PressCoverage

Justice Official Accused of Blocking Suits Into Alleged Violations

By Greg Gordon
McClatchy Newspapers
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/200/story/17102.html

Tuesday 19 June 2007

Washington - A former Justice Department political appointee blocked career lawyers from filing at least three lawsuits charging local and county governments with violating the voting rights of African-Americans and other minorities, seven former senior department employees charged Monday.

Hans von Spakovsky also derailed at least two investigations into possible voter discrimination, the former employees of the Voting Rights Section said in interviews and in a letter to the Senate Rules and Administration Committee. They urged the panel to reject von Spakovsky's nomination to the Federal Election Commission.

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Meanwhile, Democratic Sens. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to order a Justice Department investigation into allegations that a former White House aide and others attempted to suppress minority votes in the 2004 presidential election.

The allegations revolve around whether Tim Griffin, a former aide to White House political strategist Karl Rove, engaged in "vote caging" - in which a political campaign sends mail marked "do not forward" to a targeted group of eligible voters. Letters that bounce back are then used to challenge those voters' legitimacy, limiting them to provisional ballots that may not be counted.

Griffin, who last year was named the interim U.S. attorney for Arkansas but left the post last week, has denied involvement in caging. In their letter, Kennedy and Whitehouse cited testimony in which Monica Goodling, a former counsel to Gonzales, said she'd discussed concerns about Griffin's involvement in caging with Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty.

PressCoverage

looks like Greg Palast's tireless work on the stolen '04 election has paid off...

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061907T.shtml

Reporter Greg Palast, who initially covered the story for the BBC and charged that the lists were meant to target minority voters - many of whom were serving in the armed forces overseas in Iraq - has opined on Goodling's admissions in an exclusive to The BRAD BLOG filed just after her testimony. Yesterday, in another BRAD BLOG exclusive, Palast discussed the recent firing of Griffin and a recent teary-eyed speech given last week in Arkansas.

"This is all made up of whole cloth," Griffin told the assembled crowd during a Q&A session after a speech punctuated by tears. "I didn't cage votes," he claimed. That, despite the emails he sent in 2004 with spreadsheets listing voters attached along with the subject line "Re: caging."

"Caging is a reprehensible voter suppression tactic, and it may also violate federal law and the terms of applicable judicially enforceable consent decrees," the senators charge in their letter.

"It is very disturbing to think that Department officials may have approved the appointment of a United States Attorney knowing that he had engaged in racially targeted vote caging," write the senators. "Moreover, it is very disturbing to think that senior officials were aware of this practice and did nothing to refer their information to relevant officials within the Department for investigation and a determination as to whether it was a violation of a consent decree or law within the Department's jurisdiction to enforce."

The letter from the senators, both of whom are members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has been investigating elements of the U.S. Attorneys Purge, concludes, "At a time when the Department's political independence and its commitment to enforcement of civil rights statutes have been called into doubt, it is vitally important that the Department thoroughly investigate these allegations of unlawful voter suppression, and the apparent failure of Department employees to forward to the appropriate authorities information they had about this practice."

Fogbuster

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I once heard that Orrin Hatch was a Mormon. That must be breaking several "rules, laws, edicts" from today's dominant liberal media culture!!



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PressCoverage

this must be your way of admitting that, once again, you know absolutely nothing about the thread topic specifics... i mean, you are out of the country and all... we understand...

patsfan13

Sounds like Kennedy is afradi that voter fraud might be uncovered.

Like the precints in Philly where voter turnout was over 100% with almost every vote going to 1 party, or the abandoned warehouse in Seattle where 45 people were registered tovote.

I sure the dems will want that looked into also.

__________________
"Some guys play in all-star games, some guys don't. I don't know who picks all those all-star teams. In all honesty, I don't know who picks the combine, for that matter," Belichick said. "How does (Miami-Ohio offensive lineman Brandon) Brooks not get invited to the combine? How did Vollmer not get invited to the combine? I don't know. We can't really worry about that. We just have to try to evaluate them the best we can."

PressCoverage

yes, i'm sure that it all "evens out" right? of course... only 45 Kerry voters were affected in Ohio, surely.... certainly the Democrats stole exactly the same number of votes Rove's henchmen did, so it's all a wash, right?... absolutely, nothing should be done about election fraud when the Elephant is in the room... we got ya...

DarrylS

Josef Stalin said:
"Those who cast the votes decide nothing. Those who count the votes
decide everything."

__________________
"Being the best doesn't mean you always win. It just means you win more than anyone else".. tweet from Kurt Warner to Tom Brady.

Fogbuster

Actually, it's my way of saying: what a stupid waste of your time -- or anybody's time -- for even paying attention to this meaningless non-event. Remember, it wasn't Geo Bush who sent in the jack-booted storm troopers to take Elian Gonzalez away from his relatives in Miami, to send the boy back to Fidel Castro; it was Bill Clinton.

Now THAT'S something to remember.

Or, how about Janet Reno's spectacular handling of the Branch Davidian's in Waco -- she sent in the strom troopers there to "smoke 'em out", and they sure did. How many women and children got burned alive in that one?

Yep, your priorities are in order.








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Fogbuster

Yeah, he learned that from Richard Daley Chicago Democrat Party machine.



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Fogbuster

How many U.S. service men and women lost their votes in 2000 because they were stationed overseas and their Democrat home voting districts "lost" their votes??? 3000? 5000? 8000?

Now THAT'S "taxation without representation."



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