Obama says voting rights official should be sacked for racially insensitive comments
Minorities don't become elderly like whites because they 'die first,' DoJ official says
Sen. Barack Obama on Friday called for the Justice Department to fire the chief of its voting rights section after making what the senator called "patently erroneous, offensive and dangerous" comments about the impact of voter identification laws on minorities.
Obama, who is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, wrote a letter to acting Attorney General Peter D. Keisler asking that he sack John Tanner, who said at an appearance earlier this month that elderly voters are more adversely affected by identification requirements than minorities. Video excerpts of Tanner's comments to the National Latino Congreso in Los Angeles on October 5 were posted at The Brad Blog a few days later.
"Our society is such that minorities don't become elderly the way white people do; they die first," said Tanner, whose job within the Justice Department's Civil Rights division has him as the top official in charge of preventing disenfranchisement of voters. "There are inequities in health care. There are a variety of inequities in this country. And so anything that disproportionately impacts the elderly has the opposite impact on minorities; just the math is such as that."
Obama severely criticized Tanner and said his comments demonstrate how far Justice's Civil Rights Division has fallen during the Bush years.
"Such comments are patently erroneous, offensive, and dangerous, and they are especially troubling coming from the federal official charged with protecting voting rights in this country," Obama wrote. "For Mr. Tanner to now suggest, in an effort to defend his erroneous decision, that photo identification are not necessary for minority voters because 'they die first' shows just how far the Justice Department has fallen. This is a disgrace and yet another reason why the next Attorney General must demonstrate a strong commitment to civil rights."
The Illinois senator also criticized Tanner's "questionable judgment" in endorsing a photo ID requirement in Georgia that career civil rights lawyers in the Justice Department believed would disenfranchise minority voters. (That law was later thrown out in court.)
Obama's letter to Keisler is unlikely to have much effect because Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey is expected to be confirmed soon and be installed at the top of the Justice Department for the remainder of President Bush's term. The Illinois Senator wrote to Mukasey last week to stress that the nominee rebuild the Civil Rights division.
Tanner also faced fire this month from House Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers after the voting rights official appeared to blame black voters for long lines at polls in Ohio on Election Day 2004.
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The Full text of Obama's letter is below:
The Honorable Peter D. Keisler
Acting Attorney General
Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Dear Mr. Keisler:
On October 5, 2007, at the National Latino Congreso in Los Angeles, John Tanner, the chief of the voting rights section of the Civil Rights Division, spoke on a panel regarding minority voters. During the course of that discussion, which focused on recent state laws requiring photo identification for voting, Mr. Tanner said that such photo ID requirements disadvantage the elderly "[a]nd that's a shame." He explained: "You know, creating problems for elderly persons just is not good under any circumstance."
However, according to Mr. Tanner, such requirements do not disenfranchise minorities, and in fact, they actually benefit minorities. He said: "Our society is such that minorities don't become elderly the way white people do; they die first. There are inequities in health care. There are a variety of inequities in this country. And so anything that disproportionately impacts the elderly has the opposite impact on minorities; just the math is such as that."
Such comments are patently erroneous, offensive, and dangerous, and they are especially troubling coming from the federal official charged with protecting voting rights in this country. Mr. Tanner has already demonstrated questionable judgment in overruling the decision of Justice Department lawyers that the Georgia photo ID requirement would disproportionately discriminate against African Americans. For Mr. Tanner to now suggest, in an effort to defend his erroneous decision, that photo identification are not necessary for minority voters because "they die first" shows just how far the Justice Department has fallen. This is a disgrace and yet another reason why the next Attorney General must demonstrate a strong commitment to civil rights.
But, until the next Attorney General is confirmed, you are in charge of the Department, and you are in charge of ensuring that our laws are enforced and that the civil rights of all Americans are protected. Through his inexcusable comments, Mr. Tanner has clearly demonstrated that he possesses neither the character nor the judgment to be heading the Voting Rights Section. For that reason, I respectfully request that you remove him from his position.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
United States Senator
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