Vitter vows to block Labor nominee

A Republican senator is already vowing to block President Obama's nominee to the Labor Department over his role in enforcing voters rights laws. 

Sen. David Vitter said Monday he would block the nomination of Thomas Perez to become Labor secretary until the Justice Department responds to his November 2011 letter that detailed "spotty enforcement" of voter laws in his home state of Louisiana. 

“Perez was greatly involved in the DOJ’s partisan full-court press to pressure Louisiana’s secretary of state to only enforce one side of the law — the side that specifically benefits the politics of the president and his administration at the expense of identity security of each and every Louisianian on the voter rolls," Vitter said. 

He specifically noted "his spotty work related to the New Black Panther case" and that his record should be met with "great suspicion."

Perez, who heads the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, would replace former Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. She left the job in January. 

White House press secretary Jay Carney defended Perez's record following President Obama's announcement, arguing that a recent report by Justice's inspector general concluded "that voting rights enforcements, decisions made by leadership, were not due to improper racial or political considerations" and the the New Black Panther case was properly handled. 

Carney quoted a March 2011 investigative report as saying that "the attorneys did not commit professional misconduct or exercise poor judgment, but rather acted appropriately in the exercise of their supervisory duties" in the New Black Panther case.

"After a number of past incidents of harassment of voting-section career staff based on perceived political affiliation, mostly occurring between 2004 and 2007, the inspector general reported that Mr. Perez has taken a number of steps to foster a more collegial and professional workplace," Carney told reporters on Monday. 

The report said that Perez "restored nonpartisan, merit-based hiring to the Civil Rights Division" following the improper hiring practices of the Bush administration, Carney said. 

Vitter pointed out that news outlets had reported that there were undercover investigations in Louisiana that led to a lawsuit saying that the state had violated voter rights by not ensuring that welfare recipients were given the opportunity to register to vote. 

The law requires certain government offices, such as those that provide welfare assistance, to provide voter registration forms.

In that 2011 letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, he said the Obama administration hadn't shown any interest in enforcing the other side of the law that ensures that those who have died or are ineligible to vote are removed from the rolls. 

The Justice Department must fully enforce this law, "rather than refusing to enforce the voter list integrity provisions while making the welfare agency registration law its top priority," Vitter wrote. 

"The Civil Rights Division does not have the right to pick and choose which laws are worthy of enforcement and which ones are not."