Even after an above-the-fold, front-page story in the Washington Post, the establishment media seems determined to sit back and wait rather than do any "enterprise reporting" on the New Black Panther Party voter-intimidation case and, more importantly, on the much bigger and broader policy and ethics questions swirling around it. This is a serious dereliction of journalistic responsibility. For those reporters who actually want to do their jobs, and for all of you readers who rightly continue to insist that this is an important topic, herewith is a guided tour to the Panther scandal and its broader implications.
Mr. Perez, the now-head of the Civil Rights Division (confirmed long after the Panther case was dropped), could be in real trouble. As Brit Hume noted in an on-air commentary at Fox News, the question of potential perjury should now be raised. Mr. Perez told the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, under oath, that he was unaware of any serious allegations of such a policy of race-biased enforcement of civil rights laws, and that he would not put up with any employee who embraced or pursued such a policy. But now Mr. Coates and Mr. Adams have said they specifically informed Mr. Perez of their credible allegations to that effect before Mr. Perez's testimony. And now there are reports that Mr. Coates wrote a memo in April -- a month before Mr. Perez' testimony - outlining these complaints. This issue, combined with Mr. Perez' highly misleading testimony to the effect of a lack of political-appointee involvement in the decision-making, makes Mr. Perez' credibility almost nil.
Now come reports that DoJ officials tried to intimidate Mr. Coates, the night before his testimony, to keep him from testifying. This intimidation letter came after U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf sent a letter to Holder warning him that Mr. Coates had claimed whistleblower status, and that it is explicitly illegal to try to interfere with a whistleblower's testimony.
Finally, the media usually goes bonkers when administrations block the free flow of public information by making expansive claims of executive privilege and all sorts of other, lesser claims of "privilege" against the ordinary requirements that government be transparent. It is now worth noting that the Obama DoJ's privilege claims in this instance go so far beyond the usual bounds that jaws should be dropping, aghast at the sight.
