Administration pursued aggressive legal effort to restrict voter turnout

[grytpype]

Source: McClatchy Washington Bureau

Administration pursued aggressive legal effort to restrict voter turnout
By Greg Gordon
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - For six years, the Bush administration, aided by Justice Department political appointees, has pursued an aggressive legal effort to restrict voter turnout in key battleground states in ways that favor Republican political candidates.

The administration intensified its efforts last year as President Bush's popularity and Republican support eroded heading into a midterm battle for control of Congress, which the Democrats won.

Facing nationwide voter registration drives by Democratic-leaning groups, the administration alleged widespread election fraud and endorsed proposals for tougher state and federal voter identification laws. Presidential political adviser Karl Rove alluded to the strategy in April 2006 when he railed about voter fraud in a speech to the Republican National Lawyers Association.

Questions about the administration's campaign against alleged voter fraud have helped fuel the political tempest over the firings last year of eight U.S. attorneys, several of whom were ousted in part because they failed to bring voter fraud cases important to Republican politicians. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales could shed more light on the reasons for those firings when he appears Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.




Read more: http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/17102319.htm?source=rss&channel=krwashington_nation

---

A great summary of the Repug effort to destroy voting rights of Democratic voters. Lots of details making an ugly picture of a war on Democratic voters in "battleground" states.

[Cobalt Violet]

1. K & R big time.

:kick:

[SpiralHawk]

6. Gigadittoes - Your tax dollars at work (helping republicons screw America)

Why do republicons hate America and its system of democracy?

Why do they hate our American veterans?

[Cobalt Violet]

9. They do hate that we can vote don't they?

And then they pretend we are in Iraq so they can vote. It's maddening.

[juno jones]

33. And caging lists

Many of those disenfranchised are minority soldiers serving over there...

[rfranklin]

2. How can the phoney prosecution of "voter fraud" be legal?

It is a crime to use the legal system for voter suppression. At least it would be in a democracy. Or if we still had a Constitution in effect rather than a series of "signing statements."

[Kolesar]

8. Actually it is two different issues

The gops claim that faked registrations led to illegal voting. There is about no proof of this. But pukes wrote books and tried to make a big story about it. They wanted stories to attack Dem candidates before the 2006 election. Hence the prosecutor purge for prosecutors who did not cooperate.

The real fraud is suppression. Ken Blackwell and Bob Bennett purged the voter rolls in Democratic counties in Ohio. Blackwell played games with precinct & provisional voting rules to prevent Democrats from voting.

The suppression is in Bob Fitrakis' book from last year. It is also the theme of our DU elections forum.

[Demeter]

3. There Is NOTHING LEGAL About Suppressing Voter Turnout!

Where does the media get such a notion? They tried to create unConstitutional law--that's not legal, either. A piece of paper to hide behind, to cover up the destruction of the Constitution, which is a covenant between all the people in this country, is a LEGAL FICTION. Is isn't by any stretch of the imagination, LEGAL.

Sheesh

[OneBlueSky]

4. so . . . is THIS enough to impeach him? . . . if not, what IS enough? . . . Congress? . . . n/t

.

[tbyg52]

37. Anyone...? Anyone....? nt

[gratuitous]

5. Is this what Rove was referring to?

Just before the 2006 eletion, when it was apparent that the Republicans were in for a crunching (but before they lost both houses of Congress), somebody asked Rove about the poll numbers that looked pretty bleak. Rove shot back that while the polls had their numbers, he had the number, implying that he and he alone had some subtle and correct analysis that showed the GOP might sustain a few losses, but would hold onto their majorities.

Sure would like to hear what he might have been talking about. Under oath.

[OnyxCollie]

10. Now that we know this, let's go back to 2006 election.

The pugs pulled support from candidates they didn't feel could win. It was Mike DeWine here in Ohio who, thankfully, lost. Blackwell seemed to have used up most of his back o' tricks in the '04 election. Were they under too much scrutiny for our US attorney to comply? Cold feet perhaps? Or maybe the large absentee ballot was something they hadn't expected and couldn't handle?

[blondeatlast]

27. Damn. That's right, I remember that.

Makes ya wonder...

[Rose Siding]

7. Did their papers pick this up?

Moyers lauded their work on dispelling bush's claims about how "threatening" Iraq was to the US and said that some of their papers wouldn't carry the pieces.

[Vidar]

11. How long before we start calling it "treason"?

[acmavm]

18. I've been calling it treason since I saw the picture of bush**,

cheney, rummy, powell, and I can't remember in the Oval Office BEFORE the Supreme Court had weighed in with their treasonous ruling. It was a picture taken by someone through the french doors and all those clucks were standing around trying to figure out how to loot and destroy OUR country.

[thinkbridge]

42. now we're waking up

If deliberate subversion of the Constitution is treason, then we have quite a list of counts, all of them serious.

[Bitwit1234]

12. Beginning to believe it doesn't matter

See how the democrats are going to cave in on the Iraq funding bill. When bush threatens, the democrats cower just like they always did. I just wish we could sweep every single solitary cowardly democrat out of office and start over. We need dems with (pardon the expression) BALLS. STEEL ONES AT THAT.

[mamab]

40. Yes, what exactly are they afraid of, anyway? AIPAC? n/t

[drm604]

13. "Gonzales could shed more light"

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales could shed more light on the reasons for those firings when he appears Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Yea, and simians could aviate out of my nether regions.

[DiverDave]

14. And the beat goes on...

The Dem's have subpoena power, USE IT GODDAMNIT!!

The Constitution will win out, it may take time, but even the "real" republicans see that this junta is threatening our way of life, and our children's, too.

I want to see the criminals under oath, sweating out the questions that HAVE to be asked...and answered...UNDER OATH.

[paparush]

15. Gonzo 'doesn't recall' driving a stake through the heart of Democracy

[Cobalt-60]

39. Id like to chain Gonzales to a toilet somewhere

brick up the bathroom door.
And forget where I put him.

[Auggie]

16. K & R

[DemKR]

17. This is so K&R'ed...unfreakinbelieveable

[madrchsod]

19. once again a McClatchy reporter

puts together an excellent report on the corruption in this government..

[RadiDem]

32. I grew up near a McClatchy family - far right wing Xtian zealots

But I think they no longer had any say in the newspapers. This was early 70's and many kids had long hair. The McClatchy kid looked like Pat Boone and was looking forward to going off to Oral Roberts University, or some other similar college to get away from the depraved SoCal Hippies. (like me) My dad was in the hospital once and they invited me over. First thing they did was ask me to join hands with them in a prayer circle, and pray for him. Another hand holding prayer at the dinner table, and I think a non hand holding prayer at the end of the evening. 3 prayers in approx 3 hours!

[Pacifist Patriot]

20. Screaming about Voter Fraud deflects attention from Election Fraud.

[pberq]

23. Important point - make a big noise about a non-issue, while

at the same time stealing elections

[thinkbridge]

43. Don't the two go hand in hand?

Yes, election fraud is bigger, but voter fraud is also part of the package deal. The more counts you can bring against these guys, the stronger your case

[Pacifist Patriot]

47. No, not necessarily.

Voter fraud refers to a single individual voting illegaly. It could be someone who isn't registered trying to vote, someone registering with multiple addresses or with the wrong address (*cough* Coulter) so they can vote in another precinct. Someone trying to beat the calendar and vote both absentee and at their precinct. Voter fraud typically consists of isolated incidents.

Now voter fraud could be utilized as a tool within the broader scope of election fraud, but its not usually the most efficient way of going about it.

Vote suppression (broken or fewer machines in key precincts, purged voter lists, erroneous or misleading voter information mailers, etc.) and vote manipulation (software programs that flip votes or alters final tallies, closed counting, etc.) have a much bigger impact with fewer individuals having to be involved in the fraud.

It would be like devoting Justice Department resources to tracking down as many shoplifters as possible while ignoring a conglomerate everyone suspects is systematically syphoning millions of dollars from shareholders and pension funds.

[Beetwasher]

21. RICO

This is organized crime if there ever was.

[Initech]

22. So can we PLEASE impeach them now?

[nashville_brook]

24. k n r -- maybe the gone-zo thing will shed light on this (silk purse-sow's ear?)

[IWantAChange]

25. Attention Republicons - Day of Reckoning is coming - u will go the way of the dinosaur

[ooglymoogly]

26. Hmmmmmm, the pugs are shouting voter fraud (we the people) and the dems

are screaming election fraud...meaning this crooked government and its kaleidoscopic tentacles on the election process. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Duh!!!!!!!!!

[The_Casual_Observer]

28. "Let Freedom Reign!"

[McCamy Taylor]

29. Check out my journal, I have been saying this all along.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/McCamy%20Taylor/12

It Only Takes One Man To Steal an Election (And It's Not Who You Think)
Posted by McCamy Taylor in Election Reform
Wed Jun 14th 2006, 09:18 PM
It takes a village to raise a child, but it only takes one individual to steal a presidential election in the United States, and I will bet that it is not the person whom you are thinking about at this moment. Karl Rove can not do it single handedly. Scalia could not do it by himself. He needed four other Justices. Ken Melman, head of the RNC can not press a button labeled "Steal the presidential election" and make it so. Even Melon-Scaiffe, who engineered the impeachment of Clinton through a skillful use of his newspapers and money, can not single handedly thwart the will of the American people and disrupt the system of checks and balances that have been put in place to protect the sanctity of the vote.

There is only one person in the United States with the power to make it happen. Figured it out yet? That person is the Attorney General of the United States. The man who stole the 2004 presidential election is John Ashcroft. The man trying the steal the 2006 Congressional Elections is Al Gonzales.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/McCamy%20Taylor/17

Al Gozales: America's Most Wanted Serial Voting Rights Violator
Posted by McCamy Taylor in General Discussion: Politics
Sat Jul 01st 2006, 08:55 PM
Everyone recalls how the Department of Justice under Al Gonzales, White House Counsel posing as Attorney General was caught helping the State of Georgia with its first attempt at resurrecting the Poll Tax. The first voter ID Law was given the thumbs down by career employees of the Department of Justice on the grounds that the relatively large fee for the voter ID would disenfranchise minority and poor voters, putting the state in violation of the Voting Rights Act. Superiors at the DOJ (i.e Al Gonzales) not only over ruled their own career employees. They also attempted to keep this expert legal opinion a secret, so that no one would know that the Justice Department was OKing a law that was in violation of federal voting rights law. However, a federal appeals court shot down the Georgia Voter ID law on the exact same grounds that the career Justice Department employees objected to it in the first place. Worse for Al Gonzales and his gang of voting rights abusing thugs, the truth came out. The American public found out about the behind the scenes politics at the Justice Department. Ooops. Mud on the face of the Attorney General. But, it was only one case, right? Everyone is entitled to one mistake. It isn't as if Al Gonzales makes a habit of violating the Voting Rights Act over the objection of his career employees with courts having to step in repeatedly to correct his errors. He isn't a serial law breaker...

Or, at least he wasn't, until the SCOTUS ruled 5:4 that the Texas Redistricting that was done after Tom Delay used illegal campaign contributions to get a GOP majority in the Texas Legislature violated federal voting law.

[Kurovski]

30. K&R. (nt)

[RadiDem]

31. K&R - How the BFEE stole 2004 and will try again in 2008 - DON'T let them!

[phoebe]

34. Bradblog supplies more info on this

http://www.bradblog.com/?p=4429

snip

Arkansas U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins Was Fired Just After Reports Surfaced of Investigation into Law Firm of Top Level White House/GOP Operative and Close-Friend-of-Rove, Thor Hearne
Was Replaced by Rove Aide Timothy Griffin...


snip

Media reports from May of 2006, describe a corruption investigation by Cummins' office into MO Gov. Matt Blunt's use of the Missouri lawfirm Lathrop & Gage LC to run a chain of satellite state licensing offices.

Lathrop & Gage is the powerful firm of Blunt's general counsel, and Bush/Cheney '04's national general counsel Mark F. "Thor" Hearne.

snip

I can't underscore enough Hearne's highly placed position as a White House operative, as the man behind the GOP's entire, systematic and well-financed "voter fraud" scheme/initiative (which has played directly into several of the other firings), his longtime efforts on behalf of and under the direct employ of MO Gov. Matt Blunt (son of the powerful GOP minority House Whip Roy Blunt), his position as a top attorney in the Republican National Lawyers Association (singled out by Rove during an April 2006 speech to that group of Republican election attorneys), and of course, as the national general counsel for Bush/Cheney '04 Inc.

It seems to reason then, that the Cummins investigation into Blunt and Lathrop Gage's questionable handling of those satellite state offices --- for profit --- would definitely have triggered alarm bells in the White House. Someone needs to inquire along those lines.

[TexasLawyer]

35. When the referees are biased

can the game ever be fair?

On virtually every significant decision affecting election balloting since 2001, the division's Voting Rights Section has come down on the side of Republicans, notably in Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Washington and other states where recent elections have been decided by narrow margins.

Joseph Rich, who left his job as chief of the section in 2005, said these events formed an unmistakable pattern.

"As more information becomes available about the administration's priority on combating alleged, but not well substantiated, voter fraud, the more apparent it is that its actions concerning voter ID laws are part of a partisan strategy to suppress the votes of poor and minority citizens," he said.

[DaveofCali]

36. Seriously, someone needs to document all these things that the Bush Administration has done!

And put it in one book that'd be handy enough for anyone to use against Republicans and the Bush Administration!

[grannylib]

38. It's their typical MO of projection. They are guilty of ELECTION fraud and

voter SUPPRESSION on a massive scale, so they accuse the Democrats of voter fraud in order to deflect attention away from their own crimes.

WHY didn't C-SPAN show ALL of the hearings??? There were apparently some charts one Senator had showing how many cases of voter fraud vs voter suppression had been prosecuted or pursued by USAs and Leahy yielded some time to him (can't remember who it was, sorry) and I want to see them.
Why did they cut off coverage??

[mamab]

41. I think we know the answer to that. n/t

[Kurovski]

44. Kick. (nt)

[Kolesar]

45. This was SOS Blackwell's "justification" for F-ing with the provisional balloting rules

And the Ohio media let him get away with it until now.

[EFerrari]

46. Impeach.

www.a28.org

[progressoid]

48. Dammit. I hate reading this first thing in the morning.

Now I'll be pissed off for the rest of the day.

Well, I guess I've been pissed off for six years so what's the difference.