Senate confirms FEC picks

The Senate has ended a months-long stalemate that left the Federal Election
Commission (FEC) paralyzed throughout the Democratic and Republican presidential primaries.

{mosads}Senators on Tuesday evening voted to confirm nominees to the federal agency tasked with overseeing presidential and congressional elections. The action means the agency will be able to issue advisory opinions and investigate possible campaign violations during the final crucial months of the 2008 election.

The final obstacle facing the nominees lifted when Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) withdrew his objections. Feingold interviewed four of the nominees Tuesday. He interviewed the fifth before Tuesday.

The Senate confirmed three Republicans and two Democrats to join sitting Democratic commissioner Ellen Weintraub. Republican commissioner David Mason will step down.

The Republicans are Donald McGahn, former in-house counsel at the National Republican Congressional Committee; Caroline Hunter, a member of the Election Assistance Commission; and Matthew Petersen, counsel for the Senate Rules and Administration Committee.

The Democrats are Steven Walther, a lawyer who helped Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) during the recount following his narrow 1998 re-election; and Cynthia Bauerly, an aide to Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Cha-les Schumer (D-N.Y.).

Without the new officers, the FEC has been unable to hold a quorum and regulate federal election activities and campaign-finance issues.

The partisan stalemate has prevented the FEC from a number of high-profile actions, most notably ruling on Democratic allegations that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) violated federal laws for improperly pulling out of federal matching-funds program. The FEC's inaction prompted a Tuesday lawsuit by the Democratic National Committee to force the agency to investigate McCain and a loan he secured before he pulled out of the public-financing program. McCain also needs the FEC to approve his plans for $85 million for the general election campaign.

The stalemate over the FEC dragged on for months, with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) initially blocking the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky, who Democrats allege oversaw voting laws as a Justice Department official that suppressed minority rights. Democrats refused to confirm the nominee until he withdrew his nomination last month and the White House nominated Peterson in his place.

In a speech Tuesday morning, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) alleged that Democrats were holding up the nominees to allow the DNC to file the lawsuit before a Tuesday deadline.

“Now we have the opportunity to confirm a full complement and there have been various efforts, it appears, to delay in order to give the DNC an opportunity to file a lawsuit today," McConnell said.

But Democrats rejected that accusation and said that they had for months moved to fill the open seats only to be blocked by Republicans. They said the extra time was given so that Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) could have a chance to interview some of the nominees.