Below are a few paragraphs from an investigative piece by Jason Leopold and Matt Renner (which has links to documents):
"One email, dated September 30, 2004, and sent to a dozen or so staffers on the Bush-Cheney campaign and the RNC, under the subject line "voter reg fraud strategy conference call," describes how campaign staffers planned to challenge the veracity of votes in a handful of battleground states in the event of a Democratic victory.
"Furthermore, the emails show the Bush-Cheney campaign and RNC staffers compiled voter-challenge lists that targeted probable Democratic voters in at least five states: New Mexico, Ohio, Florida, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Voting rights lawyers have made allegations of so called "vote caging," against Republicans previously. These emails provide more evidence...."
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"Vote caging is an illegal tactic to suppress minorities from voting by having their names purged from voter rolls when they fail to respond to registered mail sent to their homes. The Republican National Committee signed a consent decree in 1986 stating they would not engage in the practice after they were caught suppressing votes in 1981 and 1986." (Truthout)
In one email, GOP operative Christopher McInerney said: "I can't speak to other states, but if they don't have flagged voter rolls, we run the risk of having GOP fingerprints." Why was McInerney so concerned about GOP involvement becoming public knowledge?
Two senators have called upon the Justice Department to investigate. Give me a minute to stop laughing.
Remember: the Justice Department has been under a 7-month investigation over whether Justice officials used our nation's chief law enforcement agency to promote partisan political agendas. Evidence suggests that this is not a farfetched possibility (links at end of post).
Remember: our chief law-enforcement officer, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, may face a perjury investigation, after the FBI Director contradicted Gonzales' sworn testimony (Washington Post).
Remember: former Justice official Monica Goodling testified under oath that another former Justice official (Tim Griffin) had been involved in vote caging. Griffin, who was asked to join Fred Thompson's presidential exploratory campaign, denied involvement.
The Washington Post's Dan Froomkin pointed out in June that Griffin electronically thanked another operative for sending him Exel spreadsheets named "Caging-1.xls" and "Caging.xls," which contained lists of voters in Jacksonville, Florida. How did Froomkin get the emails? An operative accidentally sent them to an email address belonging to a website that spoofed George Bush, and the webmaster has distributed the emails.
It may not be absolute proof in court, but it certainly looks like evidence worth further examining.
Related Posts re: Justice Department Politicization (a word nobody can gracefully pronounce):
* Did DoJ Official Lie to Congress?
* A Sixth Justice Official Jumps Ship
* Wan Kim Testifies before Judiciary Committee
* Jon Stewart Video: White House Contradicts Itself re: U.S. Attorneys
* Another Ex-Justice Official Doesn't Recall
* DoJ's Schlozman Alters Testimony, Looks for Loopholes
* Schlozman Testimony: an "I don't Recall" Avalanche
* Another U.S. Attorney Targeted for Political Reasons
* Tim Griffin: From Rove's Lap, to DoJ, to Presidential Campaign?
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