‘Desperate’ Holder distorted RNLA study to fit anti-voter ID agenda
April 15, 2012
GOP lawyers’ group chief: ‘Desperate’ Holder distorted our study to fit anti-voter ID agenda
Published: 11:22 PM 04/12/2012
Republican National Lawyers Association (RNLA) Chairman David Norcross told The Daily Caller that a “desperate” Attorney General Eric Holder distorted a study his group conducted about voter fraud to fit President Barack Obama’s anti-voter identification agenda.
During a speech at the National Action Network conference —hosted by MSNBC host and liberal activist Rev. Al Sharpton’s — on Wednesday, Holder cited an RNLA study to back up his statement that in-person voter fraud instances are “rare.”
“We might begin by acknowledging the fact that instances of in-person voter fraud are extremely rare, a point that groups from different political affiliations have acknowledged, and numerous studies — by organizations from the Brennan Center to the Republican National Lawyers Association — have affirmed,” Holder said.
But, Norcross — the head of the Republican group Holder said published research that supports his position — said that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“They [the Obama administration] have started this blatantly ridiculous argument that there’s no such thing as voter fraud,” Norcross told TheDC. “Well, everybody in their right mind knows there’s voter fraud. In fact, a majority of Democrats actually favor photo I.D.”
“What we did with this survey is we went to see how many states where there had been instances of voter fraud,” Norcross said of the specific study Holder was citing. “I think the number was 46. We did not, however, identify there were convictions in every state, so he [Holder] immediately somehow jumps to ‘there was no fraud’ because we weren’t citing convictions in that study. That was a very quick study to see where there were reported incidents of voter fraud.” (RELATED: Full coverage of Eric Holder)
Norcross added that he thinks Holder is “just like his boss [Obama]” in that “he will say anything it takes to fit his argument at the time, whether it’s true or not.” Norcross said that Holder distorted his group’s study because he “needed to justify” the Obama administration’s stance that voter fraud isn’t real. “He obviously can’t find any studies that back his position so he takes ours and misquotes it,” Norcross said.
Norcross thinks Holder owes the RNLA an apology too, and should come out and explain the real findings of the group’s study. “But I don’t think that I’m going to get it [an apology],” Norcross told TheDC. “Frankly, apologizing to me for this is minor compared to allowing the New Black Panther case in Philadelphia with the batons threatening voters — they never did anything about that. He’s stonewalled Fast and Furious.”
“I’m not expecting an apology,” Norcross continued. “I’m just expecting we’re going to replace him within the year.”
Though Holder didn’t mention the latest videos James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas published this week during his speech, Norcross said he thinks that they are the reason Holder “reached into his bag of tricks” and pulled out a distorted RNLA study mention.
The new video shows a young white activist being offered Holder’s primary ballot at a Washington, D.C. voting precinct.
Holder is 61 years old and an African-American — he bears no resemblance to the young white man who was able to obtain his ballot.
The Talking Points Memo website cited an unnamed Department of Justice official as saying the Holder ballot sting video was “manufactured.” DOJ spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler has not returned requests for comment on the matter.
Schmaler did not return TheDC’s requests for comment on Holder’s alleged distortion of the RNLA’s study, nor did she answer if Holder plans to apologize to Norcross and the RNLA for doing so.
