The national media is just starting to catch on to the
checkered past of Horace Sheffield, the black activist who will have a free
ride to Congress if incumbent John Conyers cannot win a spot on the ballot (or
succeed in an unlikely write-in campaign).
Sheffield, the pastor of Detroit-based New Destiny Christian
Fellowship, is the kind of candidate whose “opposition research file writes itself,” The
Washington Examiner reported last week.
Conyers, who is in danger of seeing his 4-decade career
in Congress short-circuited by faulty nominating petitions, has always been
labeled as an ultraliberal with questionable items in his baggage (such as his
wife, Monica).
But Sheffield certainly outweighs Conyers in both those
categories.
The rundown created by the Examiner goes like this:
“In February, per the Detroit Free Press, (Sheffield) was charged with
misdemeanor domestic violence. Deadline Detroit, citing a police report, reported that
Sheffield’s estranged wife hadn’t been living with him for two weeks when she
came back to his house to pick up some belongings. They argued, she tried to
call the police, and she told police he grabbed the phone from her. Sheffield’s
campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
“MLive reports that in 2011, a former special education
teacher at Detroit Cares Alternative Academy (which Sheffield founded) said he
twisted her arm behind her back and brought her to her knees. She filed a
police report but didn’t press charges.
“Those aren’t the only eyebrow-raising headlines
featuring Sheffield. The Detroit Free Press reported that a construction
contractor who testified against former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is suing
Sheffield for defamation, seeking $25,000. Sheffield and Kilpatrick were close;
in one Facebook post, the reverend described the now-incarcerated mayor as ‘my
other son.’”
Conservative publications like the Examiner may have
plenty of fodder if Sheffield emerges as the Democratic nominee in a Deep Blue
congressional district. They could take a look back at Sheffield’s role as a
rabble-rouser trying to disrupt and defeat the anti-affirmative action
provision that became law and was upheld a few weeks ago by the U.S. Supreme
Court.
From 2004-06, Sheffield and his National Action Network
teamed up with the radical left-wing group known as BAMN (By Any Means
Necessary) to stage rowdy demonstrations against the Michigan Civil Rights
Initiative. On at least two occasions, Sheffield became involved in
confrontations with the supporters of the ballot proposal when he showed up at some
of their events.

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