Republican National Lawyers Association fundraises off of New Black Panthers story “heard on Fox News”

In a July 17 email, the Republican National Lawyers Association fundraises off of the phony New Black Panthers scandal hyped on Fox News.

The conservative group writes that "[y]ou may have heard on Fox News and elsewhere about former DOJ career attorney J. Christian Adams, who quit the DOJ and blew the whistle on the cover-up of the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation cover-up. ... the politicized Obama DOJ thought otherwise and decided not to press charges. That's when Adams quit and went public with this outrageous decision not to enforce the law." RNLA later asks for money to help “fight these gross abuses of the Obama administration.”

As Media Matters has documented, Adams is a longtime right-wing activist who has admitted that he does not have firsthand knowledge of the events, conversations, and decisions that he is citing to advance his accusations. Additionally, the Bush administration's Justice Department -- not the Obama administration -- made the decision not to pursue criminal charges against members of the New Black Panther Party for alleged voter intimidation at a polling center in Philadelphia in 2008. The Obama administration successfully obtained default judgment against King Samir Shabazz, a member of the New Black Panther Party who was carrying a nightstick outside the Philadelphia polling center.

The July 17 RNLA email, sent through Newsmax.com's mailing list:

Dear Newsmax Reader:

The Obama Department of Justice (DOJ) is out of control and is openly flouting election laws to help Democrats win elections.

You may have heard on Fox News and elsewhere about former DOJ career attorney J. Christian Adams, who quit the DOJ and blew the whistle on the cover-up of the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation cover-up.

By now, you have probably seen the videotape of the voter intimidation in Philadelphia at the polls in 2008. A uniformed New Black Panther “Security Officer” in paramilitary garb at a polling place waves his night stick at a white poll observer and later says: “You are about to be ruled by the black man, cracker.”

Bartle Bull, a former civil rights lawyer and supporter of Robert F. Kennedy, declared this was “the most blatant form of voter intimidation I've ever seen.”

But the politicized Obama DOJ thought otherwise and decided not to press charges. That's when Adams quit and went public with this outrageous decision not to enforce the law.

As John Fund, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, who gave credited RNLA as “a primary organization exposing ACORN's crimes,” wrote:

In the first week of January, the Justice Department filed a civil lawsuit against the New Black Panther Party and three of its members, saying they violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act by scaring voters with the weapon, uniforms and racial slurs. When none of the defendants filed any response to the complaint or appeared in federal district court in Philadelphia to answer the suit, it appeared almost certain Justice would have prevailed by default. Instead, the department in May suddenly allowed the party and two of the three defendants to walk away. Against the third defendant, Minister King Samir Shabazz, it sought only an injunction barring him from displaying a weapon within 100 feet of a Philadelphia polling place for the next three years action that's already illegal under existing law.

The bipartisan U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has also been investigating the DOJ and has stated:

The DOJ's replies [to Commission inquiries] thus far raise new and serious questions about its civil rights enforcement decisions, which we believe we are obligated to investigate. [...]

[The Commission] noted the peculiar logic of the Department's court filing that the defendants' failure to respond was the reason for its dismissal of the case against three defendants: Such an argument sends a perverse message to wrongdoers that attempts at voter suppression will be tolerated so long as the persons who engage in them are careful not to appear in court to answer the government's complaint.

Another important role for the DOJ is that they make sure voter registration lists are up to date and accurate as required by a law passed by Democrats and Republicans. It is the job of the DOJ to enforce this law.

Yet, regarding voter list integrity, the Voting Rights Section of DOJ led by Obama appointee, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Julie Fernandes, informed DOJ lawyers:

We have no interest in enforcing this provision of the law. It has nothing to do with increasing turnout, and we are just not going to do it.

No Justice Department, be it Clinton or Bush, has ever announced that it would be so overtly political and/or refuse to enforce a part of the law.

Democrats and Republicans alike know that without an accurate voting list, it is difficult to have an open fair and honest election. Senator and former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee Chris Dodd (D-CT) was co-author of the legislation that required these lists to be maintained and updated.

Currently the lists are full of those who have died or moved. This allows the dead to vote and the living to double vote. An example of the latter is in 2000, when studies showed that thousands of New York City residents also voted in Florida which almost resulted in Al Gore winning the 2000 Presidential Election.

The Obama Justice Department, through political appointees such as Fernandes, will stop at nothing to illegally tip the balance for Democrats this fall in the 2010 election.

The Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) trains and identifies lawyers nationwide on how to ensure elections are open, fair and honest.

RNLA's goal is to, in the words of Missouri Senator Kit Bond, “make it easier to vote and harder to cheat.” Help the RNLA achieve this goal by donating here now.

We urgently need your help to fight these gross abuses of the Obama administration - please Go Here Now

Without DOJ to stop voter intimidation or even to follow the law on voter lists, it is now more important than ever for the RNLA to train lawyers nationwide to do our part to ensure that elections are open, fair and honest.

However, we need your help to make this happen. Please donate to us - Go Here Now.

The Obama DOJ is refusing to do its job. It is becoming the political arm of the Democrat Party.

By refusing to enforce laws passed with bipartisan support that were designed to prevent vote fraud and by ignoring and some many say condoning selective voter intimidation, it is undermining the integrity of our electoral system.

Help RNLA fight to keep elections open fair and honest Go Here Now.

We now know DOJ won't do its job this fall, so please help. RNLA will train volunteer lawyers to do their part to ensure that it is easier to vote and harder to cheat.

Sincerely,


Michael Thielen
Executive Director
RNLA

PS. It is frightening that the Obama DOJ is spending its timing suing the state of Arizona over immigration but will not enforce laws designed to protect the most fundamental aspects of our democracy, the right to cast a vote free of intimidation and have that vote counted. DOJ is not only playing politics with the law, they are refusing to enforce the law to benefit the Democrat Party. Please help RNLA ensure that elections are open, fair and honest by supporting our efforts to train lawyers nationwide - Go Here Now.