By PHIL KABLER
Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — One of the highest-ranking congressional Democrats will visit West Virginia in November for a fundraiser hosted by the state Democratic Party.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., will attend the annual dinner on Nov. 3 at the Charleston Civic Center, according to a news release from the party.
“After negotiating a bipartisan deal to avoid a federal government shutdown and being on the frontlines of the fight for health care, Leader Schumer is in very high demand right now and we are truly honored to welcome him to West Virginia,” state Democratic Chairwoman Belinda Biafore said in the release.
The dinner, which has been known in past years as the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in reference to former presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, was referred to in the release as the Roosevelt-Kennedy Dinner, after presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy.
In an interview, Biafore said the party’s state executive committee voted for the change in June, following in the footsteps of several other states that have stepped away from the Jefferson and Jackson duo.
“In our discussion, we just said that Roosevelt and Kennedy were champions for the more modern Democratic party,” she said. “So we’re just looking for some change, and we thought we might need a little bit of an uplift, and what a way to kick it off with our annual celebration to reflect that.”
Both Jefferson and Jackson have questionable moral track records when viewed through contemporary ethical standards.
In 1838, Jackson forcibly removed 15,000 Native Americans from their homes and sent them toward what became Oklahoma on what would later be called the “Trail of Tears.” About 4,000 of them died along the way.
Additionally, both presidents owned slaves.
Biafore said both presidents’ evolving places in history played some role in the decision.
“They weren’t big advocates of equality,” she said. “I’m a firm believer that that’s a part of our history. And, in studying that part of history, we learn. We can’t be judged on what we’ve done in the past. But I think we can be judged on what were doing in the future to change it. I’m sure it played a small part in it, but it wasn’t the only part.”
She said presidents Roosevelt and Kennedy more closely align with modern Democratic values, and West Virginians have a special love for Kennedy given the family’s history in the state.
See more from the Charleston Gazette-Mail