Ex-Justice Department lawyer changes his testimony

Greg Gordon | McClatchy Newspapers

last updated: July 19, 2007 07:08:27 PM

WASHINGTON — A former senior Justice Department official has backed off sworn Senate testimony that he consulted with senior agency voting-rights lawyers before inaccurately advising Arizona officials they could deny thousands of voters their rights to provisional ballots.

Hans von Spakovsky, who hopes to win confirmation to a full six-year term on the Federal Election Commission, revised his statement in a recent letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee after former senior department voting-rights lawyers challenged his veracity.

Von Spakovsky has served as a presidential recess appointee to the FEC since early last year. His nomination is in jeopardy because of questions about his conduct as voting counsel to the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division from 2003 to December 2005.