Former head of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice Bradley Schlozman doesn’t remember an alert from the U.S. attorney in Minnesota that Native American voters might be the target of voter discrimination.
Los Angeles Times profiled the U.S. attorney from Minnesota, Thomas Heffelfinger, last week who was named on one of the firings lists. Schlozman tried to discredit the story today in his testimony, but also said he never spoke about the case with anyone and does not remember any details. (This was just after Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) pointed out that he remembers less than U.S. Attorney Alberto Gonzales did during his testimony.)
The Los Angeles Times pointed out similarities between Heffelfinger and other U.S. Attorneys that were fired or on a list for possible firing. Heffelfinger appeared on a list after raising a concern that Native Americans might be disenfranchised:
Citing requirements in a new state election law, Republican Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer directed that tribal ID cards could not be used for voter identification by Native Americans living off reservations. 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.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) confronted Schlozman today over what she painted as a contradiction between rushing four voter-fraud indictments just before an election in Missouri and the Justice Department’s decision to ignore Heffelfinger’s complaint:
