Black Panthers, Voter Intimidation Case Dropped

Maybe Obama and Henry Louis Gates and Sgt. James Crowley can discuss this story as they sip their Bud Light, Red Stripe, and Blue Moon this evening.

Maybe not.

From the Washington Times:

Associate Attorney General Thomas J. Perrelli, the No. 3 official in the Obama Justice Department, was consulted and ultimately approved a decision in May to reverse course and drop a civil complaint accusing three members of the New Black Panther Party of intimidating voters in Philadelphia during November's election, according to interviews.

The department's career lawyers in the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division who pursued the complaint for five months had recommended that Justice seek sanctions against the party and three of its members after the government had already won a default judgment in federal court against the men.

Front-line lawyers were in the final stages of completing that work when they were unexpectedly told by their superiors in late April to seek a delay after a meeting between political appointees and career supervisors, according to federal records and interviews.

The delay was ordered by then-acting Assistant Attorney General Loretta King after she discussed with Mr. Perrelli concerns about the case during one of their regular review meetings, according to the interviews.

Ms. King, a career senior executive service official, had been named by President Obama in January to temporarily fill the vacant political position of assistant attorney general for civil rights while a permanent choice could be made.

She and other career supervisors ultimately recommended dropping the case against two of the men and the party and seeking a restraining order against the one man who wielded a nightstick at the Philadelphia polling place. Mr. Perrelli approved that plan, officials said.

Oh, my God.

Can you imagine the outrage that would be flying if a case involving a white supremacist hate group and voter intimidation were dropped?

Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would be tripping all over themselves to get in front of a camera. There would be protests and rallies and tremendous uproar.

...While the Obama administration has vowed a new era of openness, department officials have refused to answer questions from Republican members of Congress on why the case was dismissed, claiming the information was "privileged, according to congressional correspondence with the department.

Rep. Frank R. Wolf, Virginia Republican and a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee who has raised questions about the case, said he also was prevented from interviewing the front-line lawyers who brought the charges.

"Why am I being prevented from meeting with the trial team on this case? Mr. Wolf asked. "There are many questions that need to be answered. This whole thing just stinks to high heaven."

...The department also has yet to provide any records sought by The Times under a Freedom of Information Act request filed in May seeking documents detailing the decision process. Department officials also declined to answer whether any outside groups had raised concerns about the case or pressured the department to drop it.

Kristen Clarke, director of political participation at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in Washington, however, confirmed to The Times that she talked about the case with lawyers at the Justice Department and shared copies of the complaint with several persons. She said, however, her organization was "not involved in the decision to dismiss the civil complaint.

Oh, good grief.

Every day it seems I have another reason to be disgusted with the Obama administration.

TRANSPARENCY?

BS.

It's one broken promise after another.

I know it's early in his term, but Obama hasn't changed Washington politics for the better. Not at all.

I strongly object to the direction Obama is taking the country.

Corruption and special interests rule.

Obama promised an open administration. Legislation would be posted online. He was going to make government accessible. Blah, blah, blah.

Obama won the election on BS. He's running the country on BS.

Total BS.

This is justice in Obama's America?

It's all about politics.

Post-racial?

Yeah, right.