The next 9/11? Try latest fiasco (Palm Beach Post)

[struggle4progress]

By Dan Moffett
Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer
Sunday, April 20, 2008

... Mr. Acosta came to the office after serving two years as assistant attorney general and Civil Rights division chief. His tenure was memorable for indifference to voting rights protection. For unstated reasons, he recused himself from congressional redistricting in Texas, a politically skewed plan that diluted minority participation and expanded the Republican majority in the House.

The civil rights division did nothing to oppose a Georgia voter ID law that discriminated against minorities and the poor. One week before the 2004 presidential election, Mr. Acosta wrote an extraordinary letter to an Ohio federal judge, intervening in a voting rights case there. He told the judge that individuals could challenge the qualifications of other voters - a position that favored GOP efforts to disqualify minorities.

While Mr. Acosta's anointed career was advancing, the White House and Attorney General Gonzales were working to remove from office eight U.S. attorneys who did not please the administration, in some cases because they didn't find evidence to pursue voter-fraud cases against Democrats.

Mr. Acosta has held other news conferences to trumpet his crusade against public corruption. His office has gotten guilty pleas from two Palm Beach County commissioners, two West Palm Beach commissioners and the Broward County sheriff. But there was no camera call for the hung jury last week. Mr. Acosta released a statement saying that he was considering whether to try the Liberty City Seven again ...

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2008/04/20/a2e_moffettcol_0420.html

[Richard Steele]

1. K&R