Voter Registration Group ACORN Long a Target of GOP Operatives

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By Jason Leopold (about the author) Page 4 of 4 page(s)

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McKay’s Firing

John McKay, the former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, was fired in large part, according to the DOJ report, because Republicans were angry that he did not convene a federal grand jury to pursue allegations of voter fraud related to the 2004 governor's election in the state, in which Democrat Christine Gregoire defeated Republican Dino Rossi by a margin of 129 votes.

In an interview, McKay said there were some Republicans in his district with close ties to the White House who demanded he launch an investigation into the election and bring charges against individuals--Democrats--for vote-rigging. He believes his refusal to haul "innocent people before a grand jury" was the reason he was not selected for a federal judgeship by local Republicans in Washington state in 2006.

McKay said that, at the time, he felt he was not being treated fairly, and requested a meeting with then-White House Counsel Harriet Miers to discuss the issue, as well as his application for US district judge in his home state.

"I asked for a meeting with Harriet Miers, whom I had known since work I had been involved in with the American Bar Association, and she immediately agreed to see me in August of 2006," McKay said. He added that when he met with Miers and her deputy William Kelley at the White House, the first thing they asked him was, "Why would Republicans in the state of Washington be angry with you?"

That was "a clear reference to the 2004 governor's election," McKay said in characterizing Miers and her deputy's comments. "Some believed I should convene a federal grand jury and bring innocent people before the grand jury."

"All of my actions as United States attorney had been coordinated with the Department of Justice," McKay told me. He said he explained that to Miers and Kelley, and informed them that there was no evidence of voter fraud to support launching a federal inquiry into the election.

McKay said he believes the meeting he had with Miers and Kelley directly led to his name being placed on a list of US attorneys selected for dismissal in December 2006.

ACORN Offices Raided

Bob Walsh, the spokesman for Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller, a Democrat, said ACORN is accused of submitting multiple voter registrations with false and duplicate names, accusations similar to ones leveled in New Mexico that turned out to be baseless.

The raid comes two months after state and federal authorities formed a task force to pursue election-fraud allegations in Nevada, a crucial swing state in November’s presidential election.
Walsh said there have been ongoing complaints that ACORN has submitted voter registration forms rife with erroneous information. But it's unknown how many of bogus forms were submitted.
Friedman, the investigative reporter and an expert on election integrity issues, said Tuesday's raid of ACORN's Nevada offices was orchestrated by the GOP to scare people away from the polls.

"With prospects looking bleak for the Republicans this November, pulling out the old ACORN lie --- in hopes of scaring people away from the polls, causing chaos in November by challenging voters when they show up to vote, and putting in place baseless grounds to contest close results later on (when the GOP become "sore losers") --- is just about all they have left at this point," Friedman wrote on his blog.

"Doubtless you've heard the smears by now: that ACORN is committing "voter fraud", on behalf of Obama, in hotly contested swing states," Friedman wrote. "The media has been all too happy to pass that garbage on, without bothering to note that, in fact, the organization attempts to authenticate every registration form their workers submit and by law they must turn in every form to election officials --- even if they find a registration to be fraudulent when they call the phone number submitted on the form, or if the forms are otherwise suspect or incomplete."

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Jason Leopold is editor of the online investigative news magazine The Public Record, http://www.pubrecord.org, and the author of the National Bestseller, "News Junkie," a memoir. Visit www.newsjunkiebook.com for a preview. He is also a two-time (more...)

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