WASHINGTON, May 31 (UPI) -- Government documents and other evidence suggest a U.S. attorney in Minnesota was targeted for firing because he defended voting rights of American Indians.
Tom Heffelfinger, a Republican who began serving as U.S. attorney for Minnesota in 1991, resigned last year for personal reasons, but his name turned up on a U.S. Justice Department list of U.S. attorneys targeted for firing, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
Heffelfinger's office had expressed concern about a state directive disallowing tribal ID cards as a form of voter identification for American Indians living off reservations. Heffelfinger expressed fears that the ruling by Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer, a Republican, could result in discrimination against Indian voters, many of whom had no identification other than the tribal IDs.
"I have come to the conclusion that his expressed concern for Indian voting rights is at least part of the reason that Tom Heffelfinger was placed on the list to be fired," said Joseph Rich, former head of the voting section of the Justice Department's civil rights division.
