The 1990 campaign for Jesse Helms in North Carolina engaged in deeply disturbing tactics aimed at suppressing the vote. Who was Helms’ legal counsel? Thomas Farr – now seeking Senate confirmation to be a federal judge in NC.
The Helms campaign sent over 100,000 postcards to mostly African American voters warning that they might be ineligible to vote for residency reasons. The postcards warned that the recipients might be arrested for voter fraud if they came to the polls.
Farr told the Judiciary Committee he didn't participate in any campaign meetings in which this mailing was discussed before it was sent. News reports then indicated Farr did participate in an Oct 1990 meeting that included discussion about challenging voters’ residency.
Mr. Farr later admitted participating in that meeting. And a former Justice Department attorney told the Raleigh News & Observer in 2009 that Mr. Farr “was certainly involved in the scheme as it was being developed.”
This is just one of many troubling issues in Farr’s record that should disqualify him from the federal bench. Given his decades-long history of supporting & defending efforts to restrict the right to vote, I will oppose his nomination.
