For 6 Years-BUSH Admin Tried To Curb Election Turnout In Key States To Bolster GOP

[kpete]

Administration tried to curb election turnout in key states
Campaign against alleged voter fraud sought to bolster the GOP
By Greg Gordon
Mcclatchy-tribune
Originally published April 19, 2007

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, according to former department lawyers and a review of written records.
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.

.........................

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.

more at:
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.attorneys19apr19,0,94678.story?coll=bal-nationworld-headlines

[fasttense]

1. Welcome to the Banana Republic of the United States of America. n/t

[RubyDuby in GA]

10. I have repeatedly said that we need to get the Carter Center to monitor

our elections just like they do in other third world countries.

[tbyg52]

17. I heard they wouldn't do it even if asked

because we don't meet the minimum equipment and procedural requirements.

[Robbien]

2. I believe all of the voter suppression restrictions are still in place

and will continue to be unless someone specifically changes them. The new SoS in Ohio is fighting to change the GOP bias in Ohio, but that is only one state.

[salin]

3. One of the disturbing things is the aggressive hiring of non-political

appointees by... essentially political hirings. These folks are now part of the civil service for a long time.

When the next admin comes in - they can (and often do) change the political appointees - but what about the huge number of political hirings into the civil service ranks in the DOJ? I guess at best folks can be moved into less sensitive positions? Maybe these folks will be more interested in making money than a life of govt service and will leave on their own volition leaving room for folks interested in doing the job rather than making political decisions into policy?

What was striking in one of the articles about Goodling was the statement of how little concern she and those around her really cared about the actual business of the DOJ - as if the department (and the fed govt in general) - were considered not important... but waging political war - now that was the goal. So how many folks of that mold have been hired into the civil service ranks in the DOJ?

[Raksha]

6. This DU thread should answer your question

So how many folks of that mold have been hired into the civil service ranks in the DOJ?

Apparently quite a few. According to the Buzzflash article, they were passing up applicants who had graduated summa cum laude from Harvard and Yale law schools in favor of people with the "right" credentials for entry-level positions.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=695912&mesg_id=695912

[PA Democrat]

4. The Bush administration has turned the Justice Department into an arm of the RNC.

They have chosen to selectively enforce federal laws only when it suits their POLITICAL goals, even pursuing cases based upon trumped up charges, as long as it helps Republican candidates.

[Botany]

5. The fact is that the republicans are the minority but through ....

.... voter suppression, control of the media, vote manipulation, and
selective law enforcement "they" have gained control of "free elections."

In Ohio in 2004
*There were more dems registered than republicans
* new voter registration went 10 to 1 to dems
* more jobs were lost from 2000 - 2004 in Ohio than any other state
in the country and economic factors are the #1 predictor for voter behavior
* polls showed that independent voters broke for Kerry

And yet bush won?

The Department of Justice has become a branch of the RNC.

[tanyev]

7. K & R

[EVDebs]

8. So that those 'elected' Rs would carry on The Octopus funding scheme

"It's all part of a growing ongoing investigation into corruption in defense and intelligence contracts, which already has sent former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham to prison and, legal sources say, may threaten others in Congress and the CIA. "

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12634250/

The DOD's financing, which has resulted in a $2.3 TRILLION loss-production to the public's books, has ended up funding the RNC's designated candidates who will do what the MilitaryIndustrialCongressional Complex wants to do,

""According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions," Rumsfeld admitted.

$2.3 trillion — that's $8,000 for every man, woman and child in America. To understand how the Pentagon can lose track of trillions, consider the case of one military accountant who tried to find out what happened to a mere $300 million.

"We know it's gone. But we don't know what they spent it on," said Jim Minnery, Defense Finance and Accounting Service.""

War on Waste
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml

The GOP knows where that $ went. Front co's like MZM, Inc, etc etc etc

BTW, the computer systems outsourceing to Ptech was a stroke of genius, too, with WH, DOJ and most of the DOD

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptech

[The Count]

9. 's Ok - they vote in Iraq! Purple fingers and such.

[Arugula Latte]

11. And too many elected Democrats have sat silently watching this happen.

Where is their fury? Where is their blowback? Why aren't they screaming from the rooftops?

I've tried to convey a sense of urgency to my elected officials ... Not much ever happens. I don't get it.

[autorank]

12. Great post. McClatchy has been GREAT on this.

And it's been more than six years and it's involved a lot more people than the * gang.

See this study, which documents the whole thing:

See this classic study:

Ballot Manipulation and the "Menace of Negro Domination”: Racial Threat & Felon Disenfranchisement in the USA, 1850-2002

[WillyT]

13. K & R !!!

:kick:

[DeepModem Mom]

14. K AND R!

[bleever]

15. Great article. It's as though it's not who registers to vote,

it's whose votes register.

[OneBlueSky]

16. impeachment, anyone? . . . if this doesn't qualify, I don't know what does . . .

of course, by now we have so many legitimate grounds for impeachment that it's hard to keep track . . . can't the Congress pick just one, or two, or ten, and get on with it? . . . don't they consider the BushCo criminal enterprise sufficient reason to impeach? . . . or are they just bound and determined not to upset the status quo that gets all of them re-elected so regularly? . . .

[intheflow]

18. Jim Crow is alive and well and

running our country. :puke:

[chelaque liberal]

19. Deserves wide readership.

[SoCalDem]

20. Notonly "tried".. they succeeded. How can anyone really believe

that with the tone on '06, we got such a small gain?

GOP is ALL about suppression and chicanery