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Justice Dept. Targets GOP Activists
From Pajamas Media. If you ever wanted to know what the Justice Department is doing with all that free time from not enforcing our immigration laws.....When I reported on September 19 that partisan career lawyers in the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice were planning on criminally targeting Republican political activists and candidates, this was treated with disbelief by some. Well, those claims have proven all too real to former Republican congressional candidate Tan Nguyen, who ran for office in the 47th Congressional District of California in 2006 against incumbent Loretta Sanchez. On October 1, the Civil Rights Division announced the indictment of Nguyen for obstruction of justice for supposedly making misleading statements to investigators regarding a letter that was sent to Latino voters during the election. The letter (in Spanish) that is the basis of the indictment was apparently sent out to Latino voters by the California Coalition for Immigration Reform (CCIR). It told voters that if they were a citizen of the United States, they should participate in the democratic process of voting. However, the letter warned voters that if they were residing in this country illegally, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time and for which they could be deported. The letter made clear that voting in any election if you are not a citizen of the United States would be useless and dangerous. It is important to realize that everything said in this letter is absolutely true. But informing voters that they have to be citizens to vote is highly offensive to the political left, especially organizations like La Raza or MALDEF, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and their allies in the career ranks of the Civil Rights Division. As described in the September 19 article, lawyers in the Civil Rights Division said at an internal DOJ training session this summer that they considered sending mailers informing individuals of the citizenship requirement for voting an example of voter suppression. It is important to realize what has happened here. Not only was CCIR engaging in political speech fully protected by the First Amendment, but it was telling voters the absolute truth about federal statutes that prohibit noncitizens from registering and voting in federal elections and the possible consequences, including deportation. Yet the Civil Rights Division initiated an investigation of perfectly legal behavior, in fact First Amendment-protected political speech that could not even remotely be considered a violation of any federal voting rights law the Division is charged with enforcing. Nguyen made a mistake in talking to investigators he may have been embarrassed about his involvement or got scared when the FBI showed up at his door. But what is outrageous is that the FBI even showed up at his door to ask him questions about this letter. There was no perceptible violation of federal law. The only problem with it is that the political left would probably characterize it as anti-immigrant. This is a classic example of the government going after someone because they do not agree with what he did and prosecuting him for supposedly lying about fully protected political speech. And who is the lead career lawyer on the case? Why, James Walsh, an Obama donor who was the lawyer referred to in the September 19 article who was directing the training of DOJ lawyers and FBI agents on how to go after political activists. No one should have any illusions either about why this indictment has occurred just prior to the November election. Partisans like Walsh and his immediate boss, Mark Kappelhoff, a former ACLU lawyer and $2,000 contributor to Obama, know that illegal voting by noncitizens, particularly illegal aliens, will be very important in many of the Southwestern states like Texas, New Mexico, and California to ensuring an Obama victory. Even more infuriating is that the political leadership of the Civil Rights Division has approved this prosecutorial abuse and chilling of First Amendment rights. Just wait until Obama gets in there. You ain't seen nothing yet. We are SO screwed! Posted by: CrazyFool 2008-10-16 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=252836 |