Like any infection, if left on it's own,
it festers everywhere.

Panel Faces Partisanship Allegations

By Zachary A. Goldfarb
Special to The Washington Post
Friday, June 22, 2007; Page A17

In late 2003, the first four commissioners of the newly formed, bipartisan Election Assistance Commission were given a tall order: Help states overhaul their election procedures so that the acrimony that followed the contested 2000 presidential election would not be repeated.

(snip)

The most recent controversy stemmed from last summer, when two reports were prepared for the agency, one about voter fraud and intimidation, the other about voter identification laws. But they did not see the light of day for several months.

Facing multiple open-records requests, the panel released its voter intimidation and fraud report in December. The report said that "there is a great deal of debate" about the topic. Later, it was revealed that the original report had been changed; it had said that voter fraud was virtually nonexistent. Commissioners say the original report went too far in reaching its conclusions about voter fraud.

In March, after lawmakers demanded a copy, the panel also released its voter identification report.

Civil rights groups suspected undue influence from the Justice Department, echoing allegations in the controversy over the firings of U.S. attorneys.

There is nothing and no one that won't be open to suspicion after this administration.
The corrosion is that deep.