WASHINGTON, Sept. 25 (UPI) -- The U.S. Justice Department denied allegations from a former civil rights official that the complaints of white voters being intimidated were shrugged off.
Christopher Coates, one-time head of the department's voters' rights unit, testified Friday that the Obama administration has essentially made it official policy to ignore claims from white voters that they had been intimidated by African-Americans.
The claim stems from the decision to drop an investigation into the New Black Panther Party, an African-American group that allegedly threatened whites outside a Philadelphia polling place in 2008. The decision is now being investigated by the bipartisan Civil Rights Commission.
"This so-called investigation is thin on facts and evidence and thick on rhetoric," Tracy Schmaler, a Justice Department spokeswoman, told The Washington Post. "The department makes enforcement decisions based on the merits, not the race, gender or ethnicity of any party involved."
Coates said the attitude within Justice existing as far back as 2006; however, it intensified after Obama took office, the Christian Science Monitor said.
Conservatives take the matter seriously and contend it is an indication that the Obama administration will not stick up for white voters.
"We're not going to let this go," said Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va. "There is something rotten going on at the Justice Department."
