Posted October 26, 2007 by J. Gerald Hebert

The Controversy Over Hans Von Spakovsky Is Bush’s Fault

The FEC is already dysfunctional and could potentially become even further incapacitated in December when four Commissioners’ recess appointments expire.  That may be one of the few things that people on all sides of the campaign finance debate seem to agree on.

Bob Bauer writes the following:

"If the FEC is down to two Commissioners, unable to act, how much would it matter ?…  Congress is inviting this experiment as it deadlocks on confirmations and recess appoints near their expiration dates."

As Bauer rightfully notes, former FEC Commissioner Brad Smith seems to relish just such an outcome. 

All this stems from the fact that one of President Bush’s nominees to the Federal Election Commission is so dreadful that Senators Feingold and Obama have placed a hold on his nomination.  These two Senators are to be commended for refusing to play politics as usual and let von Spakovsky slide when his record as a Department of Justice official was marked with overt politicization and the undermining of the voting rights laws he was supposed to enforce. 

But Congress isn’t responsible for the current stalemate.  It was President Bush who nominated von Spakovsky and he is the one who has created the problem.  And it is President Bush who is stubbornly refusing to appoint a consensus nominee.  Sen. Mitch McConnell is merely carrying Bush’s water by threatening to prevent Senators from voting on the other FEC nominees should von Spakovsky’s nomination fail. 

It is the President, not Congress, who has created this mess.  All he has to do in order to avoid "the sky falling" on the FEC is to submit another nominee for this seat to the Senate.