Justice Official May Revise Voter-Fraud Testimony

Justice Official May Revise Voter-Fraud Testimony, People Say
By Robert Schmidt
Bloomberg News
Friday 08 June 2007

A Justice Department lawyer under fire for bringing criminal voter- fraud charges on the eve of the 2006 election may revise his Senate testimony about the case, which angered other U.S. prosecutors, officials familiar with the matter said.

Bradley Schlozman, who as U.S. attorney in Kansas City obtained indictments charging workers for an activist group with submitting fake voter-registration forms, defended the timing of the case to the Senate Judiciary Committee this week by saying he acted "at the direction" of the department's Public Integrity Section.

The explanation, which Schlozman repeated at least nine times during the June 5 hearing, infuriated public integrity lawyers, who say it implied the section ordered him to prosecute, said two Justice Department officials. Public integrity attorneys handle sensitive cases involving politicians and judges and pride themselves on staying out of political disputes.

A clarification of Schlozman's testimony would stress that he consulted with the section and was given guidance, not direction, said the officials, who asked to remain anonymous because the matter is being deliberated internally. The clarification wouldn't say that Schlozman's Senate testimony was inaccurate, the officials added.

Schlozman, who now works in the Justice Department office that oversees U.S. attorneys, didn't return a call seeking comment.

Prosecutor Firings

The Judiciary Committee is investigating whether politics played a role in the firing of eight U.S. attorneys last year. One question the panel is pursuing is whether prosecutors were pressured to file voter-fraud cases against Democrats.

Schlozman became interim U.S. attorney for the western district of Missouri in March 2006 after serving as a top lawyer in the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

Days before the November election, his office obtained indictments against four workers for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which sponsored a voter- registration drive focusing on low-income people and minorities.

In his testimony, Schlozman said the charges, which resulted in guilty pleas, were appropriate.

"The Department of Justice does not time prosecutions to elections," he told the panel.

Democrats contend the case may have been designed to intimidate voters who tend to back their party.

Policy Manual

Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record), a Vermont Democrat, said the timing of the charges was contrary to agency policy outlined in a manual for prosecutors. The rule says that "most, if not all, investigations of an alleged election crime must await the end of the election to which the allegation relates."

In response, Schlozman told the panel that he raised the issue with the Public Integrity Section's election crimes chief.

"I did what I did at the direction of the Public Integrity Section," Schlozman said.

Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the Justice Department, declined to comment on whether Schlozman would revise his testimony.

Boyd said the department guidelines cited by Leahy don't flatly forbid the filing of voting-related charges just before an election. "The policy is not absolute and exceptions may exist," he said.