News and Politics | October 17, 2008 | 11 comments

Iglesias: "I'm astounded" by DOJ's ACORN probe

source: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/10/iglesias_im_astounded_by_dojs.php

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Conniepae
Iglesias was fired because he would not do the work of the Republican Party in his court. Facts matter! Is the DOJ being used for the benefit of the right? Thats just wrong! Justice in America is supposed to be balanced and unbiassed.

By Zachary Roth

David Iglesias says he's shocked by the news, leaked today to the Associated Press, that the FBI is pursuing a voter-fraud investigation into ACORN just weeks before the election.

"I'm astounded that this issue is being trotted out again," Iglesias told TPMmuckraker. "Based on what I saw in 2004 and 2006, it's a scare tactic." In 2006, Iglesias was fired as U.S. attorney thanks partly to his reluctance to pursue voter-fraud cases as aggressively as DOJ wanted -- one of several U.S. attorneys fired for inappropriate political reasons, according to a recently released report by DOJ's Office of the Inspector General.

Iglesias, who has been the most outspoken of the fired U.S. attorneys, went on to say that the FBI's investigation seemed designed to inappropriately create a "boogeyman" out of voter fraud.

And he added that it "stands to reason" that the investigation was launched in response to GOP complaints. In recent weeks, national Republican figures -- including John McCain at last night's debate -- have sought to make an issue out of ACORN's voter-registration activities.

As we noted earlier, last year, Sen. Diane Feinstein publicly highlighted changes made to DOJ's election crimes manual, which lowered the bar for voter-fraud prosecutions, and made it easier to bring vote-fraud cases close to the election.

Speaking today to TPMmuckraker, Iglesias called such changes "extremely problematic."

The way in which the news was revealed today -- Associated Press sourced its report to two "senior law enforcement officials" who "spoke on condition of anonymity because Justice Department regulations forbid discussing ongoing investigations particularly so close to an election" -- is also raising eyebrows.

Both Iglesias and Bud Cummins -- another of the U.S. attorneys who, according to the IG report, was also fired for political reasons -- told TPMmuckraker that DOJ guidelines do allow US attorneys to speak publicly about an investigation, even before bringing an indictment, if it's to allay public concern over an issue.

But that certainly wouldn't cover anonymous leaks. "If you can't say it with your name on it, it's fair to say you should not be saying it," Cummins told TPMmuckraker.

Earlier this afternoon, House Judiciary Chair John Conyers (D-MI) released a letter he sent to Attorney General Michael Mukasey and FBI director Robert Mueller, which connected today's news to the U.S. attorney firings, and to recent GOP efforts to stoke fears over voter fraud.


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11 comments // Iglesias: "I'm astounded" by DOJ's ACORN probe

  • hrhpod
    • 0
      hrhpod  

    • Why isn't everybody automatically registered?
      In the UK (where I live) the local authority write to you at intervals and asks you to check your entry on the electoral register. When you move house, you usually get a letter through requesting your registration and when you do, they update the register. Then when it's time to vote in the election, you get a card through to take to the polls with you.
      Not rocket science and it ends this undemocratic nonsense of purging and fraud.

    • 4 years ago
  • uppityprogressive
    • 0
      uppityprogressive  

    • Republicans and Democrats know that when more people vote, republicans loose, when fewer people vote repugs win. That's why Democrats try to register people and Republicans try to eliminate them from the registrations. For every new registration this year, 2 people have been removed from the rolls according to the non-partisan League of Women Voters.

      It is also common for Republicans to smear anyone to create a smoke screen in front of their own crimes.

      They know they work for the elite, much more so than the dems, and they know that in a fair fight they cannot win.

      In Washington the Republicans are running not as Republicans, but as "GOP" party, banking on those low information voters not knowing its the same thing. The state courts just ruled that it is not illegal to use the nick-name of a party...

    • 4 years ago
  • chris50
  • Frgabert
    • 0
      Frgabert  

    • Dude tone it down a bit..... your gonna blow a gasket! If the whole thing is for not Im sure that the investigation will make them (pubs) twice shy. I have to believe that not all people that are interested in a little more depth as to what is going on with this org are "republicans". The truth is never a bad thing. I also think that there are good people in the republican party that care about free and fair elections. Some are even elected in predominately dem districts.

    • 4 years ago
  • Conniepae
    • 0
      Conniepae  

    • Republicans have chosen to go after ACORN. Anything Republicans touch turns toxic. Look at our economy after 8 years of Republican "decidership".

      It"s not ACORN, it"s the spinning by talking heads, spoon fed talking points by the Republicans. The same talking heads who enabled them to start a war of aggression against a country who had not killed one American and were not openly threatening America.

      The Republican Party today is toxic!

    • 4 years ago
  • Frgabert
    • 0
      Frgabert  

    • I think ACORN is kinda toxic at the moment and any connection to them is likely not good for anyones chances at the presidency. Only a few states require a picture ID (like a drivers license) to vote. And yes I get my marching orders directly from Barry Goldwater beyond the grave. Im sure there are many at ACORN that have the best of intentions but they are corruptable (just like any org) and have an agenda (just like any org) beyond just registration.

    • 4 years ago
  • caseygane
  • shun21
    • 0
      shun21  

    • Voter fraud isn't likely to happen. You need a valid licence to vote and I doubt Chucky Cheese can provide one. I hear that the GOP will be reviewing all the names and throwing out the ones that supposedly sound fake. Which to me means that if your name is Lakeisha, Tyrese, Jesus, or Carlos you might not be able to vote.

    • 4 years ago
  • Conniepae
    • 0
      Conniepae  

    • Looks like Frgabert drew the short straw, he gets to be the strawman for the right today. Frgabert is here posting rediculous comments to distract from the facts.

      Dont be distracted by a Frgabert, or any of the others sent to current by the Republicans to distort facts.

    • 4 years ago
  • Frgabert
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