Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: August 23, 2008 1:55:55 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Specialist in Vote-Suppression Hired by Justice Dept to
Monitor 2008 Elections
He's Baaaack: Civil Rights Commission Hires Spakovsky to Work on
Voting Rights
By Kate Klonick - August 21, 2008, 12:14PM
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/08/civil_rights_commission_hires.php
It looks like Hans von Spakovsky, an old TPM favorite, is back in
business. The former Justice Department official, whose nomination to
the Federal Election Commission (FEC) was thwarted when Democrats
objected to his long record of support for restrictions on voting
rights, has been hired as a "consultant and temporary full-time
employee" at the ostensibly bi-partisan U.S. Commission on Civil
Rights (USCCR) the agency confirmed to TPMmuckraker.
"From 2001 to 2005, von Spakovsky served as an official at the Justice
Department's Civil Rights Division where he amassed a record of
undermining voting rights, creating restrictions that would make it
harder for poor and minority communities to vote, and putting partisan
politics above upholding our civil rights. "
If Spakovsky's history of backing efforts to make voting more
difficult strikes you as a poor fit with the Commission's mission of
defending voter rights, consider that of the eight current
commissioners at the agency, only two are registered Democrats, a
politicization that the New York Times' Charlie Savage brought to
light last year.
Among Spakovsky's duties will be overseeing the USCCR's report on the
Justice Department's monitoring of the 2008 presidential elections, a
source inside the USCCR told TPMmuckraker.
Spakovsky's hiring is at the request of Commissioner Todd Gaziano, who
works for the conservative Heritage Foundation on FEC issues and has
defended Spakovsky in the press before. According to a federal
government source, Gaziano has recommended Spakovsky at the
government's highest payscale -- which would work out to about
$124,010 annually if Spakovsky was to stay for an entire year.
And it seems that Gaziano may not have been exactly excited to make
his selection of Spakovsky public knowledge. At a July 28th meeting
(pdf) where the commissioners approved the hiring of the "special
assistants," their identities were kept confidential. According to
the transcript of the meeting, when one of the commissioners asked for
more information on the identity of who was being hired, the question
was never answered.
So where is the money coming from? Well it turns out that USCCR is
about $400,000 (pdf) under budget, and something had to be done with
all that money before December. Although according to a federal
source, the agency has other pressing needs -- understaffing and out-
of-date technology -- the commissioners decided instead to spend at
least part of that money on four temporary staff assistants.
Attempts to contact Graziano were referred to the Commission public
affairs office. Calls to Spakovsky were not immediately returned.
It's only a deal if it's where you want to go. Find your travel deal
here.
