A prosecutor apparently targeted for firing had supported Native American voters' rights
June 1, 2007
The Los Angeles Times reported today that one of the U.S. Attorneys apparently targeted for politically motivated firings by the Bush Administration was singled out for trying to "protect voting rights for Native Americans." The stunning report sheds new light on a now all-too-familiar pattern in which the Bush Administration sought to politically manipulate U.S. Attorneys into pursuing baseless voter fraud cases while at the same time disenfranchising voters who "are predominantly Democratic." In the Minnesota case, according to the LA Times report, the Bush Administration replaced that U.S. Attorney with a closer ally who in private practice had aided the state's Republican Party, and whose first move was to reassign the lawyer who first expressed concern over Native American voting rights in e-mails to Washington.
Below are excerpts of the report. The full LA Times story can be found at by clicking on the link below: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-usatty31may31,0,321185.story?coll=la-home-center
"For more than 15 years, clean-cut, square-jawed Tom Heffelfinger was the embodiment of a tough Republican prosecutor.By the time Heffelfinger resigned last year, his office had collected a string of awards and commendations from the Justice Department. So it came as a surprise - and something of a mystery - when he turned up on a list of U.S. attorneys who had been targeted for firing.
"Part of the reason, government documents and other evidence suggest, is that he tried to protect voting rights for Native Americans. 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...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...and are predominantly Democratic...
"About three months after Heffelfinger's office raised the issue of tribal ID cards and nonreservation Indians in an October 2004 memo, his name appeared on a list of U.S. attorneys singled out for possible firing...After Heffelfinger resigned, the Justice Department replaced him with someone more attuned to the administration's views. The job went to a conservative Justice Department employee...[who] as a private lawyer had helped bring election lawsuits on behalf of the Minnesota GOP...One of Paulose's first acts in office was to remove Lewis, who had written the 2004 e-mails to Washington expressing concern about Native American voting rights in Minnesota, from overseeing voting rights cases."
