Minnesota case fits pattern in U.S. attorneys flap: This Los Angeles Times story on Minnesota's Tom Heffelfinger's leaving is a must read. A potential reason Heffelfinger's name came up on the list of U.S. attorneys to be fired may be because Heffelfinger "tried to protect voting rights for Native Americans." According to the LA Times;
At a time when GOP activists wanted U.S. attorneys to concentrate on pursuing voter fraud cases, Heffelfinger's office was expressing deep concern about the effect of a state directive that could have the effect of discouraging Indians in Minnesota from casting ballots.
Citing requirements in a new state election law, Republican Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer directed that tribal ID cards could not be used for voter identification by Native Americans living off reservations. Heffelfinger and his staff feared that the ruling could result in discrimination against Indian voters. Many do not have driver's licenses or forms of identification other than the tribes' photo IDs.
Kiffmeyer said she was only following the law.
The issue was politically sensitive because the Indian vote can be pivotal in close elections in Minnesota. The Minneapolis-St. Paul area has one of the largest urban Native American populations in the United States. Its members turn out in relatively large numbers and are predominantly Democratic.
Heffelfinger resigned last year for personal reasons and says he had no idea he was being targeted for possible firing. But his stance fits a pattern that has emerged in the cases of several U.S. attorneys fired last year in states where Republicans wanted more vigorous efforts to legally challenge questionable voters.
The LA Times story also reports that the Justice Department's former White House liaison Monica Goodling testified before the House Judiciary Committee hearings, saying she had heard Heffelfinger criticized for "spending an excessive amount of time" on Native American issues. This is another damning example of the Bush administration's attempt to politicize the U.S. Attorney's Office, and surpress voting in favor of the Republican Party.
U.S. Economic Growth Weakest in Over 4 Years: This New York Times story reports that the first quarter U.S. economic growth advanced by just 0.6 percent, "the slowest rate of expansion since the end of 2002." The initial estimate of first quarter growth was to be 1.3 percent.
Chart showing revised U.S. economic growth. From New York TimesThe NY Times reports the reason for this sudden slowdown was a combination of revised estimates of stronger imports into the U.S., and businesses cutting production to reduce their stockpile of unsold inventory. Bonddad actually wonders if we have dodged a recession here, saying that business activity may start to expand after bottoming out of this first quarter. Because so far, the only thing keeping us out of a recession has been consumer spending, which advanced by 4.4 percent this first quarter--compared to the initial estimate of 3.8 percent. We'll have to see if consumer spending continues to stay strong over the next quarter--especially considering the housing slump.
Cult of Personality: The Carpetbagger Report has an interesting story regarding the GOP's Cult of Personality. It appears that the Republicans have decided that Fred Thompson is "the right man for the presidency because, well, he’s Fred Thompson." It is not about Fred Thompson's record, his views on the issues, or even his policy ideas. It is almost like the GOP wants to go back to the good ole days of the high school student body election, where the winner of class president was either the most popular student, the most liked, the most dreamily, the football quarterback, the homecomming queen--you get the picture. Of course, Glen Greenwald delves even deeper into this "Cult of Fred Thompson," looking at Thompson's "Tough Guy," and "Folksy Cultural Conservative" image.
U.S. Embassy in Baghdad Built with Forced Labor: I found this story through TPM Muckraker, which links to the original source blog called Iraq Slogger;
n the months following September 2005, complaints began coming in to the US State Department that all was not well with its most ambitious project ever: a sprawling new embassy project on the banks of the ancient Tigris River. The largest, most heavily-fortified embassy in the world with over 20 buildings, it spans 104 acres-- comparable in size to the Vatican.
Soon after the State Department awarded $592-million building contract to First Kuwaiti General Trading and Contracting in July 2005, thousands of low-paid migrant workers recruited from South Asia, the Philippines and other nations poured into Baghdad, beginning work to build the gargantuan complex within two years time. But sources involved in the embassy project tell Slogger that during First Kuwaiti’s rush to the finish the project by this summer on schedule, American managers and specialists involved with the project began protesting about the living and working conditions of lower-paid workers sequestered and largely unseen behind security walls bordering the embassy project inside the US-controlled Green Zone.
The Americans protested that construction crews lived in crowded quarters; ate sub-standard food; and had little medical care. When drinking water was scarce in the blistering heat, coolers were filled on the banks of the Tigris, a river rife with waterborne disease, sewage and sometimes floating bodies, they said. Others questioned why First Kuwaiti held the passports of workers. Was it to keep them from escaping? Some laborers had turned up “missing” with little investigation. Another American said laborers told him they were been misled in their job location. When recruited, they were unaware they were heading for war-torn Iraq.
The story was written by David Phinney, whose work has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, New York Times, ABC and PBS. I can't say if this story is accurate or not, but I will say that this is a story the American corporate media would probably never touch.
Tim Griffin Resigning As Arkansas U.S. Attorney: I found this story through The Daily Kos user Hose B, with the original source being the Arkansas Times. The Justice Department has announced that interim U.S. attorney Timothy Griffin will resign, effective on June 1, 2007. Griffin was originally an aide to White House political adviser Karl Rove, before being appointed as interim attorney by the Bush administration, replacing outgoing U.S. attorney Bud Cummings. Griffin became the poster child for the U.S. attorney scandal. Interestingly enough, TPM Muckraker is also reporting that Griffin is in talks with the Fred Thompson campaign on taking a job there.
More politicized hirings at Justice Department's Civil Rights Division: I found this story through Think Progress, which links into this McClatchy story. According to McClatchy, Bradley Schlozman, who was the former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, hired attorneys based on their political affiliations;
However, former employees of the division's Voting Rights Section, whose decisions can affect the outcome of elections, told McClatchy that eight lawyers had been hired there since 2004 largely because of their Republican or conservative connections.
Two former department lawyers said that when they'd applied for jobs elsewhere in the division in early 2005, Schlozman had asked them to delete mention on their resumes of Republican affiliations and resubmit them. Both attorneys were hired.
One of them, Ty Clevenger, said Schlozman "wanted to make it look like it was apolitical." Clevenger also said that when he'd passed along a resume from a fellow Stanford University Law School graduate, Schlozman had asked, "Is he one of us?"
Think Progress also links to this Boston.com story, reporting;
Half of the 14 career lawyers hired under Schlozman were members of the conservative Federalist Society or the Republican National Lawyers Association, up from none among the eight career hires in the previous two years, according to a review of resumes.
Finally, both the McClatchy story and the Boston.com story connect Schlozman's conservative hiring practices with the U.S. attorney scandal, and the Bush administration's desire to limit minority voting through politicizing investigations into Democratic voter fraud.
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