC connection

Biden allies

In early 2019 Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), the former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, had been speaking to Joe Biden regularly and urging him to jump in the race. Richmond said he believes that Biden is “95 percent” committed to running and has been coordinating calls between Biden and other members of Congress. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said he has been informed that he’s on a “call list” and Biden should be reaching out soon.

Sen. Bob Casey, Jr. (D-Pa.), a longtime Biden friend, said the former VP called him last week. While Biden wasn’t “declaratory” about a White House bid in that call, Casey told The Hill Tuesday, it would be “very surprising” if Biden didn’t run.

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), a former Biden staffer during the 1980s, hasn’t spoken to Biden recently but said there is nothing stopping his former boss from running again.

“At this stage in life, he doesn’t have a lot to lose and has a lot to gain. And he has a lot to offer the country,” Connolly told The Hill outside of the Capitol. “He offers the prospect of some desperately needed healing in this country after this scourge.”

References

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