This might be the most horrifying excerpt from the Schlozman report:
In that incident in August 2004, Voting Section Chief John Tanner sent an
e-mail to Schlozman asking Schlozman to bring coffee for him to a meeting both were
scheduled to attend. Schlozman replied asking Tanner how he liked his coffee.
Tanner’s response was, “Mary Frances Berry style – black and bitter.” Berry is an
African-American who was the Chairperson of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights from
November 1993 until late 2004. Schlozman forwarded the e-mail chain to several
Department officials (including Principal DAAG Bradshaw) but not Acosta, with the
comment, “Y’all will appreciate Tanner’s response.” Acosta said that when he was made aware of the incident, he required Schlozman to make a written apology to him for his role in forwarding the e-mail and that Schlozman did so.
Tanner, as longtime readers will remember, was the guy who left the voting-rights section soon after saying that voter ID laws discriminate against the elderly, and therefore not against African-Americans, because African-Americans die younger.
We’ve contacted both Berry and Tanner to get their reactions…
