McClatchy: Justice Department actions expected to draw congressional scrutiny

[babylonsister]

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/17323557.htm

Justice Department actions expected to draw congressional scrutiny
By Greg Gordon
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Saying it was out to combat widespread voter fraud, the Justice Department in recent years has stepped up enforcement of election laws to ease the purging of ineligible voters from state registration rolls.

Since 2005, department civil rights lawyers have sued election officials in seven states - Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Maine, Missouri, New Jersey and New York - and sent threatening letters to others, in some cases demanding copies of voter registration data.

Former lawyers in the Civil Rights Division, however, said the voter fraud campaign is a partisan effort to disqualify legitimate voters, as occurred in Florida before the 2000 presidential election.

The former department officials note that researchers have found no evidence of widespread voter fraud and that no lawsuits have targeted states whose elections were managed solely by Republican officials.

At the same time, the department has done little to enforce the core provisions of a 1993 law that requires public assistance agencies to help register the mostly Democratic-leaning, poor and minority voters they serve despite complaints from a national group, Project Vote.

The partisan nature of the Justice Department's election activity will be a focus of a congressional inquiry Tuesday. Former acting Justice Department civil rights chief, Bradley Schlozman, is due to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to respond to allegations of partisanship in the division's hiring and enforcement policies.


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[bleever]

1. This story has tendrils that reach so many directions

that it's just not going to go away.

:thumbsup:

[KharmaTrain]

2. The DOJ Is All But Neutralized Now

Mission Accomplished, Gonzo. His job was to create the getaway route and looks like he's gonna make it happen. The stonewalling and lying, while enough to ruin his credibility and turn the DOJ into a joke...all but dividing the agency and now rendering it compromised...but there hasn't been a real crime proven yet. We have hints the Hatch law was violated and lots of people with conflicting stories, but still nothing clear cut enough for a prosecution...and this is the Gonzo game. String it out and keep the DOJ compromised as the ulitmate greed and ego of this regime trumps both the Repugnican party and the independence of the Justice system.

Repugnicans have always viewed the legal system with contempt...they've succeded in neutralizing it just like they did with the CIA and the Intel Community. I'm just hopeful there are some intrepid souls inside the DOJ who will come forward with the smoking guns and other evidence that can move Congress to expelling Gonzo and then the eventual purging of much of the Department beginning on 1/20/09.

Cheers....

:hi: