 US
Attorneys
|
 Bradley
J Schlozman
BRADLEY SCHLOZMAN News:
20071109
-
 Alberto
Gonzales -  Bradley
Schlozman
-  Michael
Mukasey
-  Poor
- Race
-  Politics
-  People
- Election
- Civil
Rights -  Enforcement
- "Justice
Department returns to enforcing voter laws." ...
"The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is reversing course and
has begun taking steps to enforce a 1993 law that's intended to make it
easier for poor minorities to register to vote." ... "The division, which
has come under attack for allegedly pursuing policies aimed at suppressing
the votes of Democratic-leaning minorities, has demanded that 18 states
provide evidence that they're complying with the National Voter Registration
Act." ... "If it is fully pursued, this new action will represent the first
significant return to traditional enforcement of voting-rights laws since
a scandal erupted earlier this year over the alleged politicization of
the Justice Department." ... "McClatchy Newspapers disclosed last spring
that the Civil Rights Division had failed to enforce a variety of voting-rights
laws intended to protect the ability of minorities, especially African-Americans,
to vote. The controversy led to the resignations of Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales and seven other officials, including Bradley Schlozman, the former
acting civil rights chief." ... "Now attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey,
whose confirmation was debated by the Senate Thursday night, has pledged
to insulate the agency's law enforcement decisions from partisan politics."
... "Some election watchdog groups are skeptical, saying that the enforcement
push might be a cosmetic response to widespread criticism and congressional
scrutiny of the division." -By
Greg
Gordon -McClatchyDC.com
20070621
-
Bradley
Schlozman
- Civil
Rights -
 Government
-  Women
-  Employees
- Race
- Politics
- "Political
Hiring in Justice Division Probed." ... "Karen Stevens,
Tovah Calderon and Teresa Kwong had a lot in common. They had good performance
ratings as career lawyers in the Justice Department's civil rights division.
And they were minority women transferred out of their jobs two years ago
-- over the objections of their immediate supervisors -- by [Republican]
Bradley Schlozman, then the acting assistant attorney general for civil
rights." ... "Schlozman ordered supervisors to tell the women that they
had performance problems or that the office was overstaffed. But one lawyer,
Conor Dugan, told colleagues that the recent Bush appointee had confided
that his real motive was to "make room for some good Americans" in that
high-impact office, according to four lawyers who said they heard the account
from Dugan." ... "Schlozman has acknowledged in sworn congressional testimony
that he had boasted of hiring Republicans and conservatives, but he denied
taking improper actions against the division's career officials. That account
was challenged by six officials in the division who said in interviews
that they either overhead him making brazen political remarks about career
employees or witnessed him making personnel decisions with apparent political
motivation." ... ""When he said he didn't engage in political hiring, most
of us thought that was just laughable," said one lawyer in the section,
referring to Schlozman's June 5 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"Everything Schlozman did was political. And he said so."" (1, 2)
-By Carol D. Leonnig with contributions by Julie Tate
-WashingtonPost
20070604
-
Bradley
Schlozman
- Government
- US
Attorney - Politics
- 2006
Election -
 Missouri
- Civil
Rights - "Justice
official is said to have favored GOP loyalists."
... "In March 2006, [Bradley] Schlozman was given an interim appointment
as the U.S. attorney in Kansas City [Missouri], replacing [then U.S. Attorney
Todd] Graves." ... "Less than a week before the November [2006] election,
Schlozman obtained indictments of four members of the liberal activist
group Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, for allegedly
submitting fraudulent voter registrations. The Justice Department election
manual says prosecutors should refrain generally from bringing cases just
before elections, out of concern that the charges could affect voting."
... "ACORN itself had brought the case to the attention of authorities
after discovering that some of its employees were making up names of registrants
as part of a voter-registration drive." ... "Schlozman's office, apparently
in a hurry to file the case, got one of the names on the indictments wrong."
... ""It seems to me that the only way that could have happened was if
the subject of the investigation had not been interviewed. It seems to
me they were in such a rush to indict these people that they didn't bother
to interview them first," said Robert Kengle, another former Justice voting
rights official." ... "Missouri Republicans seized on the charges in the
final days of the campaign. Nevertheless, Missouri voters narrowly elected
Democrat Claire McCaskill over Republican incumbent Jim Talent, a victory
that sank GOP hopes of maintaining control of Congress." ... "In April,
the suit was dismissed by a federal judge, who ruled that the government
failed to produce any evidence of fraud or that any Missouri resident had
been denied the right to vote because of the alleged registration deficiencies."
-By Richard B. Schmitt
-LAtimes
-
Bradley
Schlozman
-
 Goodling
- Gonzales
- Government
- US
Attorney - Civil
Rights - Politics
- Missouri
- "DOJ
Probes Turn to Civil Rights Division: Judiciary Committee
to question ex-official [Bradley] Schlozman while internal investigation
looks at hiring practices." ... "Schlozman will testify Tuesday about his
activities not only in the Civil Rights Division but also in his brief
stint as interim U.S. Attorney in the Western District of Missouri, where
he replaced Todd Graves -- one of nine U.S. Attorneys to have been fired
by the Justice Department last year." ... "In particular, Democrats plan
to press Schlozman about his role in the hiring of career attorneys into
the voting and appellate sections of the Civil Rights Division, and whether
Schlozman inappropriately considered the political loyalties of candidates
-- a potential violation of the Hatch Act and civil service laws governing
federal hiring." ... "The allegations are similar to the admission last
month by Monica Goodling, the former senior adviser to Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales, that she had inappropriately taken politics into account
in making hiring decisions for career federal prosecutors and immigration
judges." ... "Congress, of course, isn't the only body reviewing Schlozman's
tenure at the Civil Rights Division. Last week the Justice Department's
Office of Professional Responsibility and Office of the Inspector General,
which are conducting a joint investigation into the U.S. Attorney firings,
announced that they had broadened their probe to include allegations of
politicization in hiring at the Civil Rights Division." -By
Jason McLure -LegalTimes.com
via -Law.com
20070510
-
 Karl
Rove
-
Alberto Gonzales - Kyle
Sampson
- Bradley
Schlozman - Political
- US
Attorneys -  Law
- Enforcement
- 2006
Election -  New
Mexico -  Pennsylvania
-  Wisconsin
- MO
- "White
House sought investigations of voter fraud allegations before elections."
... "Only weeks before last year's pivotal [2006] midterm elections, the
White House urged the Justice Department to pursue voter-fraud allegations
against Democrats in three battleground states, a high-ranking Justice
official has told congressional investigators." ... "In two instances in
October 2006, [Republican] President Bush's political adviser, Karl Rove,
or his deputies passed the allegations on to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales'
then-chief of staff, Kyle Sampson." ... "Sampson tapped Gonzales aide Matthew
Friedrich, who'd just left his post as chief of staff of the criminal division.
In the first case, Friedrich agreed to find out whether Justice officials
knew of "rampant" voter fraud or "lax" enforcement in parts of New Mexico,
Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and report back." ... "But Friedrich declined
to pursue a related matter from Wisconsin, he told congressional investigators,
because an inquiry so close to an election could inappropriately sway voting
results. Friedrich decided not to pass the matter on to the criminal division
for investigation, even though Sampson gave him a 30-page report prepared
by Republican activists that made claims of voting fraud." ... "While it
was known that Rove and the White House had complained about prosecutors
not aggressively investigating voter fraud, Friedrich's testimony suggests
that the Justice Department itself was under pressure to open voter fraud
cases despite a department policy that discourages such action so close
to an election." ... "Another former U.S. attorney, Todd Graves of Kansas
City, Mo. [Missouri], revealed this week that he was asked to step aside
for another candidate. He also said he had refused to sign off on a voting-rights
lawsuit, which another Justice Department official later approved in Washington.
The official, Brad Schlozman, later became Graves' temporary replacement."
-By Margaret Talev and Marisa Taylor
-McClatchy via
-RealCities
20070506
-
Bradley
Schlozman - Political
- Civil
Righs - US
Attorneys - Law
- Enforcement
-
 Texas
-  Georgia
- Missouri
- 2006
Election - "Missouri
attorney a focus in firings: Senate bypassed in appointment
of [Republican lawyer Bradley] Schlozman." ... "Todd Graves brought just
four misdemeanor voter fraud indictments during his five years as the US
attorney for western Missouri -- even though some of his fellow Republicans
in the closely divided state wanted stricter oversight of Democratic efforts
to sign up new voters." ... "Then, in March 2006, Graves was replaced by
a new US attorney -- one who had no prosecutorial experience and bypassed
Senate confirmation. Bradley Schlozman moved aggressively where Graves
had not, announcing felony indictments of four workers for a liberal activist
group on voter registration fraud charges less than a week before the 2006
election." ... "Republicans, who had been pushing for restrictive new voting
laws, applauded. But critics said Schlozman violated a department policy
to wait until after an election to bring voter fraud indictments if the
case could affect the outcome, either by becoming a campaign issue or by
scaring legitimate voters into staying home." ... "Schlozman is emerging
as a focal point of the investigation into the firing of eight US attorneys
last year -- and as a symbol of broader complaints that the Bush administration
has misused its stewardship of law enforcement to give Republicans an electoral
edge." ... "No stranger to election law controversy, Schlozman previously
spent three years as a political appointee in the Justice Department's
Civil Rights Division, where he supervised the voting rights section."
... "There, he came into conflict with veteran staff over his decisions
to approve a Texas redistricting plan and a Georgia photo-ID voting law,
both of which benefited Republicans. He also hired many new career lawyers
with strong conservative credentials, in what critics say was an attempt
to reduce enforcement of laws designed to eliminate obstacles to voting
by minorities." ... ""Schlozman was reshaping the Civil Rights Division,"
said Joe Rich , who was chief of the voting rights section until taking
a buyout in 2005, in an interview. "Schlozman didn't know anything about
voting law. . . . All he knew is he wanted to be sure that the Republicans
were going to win."" -By Charlie Savage
-Boston/Globe
20070323
-
 Griffin
- Rove
- Schlozman
- US
Attorneys - Poor
- People
- Civil
Righs - Law
- Enforcement
- Politics
-  Ark
-  Florida
-  Colorado
- Wisconsin
-  Minnesota
-  Iowa
- Arkansas
-  Michigan
-  Nevada
- New
Mexico - Georgia
- 2004
Election - 2008
Election - "New
U.S. attorneys seem to have partisan records." ...
"Under [Republican] President Bush, the Justice Department has backed laws
that narrow minority voting rights and pressed U.S. attorneys to investigate
voter fraud - policies that critics say have been intended to suppress
Democratic votes." ... "Since 2005, McClatchy Newspapers has found, Bush
has appointed at least three U.S. attorneys who had worked in the Justice
Department's civil rights division when it was rolling back longstanding
voting-rights policies aimed at protecting predominantly poor, minority
voters." ... "Another newly installed U.S. attorney, Tim Griffin in Little
Rock, Ark. [Arkansas], was accused of participating in efforts to suppress
Democratic votes in Florida during the 2004 presidential election while
he was a research director for the Republican National Committee. He's
denied any wrongdoing." ... "Taken together, critics say, the replacement
of the U.S. attorneys, the voter-fraud campaign and the changes in Justice
Department voting rights policies suggest that the Bush administration
may have been using its law enforcement powers for partisan political purposes."
... "Last April, while the Justice Department and the White House were
planning the [US Attorneys] firings, [Republican President Bush's deputy
chief of staff Karl] Rove gave a speech in Washington to the Republican
National Lawyers Association. He ticked off 11 states that he said could
be pivotal in the 2008 elections. Bush has appointed new U.S. attorneys
in nine of them since 2005: Florida, Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa,
Arkansas, Michigan, Nevada and New Mexico. U.S. attorneys in the latter
four were among those fired." ... "Several former voting rights lawyers,
who asked to remain anonymous for fear of antagonizing the administration,
said the division's political appointees reversed the recommendations of
career lawyers in key cases and transferred or drove out most of the unit's
veteran attorneys." ... "Bradley Schlozman, who was the civil rights division's
deputy chief, agreed in 2005 to reverse the career staff's recommendations
to challenge a Georgia law that would have required voters to pay $20 for
photo IDs and in some cases travel as far as 30 miles to obtain the ID
card." ... "A federal judge threw out the Georgia law, calling it an unconstitutional,
Jim Crow-era poll tax." -By Greg Gordon, Margaret
Talev and Marisa Taylor with contributions by Tish Wells and Ron Hutcheson
-McClatchy via
-RealCities
|
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