It was no surprise to Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Virginia) for much of last year that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was grossly neglecting his responsibilities as the nation’s chief law enforcement officer with respect to the voter intimidation case involving the “New Black Panther Party.”
Wolf, who has been following the case, took to the House floor last September and said the following:
“This inexplicable dismissal came over the objections of the career attorneys on the trial team as well as the department’s own appeal office….However, this unjustified dismissal has not gone unnoticed. I have worked with Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith to demand answers from Attorney General Holder. I am pleased that the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has also taken note of this case. The commission has an important special statutory responsibility to ‘investigate voting rights deprivations and make appraisals of federal policies to enforce federal voting rights laws.’
But it’s apparent no answers have come.
Congress repeatedly asked the Justice Department during this administration to answer questions related to this case only to be rebuffed.
During the same floor speech, Wolf asked:
The commission has written Attorney General Holder on June 16, June 22, and August 10 requesting answers on the dismissal of this case. It also voted at its September meeting to make its review of this case the primary focus of its 2009 independent report. Earlier today, the commission sent a fourth letter to Attorney General Holder—which I submit for the record—reiterating its requests for information and asking him to respond no later than October 14—or it will proceed with an investigation using its own statutory authorities….
I call on Attorney General Holder to answer the questions posed in my letters—dated June 8, July 17, July 22, and July 31—as well as comply with the commission’s request for information so it may complete its report, as required by its statutory authority.
Over to you, Mr. Attorney General. Stonewall or not?
Given the recent whistle-blowing by J. Christian Adams, apparently stone-walling has been the name of the game in DOJ for the past 18 months – even to members of Congress.
But kudos to Wolf for recognizing early on what many in the public have not (until now) – that this administration is averse to transparency and Congressional oversight, despite its claims.
The question now is when will Democrats in Congress wake up to the same reality? Where does Tom Perriello, Glenn Nye, Gerry Connolly or Rick Boucher stand on this issue?
Do they see voter intimidation at the polls and the Justice Department’s seeming ignoring of it as having “serious and dangerous consequences”, as Wolf has said? Or are they content to abdicate their core responsibility, as apparently the Justice Department has, to protect the people?
(Image credit – Getty Images, August 2008)
