HILLARY HELPS TURN UP HEAT ON DOJ'S TULIA PROBE

TULIA - Forces on the national, state and local levels have lined up over
the past month to put pressure on the U.S. Department of Justice to
complete its civil rights investigation into the controversial 1999
undercover drug sting in Tulia.

Voices from as far away as New York - including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton
- - have been speaking out in an effort to force the DOJ to conclude its
nearly two-year look into whether civil rights laws were violated in the
bust, which resulted in the arrests of 46 people, 39 of whom were black.

Clinton and her fellow Democratic senator from New York, Charles Schumer,
wrote letters to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft this month asking for
the investigation to be wrapped up expeditiously with an eye toward
scrutinizing the actions of the undercover agent involved in the bust, Tom
Coleman.

"Although Mr. Coleman is no longer in Tulia, he has left a trail of
unimaginable misery and injustice," the letter from Clinton stated. "No
stone should be left unturned until he is held accountable for the misery
he has caused."

Coleman could not be reached for comment Friday because his phone had been
disconnected.

A spokeswoman for Clinton said the senator became aware of the Tulia bust
in a series of columns published in The New York Times and was "very
disturbed" by what she read.

The DOJ has been looking at the Tulia sting since October 2000 when it
opened a criminal civil rights investigation based on complaints filed by
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the
American Civil Liberties Union.

The FBI conducted the local investigation, interviewing dozens of people
involved in the bust.

Defenders of those arrested in the bust said they fear that politics bogged
down the investigation after it was sent to Washington and George W. Bush
took office.

"The changing of the guard politically signaled the end of the criminal
investigation," said Jeff Blackburn, head of the local team of attorneys
defending those convicted in the sting.

"It was George Bush's narcotics control program that awarded Coleman law
enforcement officer of the year. It was his attorney general that shook
hands with Tom Coleman and told him how wonderful he was."

The DOJ also contributed to the controversy recently when it made
conflicting statements about the status of the investigation.

A July 2 letter from the DOJ to Robert E. Hirshon, then president of the
American Bar Association, stated that the investigation had been closed, a
statement that was shortly changed to say the investigation had been
closed, but the case was still under review.

The DOJ clarified the matter in a Wednesday letter to The New York Times,
saying the prior statements had been in error and the case was still open.

A call to the DOJ this week confirmed the investigation is ongoing, but a
spokeswoman couldn't comment on how much longer the case might take because
it is still active. The spokeswoman did say that it is not unheard of for
civil rights investigations to take more than two years.

On the state level, Will Harrell, executive director of the Texas ACLU, has
testified before several legislative committees in the past few weeks
trying to drum up support for an investigation by state Attorney General
John Cornyn. The ACLU in July 2001 asked Cornyn to investigate the Tulia bust.

Harrell said Cornyn's office originally decided it wouldn't investigate
because it would be duplicating efforts of the DOJ, then officials said
they were forbidden by statute from investigating the Tulia matter without
an invitation from the local district attorney or judge. The attorney
general's office later said that internal policies prevented them from
investigating, a claim Harrell disputes.

Harrell said he thinks Cornyn should conduct his own investigation of what
went on in Tulia.

A spokeswoman for Cornyn disputed the statement that the attorney general
isn't interested in what happened in Tulia.

"I think it's preposterous that the state's highest law enforcement officer
is reluctant to investigate such blatant civil rights violations," Harrell
said.

"The attorney general has to make a stated decision. Right now, he's made a
decision that Tulia is not worth his time. We want to know why."

"Attorney General Cornyn is very concerned about this situation,
particularly because the Department of Justice assured our agency a year
ago that an active investigation was under way," the spokeswoman said.
"This month, the attorney general reconfirmed that fact with the Department
of Justice. However, he is concerned that the investigation has gone so
slowly. Attorney General Cornyn is looking into what can be done to
expedite the investigation."

Cornyn is the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, running against
Democrat Ron Kirk.