(Activism Works! Not only did the good guys win, they got good press, thus shifting the odds for future fights. - promoted by Paul Rosenberg)
Cross-posted at Project Vote's blog, Voting Matters Weekly Voting Rights News Update
By Erin Ferns
The battle to protect the voting rights of low income and minority citizens was marked by several victories last week. In addition to the "three key battles" on voting rights outlined by Steven Rosenfeld last Friday - Missouri's controversial voter ID defeat, Arizona's agreement to comply with federal voter registration law, and voter ID crusader, Hans von Spakovsky's withdrawal from his Federal Election Commission nomination- on Monday Kansas governor, Kathleen Sebelius vetoed a voter ID bill citing "I cannot support creating any roadblock to prevent our citizens from adding their voices to the democratic discourse that makes our nation great," she said.
(The "voter fraud" fraud is shaping up to play a bigger role this year than it has in perhaps a 100 years, and progressives have yet to seriously respond to it, as it remains a focus of attention for far too few. - promoted by Paul Rosenberg)
Cross-posted at Project Vote's blog, Voting Matters
Weekly Voting Rights News Update
By Erin Ferns
A year has passed since the U.S. Attorneys scandal first gathered steam for the firings of nine federal prosecutors - at least two of whom claim being "pressured by Republicans to bring charges of voter fraud against people who intended to [vote] for Democrats." But the issue is far from settled. This week, the phantom issue of "voter fraud" emerged in the guise of news stories, editorials, memos, blogs, legislation, and even a Senate hearing either extinguishing or inflaming the alleged election integrity problem, particularly regarding voter identification requirements. Ultimately, what has become most evident in the last year is how far partisans are willing to go in order to legalize voter suppression tactics through the smoke-screen of "voter fraud."
Jane Hamsher is correct that this attack on Obama from the Politico is unfair. The FEC cannot implement the provisions of legislation Obama pushed through because Obama (among others) placed a hold on Hans Von Spakovsky, a horrific pick to be a commissioner of the FEC. Obama has been very good on voting rights, and it's ridiculous to hold him accountable for Bush's propensity to pick as regulators people who don't believe in the mission of the agency they are supposed to run.
As the ranks of political appointees at the Department of Justice thin in shame over the historic politicization of law enforcement, one such official is flying under the radar towards a huge promotion. Until his recess appointment to the Federal Election Commission, Hans von Spakovsky filled a political post in the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice. While he was there, he was the architect for shifting the Division away from its historic mission to enforce protections against minority voters and towards a partisan motivated witch hunt for phantom fraudulent voters. Throughout the DOJ, politics has trumped law enforcement in agenda setting, prosecutorial priorities and resource allocation but it was the Civil Rights Division and the section that handles voting rights that saw such a dramatic shift away from its core mission. Von Spakovsky set many of these priorities. He is currently nominated for a full appointment to the FEC. He should not be allowed to continue as a strong influence overseeing how elections are conducted. The Senate must act now and say "no" to von Spakovsky and "no" to the politicization of voting rights.
At the Department, von Spakovsky was part of a conscious effort to purge the section of the talent and dedication of long time civil servants; punished career staff when they recommended a course of action that diverted from the political goals of the administration; politicized substantive law enforcement decisions; and shifted the priorities of the section away from protecting the participatory rights of America's voters. His actions while at the Department raise serious questions about his professionalism and commitment to serve his country before his party.
During his time at the Department, the Voting Section overruled decades of precedent by using Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act to approve discriminatory legislation, such as the Georgia photo identification requirement and redistricting in Texas, over the near unanimous objection of career staff. Mr. von Spakovsky's Voting Section turned the purpose of the Voting Rights Act, the cornerstone of civil rights laws, on its head by using it to remove voters from the process instead of ensuring all eligible voters may vote. While a political appointee, he brought the weight of the Department of Justice down on the side of the Republican Party in partisan squabbles on the heels of the 2004 election, ignored documented failures of states to comply with federal mandates to help low-income voters register, and encouraged states to adopt irresponsible protocols for "purging" voters from their registration lists, likely leading to countless eligible registrants being removed.
I am fortunate to have Joe Rich, a former chief of the Voting Section, Bob Kengle, a former deputy chief at the Voting Section, and Jon Greenbaum, a former senior trial attorney at the Voting Section as colleagues at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. Together they have nearly 70 years of experience in the Civil Rights Division. Each worked with von Spakovsky. As they have made clear, together with a number of their former career colleagues at DOJ, in two letters sent to the Senate Rules Committee, von Spakovsky frustrated the enforcement of the critical civil rights statutes that have protected Americans for a generation. The Senate can affirm its commitment to protecting the right to vote by rejecting von Spakovsky's nomination. To read the letters and for more information about von Spakovsky and the politicization of voting rights, visit http://www.nationalc...
I'm with Josh Marshall. Good for Obama. I wonder where Clinton is. Oh yeah, she's busy not signing the American Freedom pledge which controversially asserts the following.
We are Americans, and in our America we do not torture, we do not imprison people without charge or legal remedy, we do not tap people's phones and emails without a court order, and above all we do not give any President unchecked power.
I pledge to fight to protect and defend the Constitution from assault by any President.
One thing we don't need in 2008 is a practiced Republican expert at voter suppression as a Commissioner of the Federal Elections Commission.
Hans von Spakovsky, who was the boss from hell at the Justice Department (he would apparently go through the private inboxes of employees he didn't like), as well as a practiced expert at denying voting rights to minorities, is causing a bit of wrangling within the Senate. Von Spakovsky is up for appointment to the FEC, which regulates elections. The FEC has four commissioners under recess appointments right now, and Mitch McConnell is using this as leverage to force von Spakovsky onto the FEC by putting a single up or down vote on all four current FEC nominees at once. Reid wants to allow this to go forward because one of his guys is slated to be appointed.
A credible but non-Hill source told me that Feingold is going to object to McConnell's attempt to force von Spakovsky onto the FEC through this tactic. I don't know if the FEC will shut down if it doesn't have enough commissioners, but this is another back-against-the-wall surge strategy maneuver from the right-wing.
Feingold's standing his ground. Good for Russ. And Reid is not. Boo.
"To me, it's a very clear view of the Republican agenda, said former [Department of Justice Civil Rights Division] Voting Section Chief, Joe Rich. "The GOP agenda is to make it harder to vote. You purge voters. You don't register voters. This is ripe for partisan decision making. You pick the states where you go after Democrats."
