Georgetown alumnus Manuel Miranda (SFS ‘82) resigned Friday from his position as aid to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) after the Judiciary Committee launched an investigation into Miranda’s distribution of confidential Democratic memos. Miranda told The Knoxville News Sentinel that he resigned “so as not to distract the Majority Leader from pursuing the needed legislative agenda for the American people.”
The memos in question contained controversial, internal information about Republican President George W. Bush’s choices for the federal judiciary. Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Bill Pickle is leading the on-going investigation.
When Miranda was a student, he was an active member of the on-campus conservative community and the Philodemic society. “He is very full of energy and principle and is ready to fight against what is wrong. He is a very faithful Catholic,” said Patrick O’Reilly, President of the Cardinal Newman Society, of Miranda. “It would surprise me if he did anything wrong.”
After graduating, Miranda was the National President of the Cardinal Newman Society for three years. The Society’s mission is to help renew the Catholic identity in Catholic colleges and universities. Some of their activities include annual protests against the production of the play Vagina Monologues on college campuses, and the launch of a “Eucharistic Adoration” program.
As an alumnus, Miranda frequently contributed pieces to both The Hoya and The Academy, most of which called for Georgetown to be less liberal and more strictly Catholic in its policy making. Miranda has not contributed to either publication this year.
Republicans say that a glitch in a shared computer server allowed files containing memos to be accessed by all staffers, Democratic and Republican alike. According to The Register, when the Republicans regained control of the Judiciary Committee, staffers discovered that the controversial memos were not protected by a password. But the Democratic Party maintains that the memos were stolen by GOP staffers. “I would characterize it as highly improper, highly unethical, and probably criminal,” said David Smith, a spokesperson for Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass). Frist’s office declined to comment.
This is not necessarily a partisan issue. “What he did was terribly inappropriate, highly immoral and generally offensive,” said College Republicans President David Benjamin.
Benjamin, who has met Miranda at several social functions, does not reserve his criticism for Miranda’s current situation, however. He said that Miranda is an embarrassment to Georgetown. “I absolutely cannot stand him,” Benjamin said. “He represents what can happen when someone becomes so self- involved as to hurt their alma-mater.”
College Democrats President Scott Zumwalt (CAS ‘06) is equally resolute in his criticism of Miranda. “Manny Miranda was regarded by many in the Georgetown Community as a staunch conservative, one who sadly supported the racist, sexist, and homophobic Georgetown Academy. What Miranda did is a crime.”
Philodemic Treasurer Amit Gosar (SFS ‘06), however, said of Miranda “I’m glad he’s involved and that he is an active alumni. We can’t ask for more than that.”
