The Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties is currently holding a hearing, “Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.” John K. Tanner, Chief of the Voting Right Section, will testify, as will Toby Moore, a redistricting expert with the division’s voting section until the spring of 2006.
Voting Rights Chief Apologizes for Comments about Minorities
Paul Kiel, TPMmuckraker – October 29, 2007
Voting rights section chief John Tanner has apologized for saying earlier this month that “minorities don’t become elderly the way white people do: They die first.”
The apology went out to a number of attendees of the National Latino Congreso, where Tanner made the remarks. You can see one of them, to the president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, here. The letter is dated Friday, October 26, a week after Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) publicly called for Tanner to be fired based on those remarks.
In the letter, Tanner does not recant his analysis that voter ID laws actually discriminate against whites, but does apologize that his “explanation of the data came across in a hurtful way.” Others who worked in the Justice Department, of course, including Toby Moore, a former redistricting expert in the section who will testifying alongside Tanner tomorrow, disagreed with more than his tone.
Watch the hearing live via committee webcast or on C Span 3.
Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Nadler gives opening remarks:
| Subcommittee Chairman Nadler: “That struggle has taken generations. The struggle to ensure that the legal right to vote translates into an actual right to cast a ballot — and have it counted — remains unfinished.” |
Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Nadler questions Tanner on a Georgia Voting ID Law on which Tanner overruled the recommendations of his staff that it was discriminatory:
| Nadler: “But in making that decision you differed from the 4 of the 5 attorneys… permanent staff who recommended a contrary decision, is that correct?” Tanner: “I'm in an awkward position in that we are not allowed and it is inappropriate for department personnel to discuss internal deliberations and the confidences of our clients. I'm happy to give you information and explain the basis…” Nadler: “Mr. Tanner, I believe that is public information. That that has been testified to before, I think, the Senate. Is that not correct, that this is public? That the 5 individuals who reviewed this, who did the staff work, 4 of them recommended disapproving and one differed from that? That is all public information.” |
Full Committee Chairman John Conyers expresses shock at Tanner’s claims that the section is operating smoothly:
| Chairman Conyers: “I hope that you will take what is directed at you as constructive, because the one thing I am concerned about is that we stop having happen what has happened since the 2000 elections. And then you come here to stagger our imagination by telling us that 'it’s never been better,’ its never been worse!” |
Rep. Artur Davis (AL-07) questions Tanner on a series of controversial remarks he made:
| Rep. Davis: “You also make the comment, by the way, that blacks are more likely to go to check cashing at some point in Georgia. Did you make that observation?” Tanner: “In addressing the Georgia…” Davis: “Don't give me a long answer because I don't have the time. Did you make the comment or did you not make it?” Tanner: “I made a comment about that…” Davis: “OK, now this is the point, Mr. Tanner, that I think we want to drive home. Do you have any statistics about how many blacks visit check cashing business versus the number of whites who do?” Tanner: “I do not have any with me, I believe that statistics about the number of un-banked persons here in the United States, by race, would be available through the office of the comptroller…” Davis: “Do you know those numbers?” Tanner: “I do not know those numbers.” |
Extended transcript of above exchange:
Rep. Davis: “You also make the comment, by the way, that blacks are more likely to go to check cashing at some point in Georgia. Did you make that observation?”
Tanner: “In addressing the Georgia…”
Davis: “Don't give me a long answer because I don't have the time. Did you make the comment or did you not make it?”
Tanner: “I made a comment about that…”
Davis: “OK, now this is the point, Mr. Tanner, that I think we want to drive home. Do you have any statistics about how many blacks visit check cashing business versus the number of whites who do?”
Tanner: “I do not have any with me, I believe that statistics about the number of un-banked persons here in the United States, by race, would be available through the office of the comptroller…”
Davis: “Do you know those numbers?”
Tanner: “I do not know those numbers.”
Davis: “Well this is the problem. Once again you engaged in an analysis without knowing the numbers. And the point, Mr. Tanner, you're a policy maker, sir. You are encharged with enforcing the voting rights laws in the country. And if you are not fully informed about things that you are talking about and pontificating about, if you're basing your conclusions on stereotypes and generalizations that raises a question in the mind of some of us whether or not you are the person best positioned to be making these choices. You said that minorities don't become elderly the way white people do, that they die first. And you say ‘well that was a horrible generalization on my part,’ you say you don't know how many elderly minorities vote versus the number of whites who vote who are elderly. You make observations about people going to check cashing places and you suggest that ‘well, because blacks go to check cashing places they surely must have photo ID’ and then I ask you if there is a statistical basis for that and you say you don't know it. If you are basing your conclusions on stereotypes rather than facts, then it suggests to some of us that someone else can do this job better than you can.”
Toby Moore, a redistricting expert with the division's voting section until the spring of 2006, testifies:
| Moore: “Mr. Tanner’s public comments earlier this month in Georgia and California could be overlooked if they were merely off-the-cuff remarks. Unfortunately for minority voters and unfortunately for the Department of Justice the comments are actually a fair example of Tanner’s approach to facts, the truth, and the law. Broad generalizations, deliberate misuse of statistics and casual supposition – in my experience – were preferred over the analytical rigor, impartiality, and scrupulous attention to detail that had marked the work of the section prior to Tanner to taking control in 2005. This decline, and the myriad other problems that have developed in the section over the past several years, are the direct result of the actions of political appointees such as Hans Von Spakovsky and Bradley Schlozman. It’s left behind a demoralized section, a growing list of lost court cases, and a severely diminished public trust in federal voting rights enforcement.” |
Rep. Keith Ellison (MN-05) questions Julie Fernandes, Senior Policy Analyst & Special Counsel Leadership Conference for Civil Rights, on the realities of Voter ID laws:
| Ellison: “If you vote — if you're an immigrant person and you don't have a legal right to vote, and you vote… isn't that like a felony?” Fernandes: “You could be deported.” Ellison: “And so, you're going to risk your life in America, that you're trying to have, to cast a vote? You know in my experience I have trouble getting people to vote once, in their own name, as opposed to trying to round up a bunch of people to steal an election.” |