Questions for Hans von Spakovsky
Following are a series of questions suggested by voting rights and election law expert J. Gerald Hebert that go beyond von Spakovsky’s personal history and seek real information and insight about an Administration that has put partisan gain and political expedience above the law of the land.
(Read Hebert's full letter to the Rules Committee here) 

The 2003 Approval of the Texas Congressional Re-redistricting Plan

Q. When you approved the Texas map over the objections of career staff, did you prepare any written memo explaining the legal basis for your decision? Did you prepare any documents analyzing the Texas plan? If so, produce them.

Q. During the time that the Texas congressional re-redistricting plan was pending approval before the Department of Justice (i.e., October 21, 2003, through December 22, 2003), did you communicate via email or any other way with any person outside the Department of Justice regarding the re-redistricting plan? If so, produce all such emails or other records regarding such communications.

Q. During the time that the Texas Legislature was in session in 2003, did you ever communicate with any member of Congress, any congressional staff person, or any person working in the White House about the ongoing Texas congressional redistricting battle? If so, who did you communicate with and describe the details of those contacts and the form they took (phone, email, etc.). Produce all emails or other records regarding each such communication.

Q. When Texas state legislators, in order to block a controversial mid-decade congressional redistricting, fled first to Oklahoma and later to New Mexico in 2003 to deny Republicans a quorum in the Texas Legislature, did you discuss that situation with any staff person or official in the White House, on Capitol Hill, in the Texas Legislature, or in the State of Texas? If so, list all persons and describe in detail what you talked about.

Q. Once the Department of Justice made the decision to approve the Texas plan in December 2003, did you or Brad Schlozman communicate that decision by phone or email to any person in Texas or the White House or Capitol Hill? If so, who did you contact and describe what was said.

The DOJ Approval of the Georgia Voter ID Bill

Q. In 2005, did you communicate with any Georgia (GA) legislator or legislative staff member, or anyone working with members of the GA Legislature, while that voter ID bill was being considered or being discussed? If so, name all persons contacted and describe the details of those contacts.

Q. When the GA bill was submitted to the DOJ for approval (June 13, 2005), did you communicate with any person in Georgia about the bill? If so, who did you communicate with and what was discussed.

Q. Produce copies of all emails sent to persons outside DOJ while the GA voter ID bill was pending for preclearance before DOJ (June 13, 2005 to August 30, 2005).

(Source: J. Gerald Hebert, former federal prosecutor of civil rights cases in the United States Department of Justice for more than 20 years (from 1973 to 1994), and voting rights and election lawyer who served as legal counsel to Democratic Members of Congress in Texas.)

Additional Questions Suggested by the Lone Star Project

Conflicts of Interest

Q: What was your role in the 2000 Bush-Gore recount? Who asked you to go to Florida? Did you meet Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz? What is your relationship with Ted Cruz? Did you communicate with Ted Cruz about Texas redistricting?

Background: Ted Cruz recruited lawyers for the Bush-Gore legal battle including now Chief Justice John Roberts. (Source: The New York Times, July 28, 2005) Hans von Spakovsky participated “to observe the hand counts in Palm Beach County on behalf of the Bush campaign.” (Source: Hartford Courant, November 30, 2000)

Q: Do you know Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott? Describe your relationship with Greg Abbott? Did you communicate with Attorney General Abbott about Texas redistricting?

Background: Greg Abbott and Hans von Spakovsky were part of the same law school class at Vanderbilt in 1984. (Vanderbilt Law School Website) 

Spakovsky Background File

Cut his Teeth – Serving the GOP and Plotting Vote Suppression
Von Spakovsky’s earliest professional work included holding official Republican Party positions and writing proposals to limit minority access to the ballot under the guise of "ballot security" or "voter integrity".

• GOP Party Chair
  Von Spakovsky served as Republican Party chairman in Fulton County, Georgia (Source: The Washington Post, December 17, 2005)
• Vote Suppression Guides
  Von Spakovsky has worked for groups like the Georgia Public Policy Foundation and the so called Voting Integrity Project writing papers under the guise of decreasing voter fraud. Von Spakovsky has pushed for:
  • requiring voter id’s at polling locations
  • requiring the verification of SS numbers of voters
  • eliminating "no fault" absentee voting
  • eliminating "motor voter" registration
  • requiring two witnesses or a notary to sign an absentee ballot
    (Source: New Yorker, September 20, 2004, von Spakovsky memo, March 29, 2001)
• Georgia Voter Law Conflicts
  Before von Spakovsky “played a central role in approving a controversial Georgia voter identification program over the objections of staff lawyers” he penned an anonymous paper in support of requiring photo identification at the polls. Von Spakovsky attempted to hide his clear views from the public, before making the ruling that has since been blocked by a Georgia Court. (Source: Washington Post, Thursday, April 13, 2006)

Earned his Stripes – Purging Florida Voter Roles
Von Spakovsky’s zeal for vote suppression was noted by the Bush 2000 Presidential Campaign, and he was recruited and played a key role in the infamous Florida voter role “purging” that was key to Bush ultimately becoming President.

• Authored Plan to Purge Voters
  "In 1997, von Spakovsky wrote an article for the Georgia Public Policy Foundation, a conservative research group, that called for an aggressive campaign to 'purge' the election rolls of felons. Within months of that article’s publication, the V.I.P.[ Voting Integrity Project, a group von Spakovsky belonged to] helped put von Spakovsky’s idea into action... a process that led, notoriously, to the mistaken disenfranchisement of thousands of voters, most of them Democratic, before the 2000 election." (Source: New Yorker, September 20, 2004)
• Worked directly for Bush Campaign during Florida recount
  There are numerous accounts of von Spakovsky, "serving as an observer of the hand counts on behalf of the Bush campaign." It is unclear exactly what he did. However, it is widely known that within a year of his service in Florida, von Spakovsky was placed in a job at the Justice Department by then U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft. (Source: Hartford Courant, November 22, 2000; Atlanta Journal and Constitution, November 30, 2001)

Made His Mark – Eliminating Texas Minority Districts
Von Spakovsky was rewarded for his partisanship and vote suppression expertise by being rewarded with a job with the Bush Administration in, of all places, the Civil Rights Division.

• Fox in the henhouse: Von Spakovsky was given a political appointment to a job in the U.S. Department of Justice that historically had been earned by career employees through merit and expertise. No explanation has been given as to why the position was converted to a “political appointee” slot. Von Spakovsky aggressively used his post at the DOJ to weaken minority voting strength.
• Overruling Voting Rights Experts on DeLay/Texas Redistricting Plan: Von Spakovsky supervised the Department of Justice’s review of Tom DeLay’s outrageous mid-decade Texas redistricting plan. The DeLay plan eliminated two minority opportunity districts and badly reduced African American and Hispanic Voting strength across the entire state. Von Spakovsky and other political appointees overruled the unanimous recommendation of career voting rights experts that the plan be rejected. Further, von Spakovsky helped enforce a gag order on DOJ employees forbidding them from discussing the Texas plan with each other or releasing the staff memo opposing the DeLay plan. To date, von Spakovsky has failed to provide any written support or justification for the DeLay plan.
• Uses pseudonym to disguise early support for Georgia photo ID plan BEFORE Dept. of Justice review and approval: Von Spakovsky authored a controversial essay justifying the requirement of a picture ID to vote using the pseudonym "Publius." He then improperly participated in the review of a Georgia photo ID plan recommending approval.