Aloha! DoJ Voting Chief is Frequent Flier

[L. Coyote]

Aloha! DoJ Voting Chief is Frequent Flier
By Paul Kiel - Nov 28, 2007
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004779.php


When John Tanner, chief of the Civil Rights Division's voting section, appeared before a Congressional panel last month, he was upbraided by Democrats for his "ineffectiveness." Little did they know that as the section, probably the most politicized in the Justice Department under the Bush Administration, has done less and less to protect African-American voters from discrimination, Tanner has been seeing the country on the taxpayers' dime.

He even managed to make taxpayer-funded trips to Hawaii in three consecutive years, two of them a week long. One Department lawyer who accompanied Tanner on his first trip took the earliest available flight back after having completed all necessary work in just two business days. But Tanner insisted on staying a full week, despite the lack of apparent Department business. It's a crime for government officials to use public funds for personal travel.

A review of Justice Department documents obtained by TPMmuckraker shows just how extensive Tanner's travel has been. From May of 2005 when Tanner became chief of the section through the end of 2006, he took 36 trips, traveling 97 days over those 19 months .........

[blogslut]

1. Git im!

GO TPM!

[Bobbieo]

2. Typical of all Bush's political appointees!!!

[aquart]

3. Thief. Thinks public money is free money.

[L. Coyote]

4. Prison food is free. Perhaps some judge will keep this perp at the public trough.

[Cha]

6. Rec'd! People need

to see this..even if there are too many of them to keep track of ..we're sure as crap gonna try!

Thanks to you, L Coyote and thanks to the Muck!

[Cha]

5. john tanner doesn't

want to lose those perks at all costs..even an apology for being an A$$hole will get done.

"Tanner has been on thin ice ever since he publicly declared that voter ID laws did not discriminate against minorities, because "minorities don't become elderly the way white people do: they die first." Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) called for him to be fired. During last month's hearing, Tanner apologized, saying "I hurt people." Nevertheless, Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) berated him in a brutal line of questioning for basing decisions on "stereotypes rather than facts."

tanner is run-of-mill bu$hit..which means he's lethel and stealing our country blind.

[L. Coyote]

9. Hearing links here: The John Tanner Hearing was DU live blogged **** Offic...

*** 10 AM HOUSE JUDICIARY: Oversight Hearing on the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division ***
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[williesgirl]

7. Send to Keith to get some coverage, maybe they'll do something then. rec'd

[babylonsister]

8. Rec'd - we need to recognize these names because hopefully this

isn't the last we'll hear about this, another rethug crook.

[L. Coyote]

10. It's the prisoner numbers that are hard to remember. LOL.

[L. Coyote]

11. VIDEO: Davis Grills Tanner on Minorities "Die First" Comment

Davis Grills Tanner on Minorities "Die First" Comment
By Paul Kiel - Oct 30, 2007
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004598.php

If there's been a more brutal examination of a witness in a Congressional hearing since the days of Alberto Gonzales, I haven't seen it.

VIDEO

Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL) laid into voting section chief John Tanner during the hearing today over his comment earlier this month that "our society is such that minorities don't become elderly the way white people do. They die first." Tanner made the remarks as justification for his conviction that voter ID laws actually discriminate against whites. In Tanner's calculus, since minorities don't age "the way white people do," the effect of voter ID laws on the elderly means that whites are disproportionately affected. And since younger African-Americans frequently carry IDs because of racial profiling and the need to cash checks at "a check cashing business," voter ID laws actually favor African-Americans.