Copyright 2004 Sentinel Communications Co.

By: Gwyneth K. Shaw, Sentinel Staff Writer

WASHINGTON -- Six members of Congress asked Attorney General John Ashcroft on Thursday to investigate whether the Florida Department of Law Enforcement committed civil-rights violations in questioning some Orlando voters as part of a probe of last spring's mayoral election.

"Injustice and voter intimidation are again showing their ugly faces in Florida," wrote U.S. Reps. Alcee Hastings, Corrine Brown, Kendrick Meek, Peter Deutsch, Robert Wexler and John Conyers in the letter to Ashcroft.

All of the lawmakers are Democrats, and all are from Florida except for Conyers, who is from Michigan and the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. Hastings, Meek, Brown and Conyers are black.

"I don't know who this is, and I don't know who these people are, but I want it to stop. I just don't want voters to feel intimidated," said Brown, whose district includes Orlando's west side, on Thursday night. "This goes back to the old Jim Crow days, and I would not think this would be going on as we speak in 2004."

The letter also references the recent flap over the state's efforts to purge felons, who cannot vote unless they have successfully petitioned to have their civil rights restored, from the voting rolls. Secretary of State Glenda Hood scrapped the list last month after it became clear that it was riddled with errors.

Justice Department spokesman Eric Holland said Thursday that the agency carefully reviews all such complaints and that the letter will receive the same treatment.

The controversy stems from interviews done by FDLE agents investigating a complaint filed by Ken Mulvaney, who lost to Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer in last spring's election. Mulvaney alleges that Ezzie Thomas, whom Dyer paid $10,000 to rally voters in the city's predominantly black precincts, manipulated absentee ballots, and that gave Dyer enough votes to avoid a runoff.

Thomas, president of the Orange County Voters League, said last month that some voters on the city's west side are afraid to vote this fall after being interviewed.

New York Times columnist Bob Herbert put the issue on a national stage on Monday, writing: "The vile smell of voter suppression is all over this so-called investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The long and ugly tradition of suppressing the black vote is alive and thriving in the Sunshine State."

On Thursday, FDLE Commissioner Guy Tunnell fired back at Herbert, saying in a letter released by the department that he was "very disappointed" in the columnist and accusing Herbert of sensationalizing the story.

Tunnell said agents interviewed voters who had used absentee ballots in their homes so they might feel more relaxed than in an office setting. The agents did not wear uniforms for the same reason, he wrote.

"I find it offensive that Mr. Herbert would try to link an unbiased investigation on our part to national politics," Tunnell wrote. "FDLE would never jeopardize the respect we have earned from the citizens of Florida. FDLE will continue to uphold the integrity of the electoral process, and we are committed to doing so with the highest professional standards."

Brown said she plans to send a letter to all of her constituents, especially in Orlando, to reassure them.

"This is my district and these are my voters," she said. "I'm appalled, and I want this intimidation to stop."