Justice Dept. Staff Cleared in Election Report Inquiry

[Wilms]

Justice Dept. Staff Cleared in Election Report Inquiry

By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 30, 2008; Page A07

An independent investigation has found that Republican appointees in the Justice Department did not, as had been alleged, censor a bipartisan commission's report on the sensitive topics of voter fraud and voter intimidation.

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The inspector general, Curtis Crider, concluded the editing delays and changes resulted from the belief that the report was "poorly written" and "contained unsupported conclusions." "We found no evidence to support the allegation that the changes were made to the report due to improper reasons or political motivations," he said.

Former Justice Department lawyer Hans A. von Spakovsky said the conclusions represented a personal vindication. Von Spakovsky's appointment to the Federal Election Commission has been held up for months because of allegations that he tried to exert undue political influence on the government's handling of voter fraud and identification matters.

The report, in a section describing allegations of inappropriate Justice Department influence, quoted one of the Republican appointees to the commission claiming that von Spakovsky "certainly tried to influence" him, adding: "There's no question about that."

But von Spakovsky said yesterday that the commissioner, Paul DeGregorio, had misinterpreted his role in the process -- that the Justice Department was supposed to serve the commission in an advisory capacity. "The purpose of the advisers is to provide advice. I was entirely within the scope of my job," he said.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/29/AR2008032901762.html?hpid=topnews