Paul Kiel May 7, 2007, 6:15 PM

Today Senate Judiciary Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT) and ranking member Arlen Specter (R-PA) wrote Bradley Schlozman, asking that he cooperate with the committee’s investigation into U.S. attorney firings. You can read the letter here.

There are a number of reasons why congressional investigators would want to talk to Schlozman: his politicization of the hiring process when he was the deputy head of the Civil Rights Division, his efforts to squash career attorneys in the division who disagreed with him, and his rush to bring a group of voter fraud indictments just before the election when he was the U.S. Attorney for Kansas City. The committee, at least for now, appears mainly interested in Schlozman’s efforts to push voter fraud allegations. From the letter:

Recent news accounts have suggested that Todd Graves, the former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri and the person you succeeded as an interim United States Attorney, may have been on a list for replacement because of his refusal to endorse a lawsuit against the State of Missouri alleging voter fraud before the 2006 election. This is a lawsuit you approved while Acting Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division and then filed soon after you were interim appointed as Mr. Graves’ successor by Attorney General Gonzales. Several weeks ago, a federal judge ruled in favor of Missouri in that case, finding “no evidence” of major voter fraud in the state.

We believe the Committee would benefit from hearing directly from you in order to gain a better understanding of the role voter fraud may have played in the Administration’s decisions to retain or remove certain U.S. Attorneys.

Bradley Schlozman, Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorneys