Hebert Finds Troubling Von Spakovsky Emails in EAC Released Documents

Gerry's been going through the EAC document dump, and found some troubling things related to FEC commissioner Hans von Spakovksy. Here's an excerpt from Gerry's post:

I will continue to review the EAC documents to see if they shed any light on whether any present or former DOJ official (including von Spakovsky) put pressure on the EAC to change the Wang-Serebrov report. In the meantime, though, it appears that von Spakovsky continued to inject himself into the EAC voter fraud controversy even after he had left DOJ and was serving as a recess appointment at the FEC. For example, once the scandal broke this past Spring regarding the altered EAC report on voter fraud, von Spakovsky sent an e-mail on April 10, 2007, (page 025525) to economist/author John Lott:

"Have you seen the controversy over the release of a study done under contract for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission on voter id and voter turnout...

"Basically, the EAC awarded the contract to individuals who had lots of prior writings indicating their opposition to any voter id requirements. When they did the study, it apparently didn't come out showing the way they wanted it to show, so they recast the numbers to come to the conclusion they wanted..."

I would be interested in Tova Wang and Job Serebro'’s response to this characterization of their work and the process they followed in reaching their conclusions. But there's more. Von Spakovsky concludes the e-mail by urging Mr. Lott to do some analysis of his own, points out his own perceived methodological flaws in the Wang-Serebrov study and then says: "This study is now being trumpeted as proof that voter ID hurts turnout, and if it is a flawed study, someone with your kind of reputation needs to point that out. If you are interested in doing this, Caroline Hunter, one of the new commissioners at the EAC, would be happy to provide you with whatever information you might need." (page 025526). It will be interesting to see if the new EAC Commissioner Caroline Hunter, whose assistance von Spakovsky offered up to Mr. Lott, has had any telephone conversations or email exchanges with von Spakovsky about a campaign to trash the Wang-Serebrov report. It seems unlikely that von Spakovsky would volunteer her assistance without having communicated with her first?

Posted by Rick Hasen at July 4, 2007 07:43 AM