Senate panel advances controversial FEC appointee

The Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday sent four Federal Election Commission (FEC) nominations to the floor without recommendations, an unprecedented maneuver aimed at accommodating Chairman Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) objections to one contested GOP appointee.

Hans von Spakovsky’s nomination became controversial earlier this year, when Democrats began investigating the 2006 firings of U.S. attorneys and questioning whether the Justice Department has been improperly politicized during President Bush’s tenure.
Von Spakovsky was installed on the FEC as a recess appointment in early January 2006, but the Senate has yet to confirm him. Feinstein has repeatedly voiced serious concerns about his nomination.

{mosads}Former top officials of the civil rights division, where von Spakovsky held the position of counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights, have sent letters to members of the Rules Committee arguing against his confirmation on grounds that he politicized the voting rights section.

During the Rule Committee’s executive meeting Wednesday, Feinstein said she could not support his nomination, asking instead for a vote on each nominee rather than consideration of all four nominees together in one vote, as the committee traditionally has done.

Republicans on the panel objected, arguing that the move breaks all known committee precedent on moving FEC nominations. They are usually considered in pairs or all together, because the agency has three members from each party and each party has deferred to the other’s choices.

“The precedent is very clear,” said Sen. Bob Bennett (Utah), the ranking Republican on the panel. “Nominations to the FEC have always been reported en bloc and in pairs.”

But Feinstein said committee rules governing FEC nominations allow only for passing nominations that have unanimous consent, which her objection would prevent.

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) offered a motion to move three of the nominations with endorsements and von Spakovsky without recommendation. Bennett countered that doing so would be like putting an asterisk next to his name.

Republicans had additional leverage because an unnamed Democrat on the panel, later revealed to be Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.), had indicated that he would vote with the minority on von Spakovsky.

After about a half-hour of negotiation, Feinstein and Bennett then agreed to pass all of the nominations without recommendation.
Feinstein, however, warned she would voice her concerns about von Spakovsky’s nomination when it reaches the Senate floor for a vote.

“I don’t feel that this is an unbiased individual,” she said. “We’re coming into a critical time in elections, a key presidential election, key Senate elections, key House elections, and that is why I personally feel so strongly about it.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who was on hand to back Bennett’s assertions about Senate precedent, said he would not tolerate any attempt to separate von Spakovsky’s nomination from the other three on the floor.

“None of these nominees will move across the Senate unless they move together,” he said. “The view has always been that the Democrats pick the Democrat candidates and Republicans pick the Republicans.”

The other FEC commissioners up for consideration are Steven T. Walther, David M. Mason and Robert D. Lenhard.

Opponents of more campaign finance restrictions hailed von Spakovsky’s advancement to a floor vote and condemned Feinstein’s efforts to stop the nomination in its tracks. Bradley Smith, a former FEC commissioner who now heads the Center for Competitive Politics, said his opponents’ targeting of von Spakovsky was an attempt to use campaign finance laws for partisan gain.

 “[I]n the 21 months that Commissioner von Spakovsky has already served, he has consistently enforced the law while respecting the First Amendment — something that cannot be said for all his critics,” Smith said. “It is good news that he will now get full consideration by the Senate.”

Advocates of more campaign finance regulation accused McConnell of hijacking the committee’s proceedings and argued that he did so to avoid an up-or-down committee vote on von Spakovsky’s nomination alone.

Gerald Hebert of the Campaign Legal Center called on Feinstein to do everything in her power to obtain an individual vote on von Spakovsky in the full Senate.

“By sending his nomination to the full Senate, the Rules Committee cannot wash its hands of responsibility for von Spakovsky’s nomination,” Hebert said. “The confirmation process has been shown to be as dysfunctional as the agency itself, and today’s disappointing events lay bare the desperate need to replace the FEC with an independent entity not ‘run’ by party marionettes.”