DoJ voting chief ‘poisoned the well’ for OH ‘04 probe.

[kpete]

DoJ voting chief ‘poisoned the well’ for OH ‘04 probe.

Former Justice Department employees allege that Voting Rights Section chief John Tanner used “the force of the Department to further Republican aims.” In particular, the former attorneys say that Tanner’s half-hearted investigation of alleged African-American voter suppression in Ohio in 2004 was an effort to “poison the well” for “outside groups attempting litigation on the issue”:

“Tanner bent over backwards to rule that black voters did not have a right to the same number of machines as white registered voters, and then went out of his way to make that ruling public,” said David Becker, a former attorney with the section, currently with People for the American Way. “It’s one of the most remarkably disconcerting things to come out of the voting section in a long time.”

Tanner will soon appear before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties to testify. Last week, Tanner told the National Latino Congreso that restrictive voter ID laws hurt elderly whites the most because minorities “die first” before becoming elderly.

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/10/12/doj-voting-chief-poisoned-the-well-for-oh-04-probe/

[helderheid]

1. K&R - I'm worried about 2008

[AuntPatsy]

2. You and me both, not enough attention being paid to information such as above.

[OzarkDem]

3. Thanks, kpete

Fellow DU'ers help us catapult this story into the Ohio news media. Thanks!

[Botany]

4. Ohio '04 facts

more registered dems than republicans (not by much)
10 to 1 new voter registrations for Kerry (dems)
Ohio lost more jobs than any other State from 2001 - 2004
(economic factors have been proven as the #1 factor in voter behavior)
Exit polls showed 52 v 47.5 female voters for Kerry
49 v 47 male voters for Kerry
Ken Blackwell had Smartech in Chattanooga, TN handle the vote in 2004
Smartech had 3 other accounts .... the RNC, Bush/Cheney '04, and gwb43.com
the length of time in voting was propartional (in many cases) to the % of dems
registered in a precinct
55 of 88 Counties have lost or destroyed 2004 ballots, log books, and additional
ballots

******************************************

This crime could not have happened without the help of subservant media and
people willing to break the law.

[helderheid]

5. kicking

[Kansas Wyatt]

6. Don't forget the fraudulent terror threat that eliminated transparency in one county

No investigation into who impersonated a federal officer. Just, 'Move along, nothing to see here.'

[me b zola]

7. Part of the crime was the cover-up

Tanner single handedly performed an "investigation" where he concluded that nothing nefarious had occurred in the '04 election.

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004438.php

...the principal cause of the difference appears to be the tendency in Franklin County for white voters to cast ballots in the morning (i.e., before work), and for black voters to cast ballots in the afternoon (i.e., after work). We have established this tendency through local contacts and through both political parties, and it accords with our considerable experience in other parts of the United States. Morning voters may wait in line several hours, as happened in white precincts, without keeping the polls open after 7:30 am; this is not the case, however, at sites where voters arrive after 5:30 p.m.



Crazy, bigoted, and not even a good lie.