TV Actor Fred Thompson, soon to be the the newest entrant (he'll officially announce around July 4th) into the Republican Presidential peanut gallery has apparently decided to the ways of Karl Rove and add caging to his stable of dirty election tactics. Rumor has it (as reported by the Wall Street Journal and picked up by TPM Muckraker) that Tim "Caging" Griffin may be joining the Thompson campaign. The allegations about Mr. Griffin's involvement in "caging" activities for the Bush/Cheney campaign come directly from Monica Goodling's Judiciary committee testimony.
Additionally, she alleged, McNulty did not disclose the extent of his knowledge about allegations that Griffin had been involved in "caging" African-American votes during the 2004 elections, and inaccurately described the Justice Department's assessment of a commission that reviewed candidates to become U.S. Attorney in California.
More on the flip.
Caging has become a hot topic lately, with Greg Palast promoting his book (see the dKos Palast Pie fight of 2007) and on progressive talk radio from Thom Hartmann to Randi Rhodes (the Air America radio show host, not the late guitar player for Ozzy). Pie fights & book promos aside, this is a serious issue that has been ignored by DOJ precisely because of Abu Gonzales' politicization of the Civil Rights division on the Justice Department.
The practice of caging is an insidious form of election fraud because the only purpose of the practice, which the GOP is barred from engaging in by a consent decree that is still in effect to this day, is to disenfranchise voters by having their registrations either eliminated or by providing list s to poll watchers who then challenge voters at the polls. While parties are permitted to challenge whether a person is registered to vote, challenges cannot be made if the basis is race. These caging lists, however, are generally put together with a focus on race.
So, Fred Thompson, by even considering hiring Tim Griffin, should now be forced to answer some serious questions.
Does he intend to engage in caging or any practice resembling caging? If not, then why hire Tim Griffin, who's election experience appears to include voter suppression?
If Thompson hires Griffin it will be similar to John McCain's hiring of Terry Nelson, who's name pops up in articles about the New Hampshire telephone jamming scandal.
Assuming Fred Thompson hires Griffin, it will be safe to call his ethics into question but another question sits out there too -- does each GOP candidate have their own lesser known vote suppression expert? If yes, who are they and how can we keep tabs on their activities?