[StBernard] Eric Holder Declares War On Bobby Jindal; Cui Bono?

[Westley Annis]

Eric Holder Declares War On Bobby Jindal; Cui Bono?

Posted by: MacAoidh on Friday, February 25, 2011, 11:00

A piece in the Washington Examiner posted last night and written by
Department of Justice whistleblower J. Christian Adams indicates we're about
to see some fireworks - and potentially a window in the political strategy
about to be employed by the state's Democrats this fall with some help from
the Obama administration.

Specifically, the DOJ has descended upon Louisiana in an effort to dig up
evidence that the state's welfare offices aren't pushing to register
recipients to vote, which in the Holder Justice Department constitutes a
call to jihad.

During a time when DOJ travel is purportedly frozen, these numerous DOJ
staffers have been deployed for days in New Orleans and around Louisiana
trolling for stories of state officials failing to urge welfare recipients
to register to vote.

The DOJ will use the evidence collected from welfare recipients to support a
lawsuit against Jindal's administration under Section 7 of Motor Voter.

The "Motor Voter" law passed in 1993 contained an important congressional
compromise. Welfare and motor vehicle agencies would serve as voter
registration offices, while states would be obligated to conduct voter roll
cleaning to purge ineligible felons and dead voters. The two provisions act
together as counterparts.

The Obama administration has refused to enforce the voter list integrity
provisions while making the welfare agency registration law their top
priority.

DOJ Voting Section bureaucrats have been lurking outside welfare agencies in
Louisiana trying to collect evidence to sue the Jindal administration. When
people leave the welfare offices, investigators rush to interrogate them,
asking if they were urged to register to vote. Sworn declarations of welfare
recipients are snapped up.

DOJ's Voting Section, as Adams documented last year to considerable national
notice, has under the Obama administration refused to address issues in
which the voting rights of non-minority groups have been infringed upon.
That practice was most notably exemplified in the notorious New Black
Panther case; the new House Republican majority is expected to commence a
congressional investigation into that matter.

But Adams says if Justice does decide to pursue some sort of legal action
against Jindal, he - and Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, who's a
newly-minted Republican - are not without resources.

Leftist activist groups like Project Vote have been deeply disappointed with
Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez. They don't like the paltry litigation
caseload of his Voting Section, especially after so much campaign bluster to
"reopen the Civil Rights Division." Perez still peddles this spin around the
country, though the litigation docket renders it a laugh line.

So cue "Operation Sue Bobby Jindal."

Jindal and any other state executive sued by the DOJ Voting Section should
recognize that the Voting Section is a Potemkin litigation shop that wants
opponents to think the odds are stacked against them.

But very few lawyers in the Voting Section have ever litigated a case to
judgment after trial, not even in traffic court. They're just not as
experienced as defendants might assume.

States should take note: This Voting Section is petrified of protracted and
costly litigation. That applies to both Louisiana and any other state
targeted in the upcoming legislative redistricting. For example, one lawyer
was so rattled by the stress of a rare trial the lawyer stayed in a hotel
room through the trial instead of appearing in court.

If the DOJ dares to sue Louisiana, it will be a chance for Jindal to put
Holder on trial instead.

Recall the testimony of former Voting Section chief Christopher Coates
before the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Coates testified that
his Obama political bosses spiked eight Motor Voter investigations of states
that had severely corrupted voter rolls.

Americans have a right to know why the Obama DOJ is on a quest to enforce
laws that register likely political allies, but won't enforce laws to
protect the integrity of American elections.

Jindal may soon get a chance to demand an answer.

It's entirely possible - in fact, it's relatively certain - this expedition
is all about politics on the part of the Obama administration. Specifically,
this could be an undertaking in pursuit of what used to be called a
"50-state strategy" aimed at building state Democrat fortunes and punishing
political enemies. And since the state's moribund Democrat Party needs some
life breathed into it, Holder could be playing out something of a long game.

Namely, the grapevine says that while we still don't have even a rumored
Democrat candidate for governor in this fall's legislative session there now
appears a relatively high-profile candidate for Secretary of State. That
would be Caroline Fayard.

Fayard, also a lawyer, said everywhere she goes people ask her to stay
involved but she too remains noncommittal about her plans. "I'm out and
about listening, going around the state," she said.

"The secretary of state is an open seat. That always comes to mind when you
are considering," said Fayard. Since she is not an elected official, Fayard
did not have to file a campaign finance disclosure last week.

Fayard's travels took her to a Louisiana Clerks of Court meeting in
Lafayette last week to "say hello" to officials with whom the secretary of
state's office works in its elections function.

Fayard, of course, is the closest thing to an up-and-comer in the Democrat
Party despite the fact that she and the state party conducted a laundry
operation whereby the party served as a conduit for her father, big-money
trial lawyer Calvin Fayard, to shovel cash into her campaign for Lieutenant
Governor last year in violation of state campaign finance laws.

She's also the one Democrat with national connections, given that she has
lots of ties to the Clintons. And while Fayard pere was part of the PUMA
movement which actually gave money to John McCain after Obama won the
Democrat nomination in 2008 - he was also one of 11 major Democrat donors
who offered to pay for a Michigan primary that Hillary Clinton would likely
have won that year - it's amazing how quickly bygones can be bygones when
larger events intervene.

And the Secretary of State job is not insignificant. After all, the
Secretary of State is the official in whose trust the state's voter rolls -
the integrity of which across the country Motor Voter has been so
destructive to - are placed.

We've mentioned before that following Katrina, former Secretary of State Jay
Dardenne, a Republican, conducted a very professional and consequential
spring cleaning of Louisiana's voter rolls. Since his having done that, the
state's Democrats have had a rapidly decreasing ability to get people
elected. Getting the SOS office back is of major importance to the Dems; if
they can manage it, the old days of election-day machines - particularly in
Orleans Parish - which turn out astonishing numbers in favor of populist
lefty candidates might well return.

And a determined effort by the Department of Justice to tar the governor and
the Secretary of State's office as racists or partisan Republicans
attempting to keep poor blacks from voting would certainly contribute to the
rest of the narrative we see building - namely, that Jindal disenfranchised
all the blacks on the Board of Regents so he could kill SUNO and that he's
starving public schoolteachers to give out tax breaks to rich white
corporations. A "Jindal is doing everything he can to disenfranchise black
voters" piece would complete the puzzle. Run someone for governor like Cleo
Fields or Karen Carter Peterson, who won't get more than 40 percent of the
vote but will pull at least 35 just based on demographics, to push that
narrative, and now you're capable of turning out enough vote in heavily
Democrat areas to perhaps minimize the damage that is sure to come down the
ballot.

It might even be enough to carry Fayard into office as the Secretary of
State if the Republicans can't find a strong candidate (Walker Hines is
already in, most people think acting Secretary Tom Schedler will run and
there are rumors that former acting Lieutenant Governor Scott Angelle will
run for Secretary of State rather than his old position). And if the Dems
can retake the SOS office, with Holder's help, it might give them a boost
toward becoming viable as a statewide entity again in the future.