Conyers Calls on Clinton to Demote USAID Director

Fox has obtained a letter that Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton asking that she demote Rajiv Shah, the Director of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

It’s rare for a lawmaker to write to a cabinet secretary and demand specific action on a personnel matter.

In the letter, Conyers says that he was “alarmed and chagrined” to learn that Shah did not bring any African American staff to a meeting of the Congressional Black Caucus on Wednesday to discuss Haiti.

First elected in 1964, Conyers is the most-senior African American in Congress and the second-most senior House member.

“This is so serious an error in judgment that it warrants his immediate demotion to a subordinate position at AID,” Conyers wrote, noting that there was “under-representation of minorities in key positions at the State Department.”

Conyers also says he “looks forward to meeting” with Clinton to discuss Shah.

Conyers previously raised issues about how the Obama Administration was handling the crisis in Haiti following last month’s devastating earthquake and suggested that USAID has no clear outline for assisting Haiti.