A alert FrontBurnervian brings our attention to interesting news out of SMU, which surreptitiously handed out an award to Eddie Bernice Johnson, the worst grandmother in America.
Despite the scholarship scandal involving U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson that rocked the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation last year, SMU has deemed it politically safe to present the congresswoman with the Distinguished Alumni award after Johnson was conveniently unable to accept the award last year.
At a private reception in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, Johnson accepted the award while former Dallas mayor/U.S. Trade Rep. Ron Kirk and congressional colleagues Charlie Rangel, Sheila Jackson Lee, and others looked on. Here’s the press release about the award from Johnson’s office.
You’ll remember SMU originally had her listed as a recipient at the annual Distinguished Alumni Award shindig in Dallas in November. But around the time the scholarship scandal broke, Johnson conveniently said she could not attend because of a scheduling conflict and because she recently had surgery.
I’m not sure why SMU was so anxious to give her this award that they could not have waited to have EBJ attend the ceremony this fall in Dallas as planned. I suspect from a PR standpoint it made sense for both parties that this be done in private, and for it to be kept under wraps for the most part. SMU, which writes a press release for nearly everything, said nothing about this on its website.
