Senator Klobuchar: "It's Time for Answers" on Justice Department Firings
Press Release
Senator Klobuchar: "It's Time for Answers" on Justice Department Firings
Upon learning reports in the May 31 L.A. Times that former Minnesota U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger may have been on the Justice Department's list for termination due to his work on behalf of Native American voting rights, Klobuchar sent a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee asking that Committee to examine the facts surrounding the Department's efforts to identify and terminate Tom Heffelfinger. Klobuchar has asked the Committee to closely question Bradley Schlozman, a former political appointee in the Voting Rights section of the Justice Department, when he testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 5.
"As we see this story unfolding, it is looking more and more like Tom Heffelfinger was deliberately targeted for removal due to his efforts to protect the voting rights of Native Americans."
"I am outraged to learn that Tom's honest and impartial work to ensure that Native Americans retain our nation's most basic right - the right to vote - could have landed him on a list for removal by the Justice Department. It's time to have some answers as to why a man who was doing his job was targeted to be fired," said Sen. Klobuchar.
The L.A. Times reported that in 2004, then U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger's office contacted the Justice Department to express concern over potential discrimination against Native American voters in Minnesota, and Joseph D. Rich - former head of the Voting Rights section of the Justice Department - recommended that the Justice Department open an investigation into the matter. However, two political appointees in the Justice Department effectively blocked the investigation.
Klobuchar's letter specifically asks that the Committee question Mr. Schlozman about, " (i) his efforts to effectively quash the investigation into possible voter discrimination against Native Americans; and (ii) what role, if any, Tom Heffelfinger's efforts to protect the voting rights of Minnesota's Native American communities placed him on the Department's now infamous list for termination."
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