Rep. Rush questions Color of Change as activists take victory lap

“That group is not a change agent. As a matter of fact they represent the the status quo. They don’t know how to bring about the real change that’s necessary for our constituencies, yours and mine.”

After Rush lost to Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) in the race for telecom ranking member, he was elected to lead Energy and Power instead.

James Rucker, the leader of Color of Change, immediately took credit for the way the Democratic members of the Energy and Commerce Committee voted. 

Rucker is a former MoveOn.org activist who is vehement that Rush— as well as the White House and the Federal Communications Commission — have failed the left on net neutrality. Color of Change claims to “exist to strengthen Black America’s political voice.” 

“Make no mistake, without the push … Rush would easily have been selected to lead Democrats on the telecom panel,” Rucker wrote in an editorial on Thursday. 

Rush said in his speech at the MMTC conference that he will continue to work on minority issues as a member of the Communications subcommittee. “I am on the Energy and Commerce Committee primarily for one reason and everything else flows from that,” he said, referring to his work on minority media ownership.

Rush said minority-owned businesses are far more inclined than non-minority firms to train future minority business owners, recruit and hire minority workers, and to locate their operations in minority communities. 

“This is how the real world operates and how real change comes about,” he said.