Towns Replaces Waxman as Oversight Chairman

By GottaLaff

Towns, with former Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, and his wife, Gwen Towns (via)

The Mustache of Justice has been replaced:

House Democrats approved Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) as the new chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, replacing Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) after his successful coup last month for the Energy and Commerce gavel.

His Wiki, in part:

Towns is responsible for sponsoring, co-sponsoring or enacting several pieces of federal legislation, including the "Student Right To Know Act," which mandated the reporting of the rate of graduation among student athletes, creating the Telecommunications Development Fund, which provides capital for minority business initiatives, and the development of a federal program for poison control centers. [1]

He has put particular emphasis on arguing in behalf of underserved Brooklyn communities, and has won recognition from several organizations for his efforts. The National Audubon Society has honored him for his efforts in fighting to secure federal funds for the restoration of Prospect Park, and Towns fought to have EPA testing in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks include neighborhoods outside of the borough of Manhattan.

Recently Towns has been targeted by various Democratic Party constituencies, including factions led by his political rival Al Sharpton, and national and local labor unions, who resent his support for passage of the Central American Free Trade Agreement, which passed the House of Representatives by a razor-thin margin. In addition, he has been heavily criticized for taking money from telecom PACs and opposing net neutrality.

Hmmmm.