AG Eric Holder
Wants to Lift Ban on Felons Voting
Holder, US Attorney General (AG), is out speechifying to allow convicted felons the right to vote, casting it as a civil rights issue.
Things must be slow at Justice.
The NYT points out that Holder has no say in the matter as states decide voter eligibility.
If justice were truly served, Holder would be a felon himself and thus a non-voter for his infamous role in the Marc Rich Affair.
Rich, a billionaire charged with wire fraud, trading with the enemy and tax evasion became a fugitive from justice in 1983 when he was indicted. He took up residence in Switzerland.
Very Rich Rich
He spent money freely on winning a pardon including hiring Jack Quinn, a former White House Counsel who lobbied Eric Holder. Holder was then a Deputy Attorney General in the Clinton Administration. Time magazine once reported that Quinn went straight to Clinton with the request.
Holder was able to do an "end run" around the Justice Department's system for handling pardons, keeping his own staff in the dark, reason enough to suspect his motives. Slate's Justin Peters also points out that Quinn was uber-tight with Al Gore who was running for US prez and that Holder was hopeful of being AG in a Gore administration.
According to Peters, another US Attorney, Roger Adams, would have to sign the pardon, as well. Adams received a call about the pardon in the middle of the night on January 20, just hours before Clinton would leave office.
The American Thinker reports that Adams was "stunned to learn" that Rich was a fugitive. Still, the pardon was signed.
(Let's pause here briefly and pay homage to James Comey, Obama's new pick for FBI Director. In 2004 when John Ashcroft, then AG, was in intensive care, Bush's White House Counsel and Chief-of-Staff dropped in during the night to try to get him to sign an extension of Bush's domestic surveillance program which had been found to be illegal. Comey was tipped off on the impending visit and made it there just in time to brief Ashcroft, who was barely able to lift his head to say no. James Comey evidenced integrity when the going was tough, standing up to the White House.)
Ironically, the NYT reports that felons tend to vote democratic and that 10% of Florida residents are felons. Since the 2000 election was decided in Florida, had felons been voting, perhaps Holder would have been AG a wee bit sooner.
One last thing, we are expected to believe Bill Clinton when he says that Marc Rich's $450,000 gift to his presidential library paid no role in his decision.
Surely America's ballot-deprived felons deserve a better advocate than Eric Holder though it must be admitted that he sure took care of Marc Rich.
(Sources: WAPO, NYT, Slate, Time, Wiki)