3 different segments that can be found here
This is what NPR says about them:
'In Justice': David Iglesias On U.S. Attorney Firings
An internal Justice Department investigation has concluded that the controversial U.S. attorney firings of 2006 were of a partisan political nature. One of the seven fired attorneys, Iglesias discusses his book, In Justice, an insider's account of the affair. (about 30 mins)
Voter Intimidation Efforts In Philadelphia (about 5 mins)
Last week, fliers went up in predominantly African-American neighborhoods of Philadelphia warning that people with outstanding warrants or unpaid parking tickets could be arrested if they show up at the polls. Zach Stalberg of the Committee of Seventy discusses this effort to discourage voters.
Voting Access In 10 Key States (about 15 mins)
A new report issued by the nonpartisan advocacy group Common Cause gauges the voting infrastructure in 10 swing states. Tova Wang, the primary author of the report, discusses the findings.
There's a lot of interesting stuff here like Iglesias thinks Rove got a little ahead of himself when he thought he could tell the Justice Dept what to do, like Rove didn't know that the JD guarded its independence. And he is glad it all came to a head when it did b/c 2 years earlier no one would've noticed and nothing would've come of it because of the Republican majorities in congress.
He heard lots of worries about voter fraud from New Mexicans,turned down help from the FBI b/c he didn't want it percieved as partisan, and he didn't find anything that he prove beyond a reasonable doubt after 2 years. When asked what he thought the political motivation was (from Rove in an email he recieved when he took his position in 2002-they're odd by the way, emails from the WH telling them what they should look for), he knew that bringing up voter fraud prosecutions before an election was intimidation and "it crosses over from a legitimate law enforcement reason into an improper political reason.... the Justice Dept's awesome powers was being used in an improper partisan way."
Ok, nothing new here and call me odd, but I like to hear it when a Republican US attorney calls out his party for undue influence.
The local Republican Party was who really put the pressure on him to investigate the nonexistent voter fraud. He talks about razor thin margins of victory and how a voter fraud investigation turns voters away.
"Todd Graves was the first [US attorney to get fired], he was the Beta. He was the test case to see if there was any media or political push back and there was none.
A quote from the book: "A US attorney with a partisan agenda could tie up otherwise settled election results with all manner of investigation, indictments, prosecution no matter what the merits of the case. In short US Attorneys wielded the power to wreak havoc on the electoral process."
"The US attorneys were expected to fulfill Rove's goal of a permanent Republican majority...What he refused to understand was that the Justice Dept had a long history of staying above partisan matters." THis is a great section. I'm sorry but I just cannot type the whole thing. It takes hours.
Terry asks him about a strategy to have Dems knocked off the voter rolls and then have Republican judges who would rule on related cases in a way that would be favourable to the Repug party. Iglesias says it concievable but they never got any specific direction from Rove but is expecting to see emails from Rove and Gonzales about what they wanted to see done. Yeah, right. Like those still exist. He thinks it does.
Voter Intimdation:
Fliers warning that people with outstanding warrants or unpaid parking tickets could be arrested if they show up at the polls on election day appeared recently in predominantly African-American neighborhoods of Philadelphia. Zach Stalberg, the president of the nonpartisan watchdog group Committee of Seventy, suggests that a Republican Party supporter may have posted the fliers in an effort discourage voters.
A native Philadelphian, Stalberg was the editor of the Philadelphia Daily News for 20 years. In 2005, he became president of the Committee of Seventy, a group founded in 1904 with a mission to improve the Philadelphia region by fighting corruption and demanding ethical conduct of public officials.
Voter Access:
A new report issued by the nonpartisan advocacy group Common Cause gauges the voting infrastructure in 10 swing states. The results? While Florida, Georgia and Virginia score poorly on voting administration, Ohio, a state plagued by hours-long voting lines in 2004, has shown marked improvement. Wisconsin also scores well.
Tova Wang, the primary author of the report and vice president of Common Cause discusses "Voting in 2008: 10 Swing States".