Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown is attacking Elizabeth Warren on one topic, and apparently ONLY one topic.
Senator Brown is claiming that Elizabeth Warren lied about having a Native American ethnic heritage, and that she falsely used it for acaemic advancement.
Elizabeth Warren is a law professor at President Obama and Mitt Romney's alma mater, Harvard. Having been entertained by the PBS series that uses referencing geneology with genome sequencing, including the one which aired earlier this year, hosted by a fellow professor at Harvard, Henry Louis Gates (a long time friend of Professor Obama, whom some might remember from the beer summit incident), I have to wonder if it wouldn't be more definitive to refute Senator Brown's apparently false claims with research by fellow professor Gates into the Native American claims made by Professor Warren's entire family.
To borrow a phrase from the 1970's entertainment industry,used in the opening titles of the Six Million Dollar Man and the spin off, the Bionic Woan - "We have the technology..." would seem to apply here, and a leading expert in that technology is close to hand. Although to be fair, it is perhaps unfairly short notice, especially for the geneology part, to hope Professor Gates could have definitive answers available before the November elections. But the question having been raised, additional information would be something that everyone would find informative, most of all presumably Professor Warren and her own family.
Unless and until such research is undertaken by Professor Gates and Professor Warren, it is clear however that the claims made by Senator Brown that Professor Warren relied on some sort of preferential treatment because of her ethnic or racial heritage is already established to be a factually inaccurate attack on Elizabeth Warren.
I do find it hilarious in this article that Brown makes references to the desirability of transparency, including regarding taxes, given that former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney has amended his to qualify to run for governor, and has been so unforthcoming regarding his taxes.
Senator Brown is wrong, and has known he was wrong since those two assertions were fact checked back in May of this year by the AP.
BOSTON (AP) — The U.S. Senate campaign pitting Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown and likely Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren has taken an unexpected turn by delving into whether Warren has claimed Native American heritage in her academic career.
Warren, who grew up in Oklahoma, said she's proud of her family ties to Cherokee and Delaware tribes — a heritage she said she learned through stories passed down to her from older family members.
At the same time, Warren has said she wasn't aware officials at Harvard Law School had promoted her as a Native American faculty member in the 1990s, even though academic directories from 1986-1995 indicated Warren had identified herself as a "minority law teacher" before being hired by Harvard.
Warren hasn't talked about her Native American heritage on the campaign trail up until now.
Warren's campaign has yet to produce any documentation of her Native American ties, although they say they are looking. Warren also told reporters that she couldn't recall using her heritage to claim a minority status when seeking a job.
Brown's campaign manager, Jim Barnett, said the story "raises serious questions about Elizabeth Warren's credibility."
"Prof. Warren needs to come clean about her motivations for making these claims and explain the contradictions between her rhetoric and the record," Barnett said.
Warren's campaign accused Brown of using smears to call into question "the qualifications and ability of a woman."
"If Scott Brown has questions about Elizabeth Warren's well-known qualifications ... he ought to ask them directly instead of hiding behind the nasty insinuations of his campaign and trying to score political points," said Warren's campaign manager, Mindy Myers.
Brown, speaking briefly to reporters on Monday, and said it's up to Warren to answer questions raised by the media.
"If there are questions, she should answer them just like we've been asking and answering questions about our taxes," he said, referring to the candidates' recent release of their income tax returns. "If you're in this position and you're asked to be transparent, then you should do so."
The professor who recruited Warren to Harvard said that any suggestion that she got her job in part because of a claim of minority status is wrong.
"That's totally stupid, ignorant, uninformed and simply wrong," Harvard Law School professor Charles Fried said Monday. "I presented her case to the faculty. I did not mention her Native American connection because I did not know about it."
Former Boston mayor and former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican Ray Flynn, front right, faces reporters as U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., left, looks on outside Sullivan's restaurant, in Boston's South Boston neighborhood, Monday, April 30, 2012. Flynn endorsed Brown for re-election to the senate seat over his opponent in the race Democrat Elizabeth Warren. Brown, speaking briefly to reporters on Monday, and said it's up to Warren to answer questions about her ancestry which are raised by the media. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
The story first surfaced last week when the Boston Herald found a 1996 article in Harvard's student newspaper, the Harvard Crimson, about student dissatisfaction about the number of women and minority professors on the Harvard Law faculty. In the story, Harvard Law spokesman Mike Chmura referred to Warren as Native American.
Warren said on Friday that she was unaware Harvard had promoted her as a minority professor.
Law school directories from the Association of American Law Schools from 1986 to 1995 put Warren on the association's list of "minority law teachers" when she was teaching at the University of Texas and the University of Pennsylvania.
According to the directories, the list is made up of "those legal educators who stated they were members of a minority group."
Warren's campaign said she was told by older family members that her grandmother and grandfather on her mother's side could trace their lineage back to the Cherokee and Delaware tribes.
"She learned about her heritage the way most Americans learn about their heritage, from conversations with her parents, her grandparents, her aunts and uncles," said Warren campaign aide Kyle Sullivan.
Michael Dean with the Oklahoma Historical Society said it's not unusual for families from Oklahoma to claim some Native American heritage.
"There was so much intermarriage back in the 1890s that was fairly common," Dean said.
Tara Damron, assistant curator of the society's American Indian collection, said finding a definitive answer about Native American heritage can be difficult, not only because of intermarriage, but also because some Native Americans opted not to be put on federal rolls, while others who were not Native American did put their names on rolls to get access to land.
"There are a lot of people in Oklahoma who do have native lineage but can't prove that," Damron said.
Senator Brown is claiming that Elizabeth Warren lied about having a Native American ethnic heritage, and that she falsely used it for acaemic advancement.
Elizabeth Warren is a law professor at President Obama and Mitt Romney's alma mater, Harvard. Having been entertained by the PBS series that uses referencing geneology with genome sequencing, including the one which aired earlier this year, hosted by a fellow professor at Harvard, Henry Louis Gates (a long time friend of Professor Obama, whom some might remember from the beer summit incident), I have to wonder if it wouldn't be more definitive to refute Senator Brown's apparently false claims with research by fellow professor Gates into the Native American claims made by Professor Warren's entire family.
To borrow a phrase from the 1970's entertainment industry,used in the opening titles of the Six Million Dollar Man and the spin off, the Bionic Woan - "We have the technology..." would seem to apply here, and a leading expert in that technology is close to hand. Although to be fair, it is perhaps unfairly short notice, especially for the geneology part, to hope Professor Gates could have definitive answers available before the November elections. But the question having been raised, additional information would be something that everyone would find informative, most of all presumably Professor Warren and her own family.
Unless and until such research is undertaken by Professor Gates and Professor Warren, it is clear however that the claims made by Senator Brown that Professor Warren relied on some sort of preferential treatment because of her ethnic or racial heritage is already established to be a factually inaccurate attack on Elizabeth Warren.
I do find it hilarious in this article that Brown makes references to the desirability of transparency, including regarding taxes, given that former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney has amended his to qualify to run for governor, and has been so unforthcoming regarding his taxes.
Senator Brown is wrong, and has known he was wrong since those two assertions were fact checked back in May of this year by the AP.
Elizabeth Warren's Native American ancestry claims under fire in US Senate race
Published: Tuesday, May 01, 2012, 4:00 AM
By STEVE LeBLANC, Associated PressBOSTON (AP) — The U.S. Senate campaign pitting Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown and likely Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren has taken an unexpected turn by delving into whether Warren has claimed Native American heritage in her academic career.
Warren, who grew up in Oklahoma, said she's proud of her family ties to Cherokee and Delaware tribes — a heritage she said she learned through stories passed down to her from older family members.
At the same time, Warren has said she wasn't aware officials at Harvard Law School had promoted her as a Native American faculty member in the 1990s, even though academic directories from 1986-1995 indicated Warren had identified herself as a "minority law teacher" before being hired by Harvard.
Warren hasn't talked about her Native American heritage on the campaign trail up until now.
Warren's campaign has yet to produce any documentation of her Native American ties, although they say they are looking. Warren also told reporters that she couldn't recall using her heritage to claim a minority status when seeking a job.
Brown's campaign manager, Jim Barnett, said the story "raises serious questions about Elizabeth Warren's credibility."
"Prof. Warren needs to come clean about her motivations for making these claims and explain the contradictions between her rhetoric and the record," Barnett said.
Warren's campaign accused Brown of using smears to call into question "the qualifications and ability of a woman."
"If Scott Brown has questions about Elizabeth Warren's well-known qualifications ... he ought to ask them directly instead of hiding behind the nasty insinuations of his campaign and trying to score political points," said Warren's campaign manager, Mindy Myers.
Brown, speaking briefly to reporters on Monday, and said it's up to Warren to answer questions raised by the media.
"If there are questions, she should answer them just like we've been asking and answering questions about our taxes," he said, referring to the candidates' recent release of their income tax returns. "If you're in this position and you're asked to be transparent, then you should do so."
The professor who recruited Warren to Harvard said that any suggestion that she got her job in part because of a claim of minority status is wrong.
"That's totally stupid, ignorant, uninformed and simply wrong," Harvard Law School professor Charles Fried said Monday. "I presented her case to the faculty. I did not mention her Native American connection because I did not know about it."
Former Boston mayor and former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican Ray Flynn, front right, faces reporters as U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., left, looks on outside Sullivan's restaurant, in Boston's South Boston neighborhood, Monday, April 30, 2012. Flynn endorsed Brown for re-election to the senate seat over his opponent in the race Democrat Elizabeth Warren. Brown, speaking briefly to reporters on Monday, and said it's up to Warren to answer questions about her ancestry which are raised by the media. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)Warren said on Friday that she was unaware Harvard had promoted her as a minority professor.
Law school directories from the Association of American Law Schools from 1986 to 1995 put Warren on the association's list of "minority law teachers" when she was teaching at the University of Texas and the University of Pennsylvania.
According to the directories, the list is made up of "those legal educators who stated they were members of a minority group."
Warren's campaign said she was told by older family members that her grandmother and grandfather on her mother's side could trace their lineage back to the Cherokee and Delaware tribes.
"She learned about her heritage the way most Americans learn about their heritage, from conversations with her parents, her grandparents, her aunts and uncles," said Warren campaign aide Kyle Sullivan.
Michael Dean with the Oklahoma Historical Society said it's not unusual for families from Oklahoma to claim some Native American heritage.
"There was so much intermarriage back in the 1890s that was fairly common," Dean said.
Tara Damron, assistant curator of the society's American Indian collection, said finding a definitive answer about Native American heritage can be difficult, not only because of intermarriage, but also because some Native Americans opted not to be put on federal rolls, while others who were not Native American did put their names on rolls to get access to land.
"There are a lot of people in Oklahoma who do have native lineage but can't prove that," Damron said.
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