Clinton Was Sued for Intimidating Black Voters in Arkansas

In 1989 then-Gov. Bill Clinton was sued as one of three top Arkansas officials responsible for the intimidation of black voters in his state as part of a legal action brought under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, NewsMax.com has learned.

And a year earlier the U.S. Supreme court ruled that Clinton had wrongfully tried to overturn the election of a black state representative in favor of a white Democrat.

In the 1989 case, "the evidence at the trial was indeed overwhelming that the Voting Rights Act had been violated," reported the Arkansas Gazette on Dec. 6, 1989. (The paper later became the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.)

"Plaintiffs offered plenty of proof of monolithic voting along racial lines, intimidation of black voters and candidates, other official acts that made voting harder for blacks," the Gazette said.

A federal three judge federal panel ordered Clinton, then Arkansas Attorney General Steve Clark and then-Secretary of State William J. Mc Cuen to draw new boundaries to give maximum strength to black voters.

"Until last year," the Gazette complained at the time, "in more than a thousand legislative elections, the (Arkansas) delta region sent not one black to the legislature. Last year, the federal district court split a multimember district in Crittenden County that had submerged the large number of black voters in the county."

In a related 1988 case, Clinton had tried to replace duly elected African-American state representative with a white candidate, only to be stopped by the U.S. Supreme Court.

"The court, by an 8-0 vote, ruled against an appeal by Gov. Bill Clinton and other Arkansas officials that had challenged the election of Ben McGee as a state legislator," the Associated Press reported on Dec. 12, 1988. McGee is an African-American.

"The case began when blacks in Crittenden County filed a voting rights lawsuit attacking the county's at-large system for electing two House members. The suit contended that the system deprived black voters of a chance to elect a black to the House.

A special three-judge federal court had agreed earlier in the year that the system violated the federal Voting Rights Act.

The three-judge court threw out the results of a March 8 primary election in which the black candidate McGee, was defeated by James Stockley, the white candidate handpicked by Gov. Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

"That was tantamount to election on Nov. 8, since no Republican ran for the seat," the AP said.

Clinton and the other state officials had argued that the federal court improperly threw out the results of the first primary and ordered a new election.

The Supreme Court ruling came as the then-governor was fighting another court battle to preserve racial profiling in his state, a tool that Clinton later criticized while president as a "morally indefensible, deeply corrosive practice."

But a decade earlier he approved the profiling of Hispanics by Arkansas State Police as part of a drug interdiction program in 1988, the Washington Times revealed in 1999.

"The Arkansas plan gave state troopers the authority to stop and search vehicles based on a drug-courier profile of Hispanics, particularly those driving cars with Texas license plates," the Times said.

"A federal judge later ruled the program unconstitutional, the paper reported. "A lawsuit and a federal consent decree ended the practice - known as the 'criminal apprehension program' the next year."

Then Gov. Clinton, however, not only criticized the profiling ban, "at one point, (he) threatened to reinstate the program despite the court's ruling," the Times said.

"The state's position was to give away a . . . program that we're now trying to get back," Clinton announced at the time, saying the race-based stop and search program was more important than even airport security measures.

Three years later in 1991, Clinton actually did implement a modified version of the profiling program that prohibited the use of ethnic screening but allowed troopers to continue to stop cars on the highway at their discretion.

Hearing Clinton's condemnation of racial profiling in 1999, Roberto Garcia de Posada, executive director of the Hispanic Business Roundtable, complained that the then-president "had been a strong supporter of racial profiling against Hispanics in the past."

"He does not have the moral authority to lead a national campaign on this issue. If President Clinton truly meant what he said . . . he should apologize to all those Hispanics who suffered this 'morally indefensible' practice, which he publicly supported," de Posada said.

On Thursday and Friday both ex-President Clinton and his wife, Democratic Party presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton, criticized Republicans for trying to suppress the black vote in states like Arkansas and Florida. But reporters declined to ask either Clinton about the well documented record of black voter disenfranchisement in Arkansas while they ran the state.

This evening I tried to reason with a Clinton lover, but was unable to make any headway. This individual never hesitates to slander a Republican. I would appreciate any assistance you might be able to offer is forming a rational response. The letter I received is below:

I have a file copy of a letter that I wrote some time back, praising and defending Bill Clinton, and I do not hesitate to send it, in reply to anyone who criticizes Clinton, especially when they do it to irritate me! Usually, they never again Criticize Clinton to me!

During the administration of William Jefferson Clinton, the U.S. enjoyed more peace and economic well being than at any time in its history. He was the first Democratic president since Franklin D. Roosevelt to win a second term. He could point to the lowest unemployment rate in modern times, the lowest inflation in 30 years, the highest home ownership in the country's history, dropping crime rates in most places, and vastly reduced welfare roles. He proposed the first balanced budget in decades, and actually achieved a budget surplus. As part of a plan to celebrate the millennium in 2000, Clinton called for a great national initiative to end racial discrimination. After the Republican Congress defeated his proposal for a huge program of health care reform, Clinton shifted emphasis, declaring "the era of big government is over." He sought legislation to upgrade education, to protect jobs of parents who must care for sick children, to restrict handgun sales, and to strengthen environmental rules. In 1998, as a result of issues surrounding personal indiscretions with a young woman White House intern, Clinton was the second U.S. president to be impeached by the House of Representatives. But he was tried in the Senate and found not guilty of the charges brought against him. He apologized to the nation for his actions and he continues to this day, to have unprecedented popular approval ratings for his job as president. In the world, he successfully dispatched peace keeping forces to war-torn Bosnia; He bombed Iraq, when Saddam Hussein stopped United Nations inspections for evidence of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. He became a global proponent for an expanded NATO, more open international trade, and a worldwide campaign against drug trafficking. He drew huge crowds when he traveled through South America, Europe, Russia, Africa, and China, advocating U.S. style freedom. Under Clinton's leadership, the United States was able to reduce military spending, since we did not need a large military. We had so few enemies, because we had allies instead of enemies.. Israel and the Palestinians were talking peace, and hostilities were limited.. Peace was achieved through diplomacy instead of threats and a huge arms buildup. Clinton's flights abroad kept the United States at the forefront as a peacemaker and as an effective negotiator.
Under this present administration, our "excess tax money " has recently been "returned" to our nation's wealthiest citizens. Our present unsound fiscal policy should be a wonderful gift to our grandchildren. Our hopes for eliminating the national debt were dashed with the election of Bush, who at once set out to cut taxes for the wealthy, and increase military spending to an unbelievable record level. It seems that the old method of diplomacy to achieve peace, has now been replaced with a philosophy of superior military power, as a means for enforcing this nation's policy as defined by the president. This aggressive policy has alienated many of our allies, who now consider the USA as a country that threatens world peace, under the guise of fighting terrorism. Not only have our foreign relationships suffered serious decline under Bush, but our National economy continues to deteriorate, as unemployment, bankruptcies, foreclosures, and Corporate Insecurity are constantly a major national problem. World peace is now in jeopardy, as threatened by the global goals of George W. Bush.

You should point out to your poor misled friend that any real good that was accomplished under Clintoon's "reign" was largely the result of having a Republican congress.

As recent events would now confirm it would appear that a good share of the so-called unprecedented economic performance was due to widespread financial reporting fraud that occurred under Clintoon's watch, and was discovered under W's. As a former federal employee I can attest to the fact that virtually every government agency fudges their books and reports, and as most government employees vote for the RATS, it does not stretch credulity to believe they would fudge certain vital statistical data to enhance their boss's agenda.

BTW, in a 1991 graduate finance class I predicted the future economic performance would be driven by political manipulation, not actual performance. How did I know that? Not by my superior knowledge of finance, economics, or accounting, but by my knowledge of democrats and government employees.

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