"Voter Suppression Specialist"

[donsu]

http://www.buzzflash.com/mailbag/05/12/mai05353.html


Subject: STOP Hans von Spakovsky NOW!

Call your senators! Raise holy hell!

This is something so far under the radar that calls to Chuck and Hillary (or Kerry and Kennedy) will probably really be noticed because they will be shocked that anyone bothered. Please call.

Bush to nominate voter suppression specialist to the Federal Election Commission

by david blue, Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 07:21:48 AM PDT

A big hat tip to Rick Hasen who noticed this White House press release (buried in the Friday night trash). President Bush is going to nominate Hans von Spakovsky to the Federal Election Commission.

Who?

Well, Hans von Spakovsky is a long-time activist in "voting integrity." Translated, he is a long-time activist in keeping people away from the polls. His ideas led to the notorious purge of Florida's voting rolls before the 2000 election in which thousands of mostly-eligible, mostly-Democratic, and mostly-minority voters were removed from the voting lists. Von Spakovsky also was a volunteer for Bush in the Florida recount. Want more? It's all here.

This guy is a disaster. There is no way he should be on the FEC. FEC Commissioners are subject to Senate approval, so write or call your Senator.

UPDATE: Several commenters have asked which Senate committee holds hearings on FEC nominees. It is the Committee on Rules and Administration. Chair is Trent Lott; ranking Dem is Christopher Dodd. Other Dems are Byrd, Inouye, Feinstein, Schumer, Dayton, Durbin, and Ben Nelson; other Republicans are Ted Stevens, Mitch McConnell, Thad Cochran, Santorum, K.B. Hutchison, Frist, Chambliss, Bennett, and Hagel. Some heavy hitters on both sides.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/12/17/92148/310

Susan Greenhalgh

-snip-
------------------------------


we need a defence against voter suppression professionals

[UrbScotty]

1. Kick for democracy

:kick:

[hwmnbn]

2. Another kick

[Cooley Hurd]

3. K&R... and a reminder WHY we have to get * out of office ASAP!

We HAVE to stop him from nominating any more ringers and toadies!:grr:

[schrodingers_cat]

6. Har! looks like this time he is actually hiring an 'expert' with

documented experience. I guess there's a first time for everything.

[lostnfound]

4. k&r nt

[MelissaB]

5. Will do!

Thanks for posting!

:kick:

[freedomfries]

7. don't let * get away with it!

This is just as bad as the Bolton thing! Contact your Senator and pass the word around!

[OregonBlue]

8. Here is the link to all the members of the Senate Rules Committee

and all of their emails.

http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/cgi-bin/newcommittee.cgi?site=ctc&lang=&commcode=srules

[donsu]

9. does our side have people working defense on these voter

suppression professionals? like, one on one in defensive sports tactics? do we have defense teams against voter suppression professionals?

what would they be called? who are they?

[blue4barb]

10. Isn't Christopher Dodd the senator that Kerry (off the record)

said would have nothing to do with election fraud? It seems to me this was big news several weeks ago because Kerry later denied he had stated he believed the election was stolen.

If Dodd is the guy and also the ranking Dem on this committee, well... kiss this hearing goodbye, expect von Spakovsky to breeze through.

[tkmorris]

11. He'll get through

Note that Ben Nelson is also on that committee.

[roseBudd]

12. Anybody who thinks photo ID to vote isn't about suppression is

naieve. The voter registration of 04 has the GOP very nervous.

[rumpel]

13. kick.

[passy]

14. Remember to repost this after the holidays.

It needs attention which it probably won't get enough of now.

[Lasher]

15. Dumbya has already nominated von Spakovsky

And he's also nominated another questionable GOP operative, Robert D. Lenhard.

Bush Picks Controversial Nominees for FEC

By Thomas B. Edsall and Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, December 17, 2005; Page A09

President Bush nominated two controversial lawyers to the Federal Election Commission yesterday: Hans von Spakovsky who helped Georgia win approval of a disputed voter-identification law, and Robert D. Lenhard, who was part of a legal team that challenged the constitutionality of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law.

<snip>

In a letter to Senate Rules Committee Chairman Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) wrote that he is "extremely troubled" by the von Spakovsky nomination. Kennedy contends that von Spakovsky "may be at the heart of the political interference that is undermining the Department's enforcement of federal civil laws."

Career Justice Department lawyers involved in a Georgia case said von Spakovsky pushed strongly for approval of a state program requiring voters to have photo identification. A team of staff lawyers that examined the case recommended 4 to 1 that the Georgia plan should be rejected because it would harm black voters; the recommendation was overruled by von Spakovsky and other senior officials in the Civil Rights Division.

Before working in the Justice Department, von Spakovsky was the Republican Party chairman in Fulton County, Ga., and served on the board of the Voter Integrity Project, which advocated regular purging of voter roles to prevent felons from casting ballots.

<snip>

The Lenhard nomination, first proposed in July 2003, has provoked strong opposition from advocacy groups seeking tough enforcement of campaign finance laws, especially the 2002 McCain-Feingold bill.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/16/AR2005121601717.html

On edit: Here's more about von Spakovsky's most infamous act, IMHO, which was overruling career justice department lawyers to approve DeLay's Texas redistricting plan.

Redistricting map: 'It's the purest form of racism'

by Gordon Jackson
December 19, 2005

"Eight bi-partisan DOJ voting rights experts, including chief of the voting rights section, unanimously recommended DOJ file a voting rights objections against Tom Delay's redistricting plan," said West, holding up a copy of the 73-page memo during a news conference at his law office. "It was overturned by DOJ political appointees who approved the plan and covered it up for two years. Political appointees at the Department of Justice conspired to commit a political crime that denied voting rights to African American and Hispanics in Texas."

West now hopes that the memo will be considered as the plan is pending review by the U.S. Supreme Court. Veasey stated that senior officials overruling a unanimous decision, then not releasing the opinion to the public, was unprecedented at the Justice Department.

"This was a quarantined document. They never expected the public to find out about this blatant act of discrimination," Veasey said. "There's no integrity at the Justice Department right now. They had no regard for the law whatsoever. They didn't care if this map blatantly discriminated against African Americans and Hispanics. They wanted this plan by any means necessary."

Adding fuel to the fire, according to the memo, was the fact that Hans von Spakovsky, one of the political appointees overruling the findings, worked on the controversial Voter Integrity Team in Florida during the 2000 presidential elections.

http://www.chicagodefender.com/page/national.cfm?ArticleID=3286

[OldLeftyTreeHugger]

16. Nice work, Lasher

Damn, they are coming out of the woodwork. They are getting desperate, because they know that without fraud they can't hold power.

We are hot on the trail, now, and it is forcing them to come into the light. Anyone, who, after reading this thread, still believes the republicans have a scintilla of honesty, needs a vacation.

They stole your Vote!

[Lasher]

17. Thanks, OldLefty

And welcome to DU! :hi:

[donsu]

18. kicking

nt