INFORMATION: WSJ Perez/Minnesota Article - Google Groups

3/29/13 5:26 PM

Google Groups INFORMATION: WSJ Perez/Minnesota Article

conservativenetworking Posted in group: Groundswell Mar 28, 2013 9:34 AM

This is one of the two WSJ articles on Perez/Minnesota Case mentioned yesterday. You will find the link to the other article in the meeting notes to follow shortly. Updated March 18, 2013, 7:41 p.m. ET

POLITICS

Labor Pick Assailed for

Housing-Bias Deal
Contentious Senate Hearings Loom as Justice Documents Raise Questions About Perez's Role in a 2011 Minnesota Case
By EVAN PEREZ,MELANIE TROTTMAN and BRENT KENDALL

President Obama nominated Justice Department attorney Thomas Perez as the next Labor secretary, saying he would fill an integral role on the administration's economic team. Photo: AP.

WASHINGTONThomas Perez, a Justice Department official nominated Monday as labor secretary, is coming under scrutiny for a deal he helped broker with the city of St. Paul, Minn., a matter that's likely to get high billing at his confirmation proceedings. Documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal show Mr. Perez worked to secure a deal in which St. Paul agreed to drop a Supreme Court case that threatened an enforcement tactic used by the department in housing-discrimination cases. In exchange, the Justice Department
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INFORMATION: WSJ Perez/Minnesota Article - Google Groups

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declined to join two unrelated private lawsuits alleging the city made false certifications to obtain more than $100 million in federal housing funds.
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According to Justice Department emails, memorandums and handwritten notes reviewed by the Journal, a number of Justice Department lawyers expressed concerns about the deal. "I am uncomfortable with it," wrote one Justice lawyer on Dec. 27, 2011. The St. Paul matter is one of several that have been raised by Republicans in advance of what is likely to be a contentious Senate confirmation. Some Republicans have said that by making the deal, Mr. Perez passed up a chance to recover millions of dollars in allegedly misused federal housing funds. The top Republican on the committee that will hold confirmation hearings, Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, issued a more neutral statement, which

More photos and interactive graphics

didn't mention the St. Paul deal. "The resolution reached in these cases was in the best interests of the U.S.," said Justice Department spokeswoman Dena Iverson. "The decision was appropriate, and followed an examination of the relevant facts, legal and policy considerations at issue, and [it was] made after Mr. Perez had consulted with career ethics officers." The Justice Department documents show that Mr. Perez, the department's top civil-rights lawyer, was concerned that if St. Paul won its Supreme Court case, the justices might strike down the legal tactic. That tactic revolves around the notion that the federal government and private litigants can rely on statistics and other measures to show that a company's or city's policies have a disparate impact on minorities, and that they don't need to prove intentional discrimination. Mr. Perez's division has used the tactic to win settlements with banks in lending-discrimination cases. The documents show Mr. Perez worked behind the scenes to seal a deal in which St. Paul agreed to drop its Supreme Court case. One document from November 2011 shows Mr. Perez sought and received clearance from an internal ethics officer regarding his attempt to negotiate an agreement with the city. Some documents suggest Mr. Perez tried to keep the quid pro quo nature of the deal out of formal memos involving the private lawsuits. "Message from Perez. When you are working on memos make sure you don't talk about Sup. Ct. case," wrote one Justice lawyer in handwritten notes of a January 2012 conference call.
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Ultimately, Justice lawyers succeeded in including the Supreme Court case in a memo explaining why the department declined to intervene in the private cases. However, the documents show senior lawyers excised some explicit mentions of Mr. Perez's role.
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In February 2012, St. Paul officials increased their demands and nearly scuttled the agreement, but Mr. Perez flew to Minnesota to rescue the deal, internal emails show. The city dropped the case that month, about two weeks before it was scheduled for oral argument at the Supreme Court. The Justice Department's decisions on whether to join private lawsuits alleging misuse of government funds, called qui tam suits, can often be decisive. One of the two St. Paul cases was dismissed after the Justice Department declined to join it, while the other remains in litigation.
European Pressphoto Agency

President Obama and labor secretary nominee Thomas Perez

Several Republican senators cited the St. Paul deal, which is under review by congressional committees, among other concerns about the Perez nomination.

"There are a lot of tough questions he should answer for the American people, including those regarding St. Paul," said Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa). Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) said Mr. Perez, a former top labor official in Maryland, is the "wrong man for the job." Mr. Sessions cited positions Mr. Perez took on immigrant labor, saying they would have encouraged the hiring of illegal immigrants. Other Republicans took a more neutral stance. Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming, who serves on the committee reviewing the nomination, said through a spokesman he wasn't taking a position on Mr. Perez in advance of the nominee's testimony. At the White House on Monday, President Barack Obama said Mr. Perez has spent a career as a "consensus-builder" who has worked with chief executives and labor leaders at the federal, state, and local levels of government. Labor unions applauded the nomination, saying Mr. Perez would fight for safe workplaces, fair wages and union rights. As Maryland's labor secretary, Mr. Perez "had a strong record of enforcing labor laws, especially wage and hour" violations, said Service Employees International Union President Mary Kay Henry. "Enforcing these labor laws help to close the income gap between the wealthy and everyone else." Write to Evan Perez at evan....@wsj.com, Melanie Trottman at melanie....@wsj.com and
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Brent Kendall at brent....@dowjones.com

Regards,

Stephanie Arje 402-881-5942

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