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Advocacy Blog
Monday, March 31, 2008
FEC Still Short Commissioners
Meredith McGehee, policy director of the Campaign Legal Center, writes an opinion piece in Roll Call ($$) on the current stalemate with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) nominations. McGehee describes the situation that Senators are facing; "either vote for an individual who is wholly unworthy of Senate confirmation after compiling a scandalous record of partisanship, politicization and voter suppression at the Department of Justice, or refuse to let this nomination go through and thus allow the commission charged with enforcing federal campaign laws to be brought to a halt during an election year." And then offers recommendations to move ahead of the FEC standstill, and to achieve a working FEC.
First, Senators from both sides of the aisle should convey to Bush and McConnell that continuing to insist on von Spakovsky's confirmation is a waste of time. They should make clear they are unwilling to confirm an individual who, at the Department of Justice, compiled a record of politicization and voter suppression and who, at the FEC, demonstrated a contempt for the very laws he was supposed to enforce. Second, Bush should rise above the game of chicken that the American people are so tired of, and allow von Spakovsky, who has publicly admitted he lacks the requisite support in the Senate to be confirmed, to withdraw his name. Third, the Senate should then move to approve the other nominees awaiting confirmation to the FEC — Republican David Mason and Democrats Steven Walther and Robert Lenhard. The president should then send up another Republican name to the Senate to replace von Spakovsky. That nominee should be someone who can garner bipartisan support so the nomination can move through the Senate quickly.
Posted by Amanda Adams
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