My Conversation with Mike Ferguson's Office on His Vote to Keep the School of the Americas Open

On Friday, after the House had finished voting on the McGovern-Lewis Amendment to the Foreign Appropriations Bill, I called Mike Ferguson’s office to see how my congressman had voted. At first I was told that he had voted in favor of the amendment, but as I was checking the roll call on the House’s website, I learned that the information was incorrect, so I called back.

After leaving a voice mail for the Congressman’s assistant, I received a return call from Mandy who identified herself as the person who was responsible for foreign relations matters for the Congressman’s office. She told me that the information on the website was correct and I asked her why the Congressman chose to vote down the amendment.

At first she gave some rather vague reasoning about the School of the Americas being a military operation and how Congress should not cut off all funding for it. I made reference to the Schools legacy Mandy responded that there were some significant “success stories” that made the Congressman feel comfortable about voting to keep the school open. I told Mandy that I would be interesting in hearing any success stories for the school because all I had ever heard about the school and its graduates was very negative, that graduates of the school were responsible for such things as the murder of Jesuit priest and the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero. Mandy took my email address and said that she would send some information to me. I have not seen the email yet. I may have to call Mandy again next week.

If you live in Congressman Ferguson’s district maybe you would be interested in finding out what kind of successes could possible negate the tens of thousands of people who were murdered at the hands of the graduates of the School of the Americas. By the way Mike Ferguson is not alone in the New Jersey delegation, Frelinghuysen, Garrett and Saxton voted to keep the school open as well.