"Airing Gonzales' Dirty Laundry" Real Reasons Attorneys Were Fired - Voter Registration Campaigns

[Hissyspit]

http://www.alternet.org/rights/51317

Airing Gonzales' Dirty Laundry

By Bill Boyarsky, Truthdig. Posted May 2, 2007.

A look at one of the real reasons eight U.S. attorneys were fired -- the Republican effort to stop voter registration campaigns in poor neighborhoods.

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The assault is an early battle of the 2008 presidential campaign. Republicans are trying to limit registration of African-Americans and Latinos in a number of states that Democrats have a chance of carrying. It's not the only reason that attorneys were fired, but it is the most reprehensible.

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One of the fired attorneys is David Iglesias of New Mexico, who was dismissed after state Republican officials complained that he wouldn't prosecute registration fraud allegations.

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What angers the Republicans are ACORN's voter registration efforts, mostly in poor African-American and Latino neighborhoods. In the last few years, it has registered about 500,000 voters in poor communities.

ACORN members tend to be tough and focused. They organize poor families ignored by the politicians, the big contributors and the reporters and pundits who dominate today's political dialogue. While political writers report on the so-called money primary -- the contribution competition among the top contenders -- ACORN is signing up voters in neighborhoods where the major candidates and journalists seldom venture.

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[rfranklin]

1. How dare those poor people vote?

Only the landed gentry should have that right!

[KharmaTrain]

2. The Corporate Media Isn't Even Close To This Story

Thank goodness for TPM, ThinkProgress, FDL and other sites that have followed this scandal from the moment Carol Lam was blown out of San Diego and have dug up more and more information about both Rove's voter intimidation programs and the people who were brought in to carry them out.

There needs to be an independent investigation into the flagrant attempts to violate the Voting Rights act through these sham prosecution and relate this to how the Repugnicans want to decide who can vote and who can't. How they can't win an election fair or get a majority of American to agree to their verbose agenda.

While there's been a ton of focus here over the stealing of votes in '00 and '04, I would submit that this program did more to keep our voters away from the polls in '04...and in key states other than Ohio...and assured the 're-selection' of this regime.