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hs COMMITTEE ON SE JUDICIARY ~ CHALRMAN Congress of the Guited States “4 17 Seem Bouse of Representatives Washington, B.C. 20515 .° COMMITTEE ON LY VETERANS’ AFFAIRS, September 17, 1973 we bein Mr. 3. Stanley Pottinger Assistant Attorney General Civil Rights Division Deparment of Justice of Washington, D. C. 20530 198 Dear Mr. Pottinger: Thank you very much for vour letter of September 4 describing work being done by the Departmient of Justice concerning possible violations of federal criminal law in activities involving the United Farm Workers in Cali- fornia. I sincerely appreciate the information you pro- vided me. I am sure you know that I am concerned with the situation in California, not only what has taken place @uring the past month but also the serious implications for the future. J spent several days in the Bakersfield- Delano area during the height of the tensions. I observed the good work being done by the Community Relations Service, observed the United Farm Workers picketing at several vineyards, talked to locai police and press, and attended the two funerals. As explained to Mr. Murphy, I was disappointed not to find Chicane Special Agents in the Bakersfield F.B.I. office. The Daifullah funeral was thought important enough by the Catholic Church for Bishop Flores of San Antonio to travel at church expense to California. The only Agent I saw at the Bakersfield F.B,I. office taking statements in Spanish was nct, in the opinion of my Chicano assistant, appropriately fluent in Spanish. SD > nA oe MG me ~ ~~ . a / Foz many years in civil rights cases a maj riticism of Justice Department involvement has been the use of iocally assigned F.B.I. Agents to investigate allesations of imir conduct of locsi police. From my experience in the know that a harmonicus relationsh 2 with the local po essential tc doing a good job for the F.B.I. This resulted in unenthusiastic investigations by the-local