Thursday's Washington Times reported that the Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine has told Representative Frank R. Wolf of Virginia that he was unable to investigate the dismissal of the voter intimidation charges against the Black Panthers because Congress had stripped him of that authority.
According to the article, Mr. Fine stated in a letter to Representative Wolf:
""Unfortunately, unlike all other OIGs which have unlimited jurisdiction to investigate all allegations of waste, fraud or abuse within their agencies, the Department of Justice OIG does not," he wrote. "For several years, I have expressed my position that Congress should change this jurisdiction.
""I have raised various arguments for this change including ... the independence issues that arise because OPR reports to the attorney general," he said."
The article further states:
"In requesting that Mr. Fine's office investigate the handling of the New Black Panther Party case, Mr. Wolf had challenged the independence of the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), which has been reviewing the dismissal for the past seven months."
Unfortunately, I suspect this incident will never be properly investigated. My only hope is that enough people will get angry enough to make sure if anything like this occurs again, those guilty of voter intimidation will be treated according to the law.
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