Symbolic Gestures Are Nice-- Voting Records Are More Important-- Meet Hakeem Jeffries

Tuesday evening Chris Hayes had Hakeem Jeffries on his show. Jeffries is one of three Members of Congress who represents the Brooklyn neighborhood I grew up in, along with Yvette Clarke and Michael "Mikey Suits" Grimm. Jeffries, a well-spoken former corporate lawyer for Viacom. He drove corrupt conservative incumbent, Ed Towns into retirement by announcing a primary largely backed by progressives who couldn't wait to see the last of Towns. But instead the primary was Jeffries versus a candidate considerably to the left of him, Charles Barron, who the Democratic Establishment abhors. Jeffries, who has been heavily backed by Wall Street banksters and by the charter school interests he supports, decisively beat Barron in 2012 and then the random Republican in the general. This cycle, the GOP didn't bother running anyone against him. He's as good as they're likely to get in a bizarrely gerrymandered district that includes Bedford-Stuyvesant, East New York, Coney Island, Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach, Mill Basin, Canarsie, Fort Greene, Flatlands, Ozone Park, Lindenwood, and Downtown Brooklyn.

Chis had him on because he was one of four African-American congressmen who raised their hands-- "Hands Up, Don't Sheet"-- in solidarity with Ferguson protesters. The other three were Yvette Clarke, also from Brooklyn, plus two Texans Sheila Jackson Lee (downtown Houston) and Al Green (south Houston). Hayes caught Jeffries unawares when he asked him if he regretted voting against Alan Grayson's amendment last summer that would have demilitarized the local police. Watch the video above. Jeffries was stunned to be caught out-- and lied about it: "I believe that the amendment actually was designed to repeal the program and I believe that I supported that amendment." He didn't. And I blasted out this tweet immediately:

Hayes was one of the may people who retweeted it. I might add that the three other "Hands Up" sympathizers also voted against Grayson's amendment. Four for four. Here's the list of the only Members of Congress who actually did vote for it:

• John Barrow (Blue Dog-GA)

• Earl Blumenauer (OR)

• Bruce Braley (IA)

• Tony Cárdenas (CA)

• Matt Cartwright (PA)

• Kathy Castor (FL)

• Judy Chu (CA)

• John Conyers (MI)

• Donna Edwards (MD)

• Keith Ellison (MN)

• Alan Grayson (FL)

• Raul Grijalva (AZ)

• Rush Holt (NJ)

• Mike Honda (CA)

• Hank Johnson (GA)

• Barbara Lee (CA)

• John Lewis (GA)

• Dan Maffei (NY)

• Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT)

• Doris Matsui (CA)

• Jim McDermott (WA)

• Jim McGovern (CA)

• Jerry McNerney (CA)

• George Miller (CA)

• Jerry Nadler (NY)

• Gloria Negrete McLeod (CA)

• Beto O'Rourke (TX)
• Frank Pallone (NJ)

• Ed Perlmutter(CO)

• Mark Pocan (WI)

• Loretta Sanchez (Blue Dog-CA)

• John Sarbanes (MD)

• Jan Schakowsky (IL)

• Bobby Scott (VA)

• Jose Serrano (NY)

• Louise Slaughter (NY)

• Adam Smith (WA)

• Jackie Speier (CA)

• Mark Takano (CA)

• John Tierney (MA)

• Paul Tonko (NY)

• Nydia Velázquez (NY)

• Maxine Waters (CA)

When someone like Hakeem Jeffries sees a vote building with Members like Barbara Lee, Donna Edwards, Jose Serrano, Alan Grayson, Jan Schakowsky, Mark Pocan, Matt Cartwright, Judy Chu, Raul Grijalva, Keith Ellison, Jerry Nadler, Jon Conyers, John Lewis and Mike Honda all lining up on one side, maybe voting with Republicans and Democratic corporate whores is a position worth reexamining.