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ProSense Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-26-07 09:42 AM
Original message
Repubs angry Dems blocked Bush crony/partisan hack FEC nominee decide to hold FEC hostage

Democrats threaten to block FEC nominees, possibly paralyzing panel

By Alexander Bolton
December 11, 2007

Leading Senate Democrats, including Barack Obama (Ill.) and John Kerry (Mass.), say they will not allow a slate of nominees to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) through the Senate in the days before congressional adjournment, threatening to freeze during a presidential election year the agency tasked with policing campaigns.

If the Senate does not confirm the four-person slate in the next several days, the recess appointments of three commissioners will expire at the end of the year, leaving only two members on the commission in 2008.

<...>

Obama and Kerry, as well as Sens. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), have placed holds on the slate because one of the nominees, Hans von Spakovsky, a GOP appointee, has come under fire because of his record while at the voting section of the Department of Justice.

“Based on his record at the FEC and at the Department of Justice before that, Hans von Spakovsky does not deserve Senate confirmation,” said Feingold in a statement Monday. “It is unfortunate that President Bush and Republican Senate leaders are playing chicken with this important agency with the ’08 campaign in full swing. The president should nominate someone who has the respect and support of senators on both sides of the aisle. It is up to him whether the FEC will have enough commissioners to function next year.”

more


As Primaries Begin, the FEC Will Shut Down

No Quorum on Election Board As Nominees Stall in Congress

By Matthew Mosk
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 22, 2007; Page A01

The FEC is composed of three appointees from each party, all nominated by the president. There is already one vacancy, and three recess appointments will expire on Dec. 31.

The potential for an FEC shutdown has been looming for weeks, as a handful of Democratic senators voiced opposition to one of Bush's nominees to the commission, Hans A. von Spakovsky. Their concern stemmed not from von Spakovsky's work on the FEC but from his tenure in the Justice Department's civil rights division.

His critics contend that von Spakovsky advocated a controversial Texas redistricting plan and fought to institute a requirement in Georgia that voters show photo identification before being permitted to cast ballots.

<...>

The blockade worked, but Republican leaders in the Senate countered with one of their own. If von Spakovsky were rejected, they would not allow the two Democratic nominees to be appointed, either.

more


The most objectionable nominee is Hans von Spakovsky, a former Republican county chairman in Georgia and a political appointee at the Justice Department. He is reported to have been involved in the maneuvering to overrule the career specialists at Justice who warned that the Texas gerrymandering orchestrated by Representative Tom DeLay violated minority voting rights. Senators need the opportunity to delve into that, as well as reports of Mr. von Spakovsky’s involvement in such voting rights abuses as the purging of voter rolls in Florida in the 2000 elections.

link


More on Hans von Spakovsky:

If anyone wants to look at Rove's involvement from another angle, there's this one from Rick Hasen of the Election Law blog (who found the unethical "Publius" writings by ex DOJ staffer, FEC commissioner and GOP operative Hans von Spakovsky.)


A ‘doozy’ of a campaign-finance violation



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fascisthunter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-26-07 10:09 AM
Response to Original message
1. Do Not Fret, GOP. Harry To the Rescue
:nuke:
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ProSense Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-26-07 10:28 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. Don't think that's going to happen
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fascisthunter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-26-07 10:35 AM
Response to Reply #2
4. I Hope So!!!! (nt)
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MonkeyFunk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-26-07 10:38 AM
Response to Reply #1
5. Ah, it wouldn't be DU
without somebody bashing a Dem for something that hasn't happened yet.

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fascisthunter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-26-07 10:44 AM
Response to Reply #5
6. I'm Progressive, and a Democrat
Edited on Wed Dec-26-07 10:46 AM by fascisthunter
Have a problem with that? Maybe you are too conservative and like Bush too much since you bitch and moan about folks who want him impeached.

PS - I hate sellouts who screw our Party. You like it.
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MonkeyFunk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-26-07 10:53 AM
Response to Reply #6
7. You're being daft
my point was about people who bash democrats before they've done anything.

In fact, you were proven wrong - Reid is keeping the Senate in session to avoid such recess appointments.

I think it's stupid to post stuff like you did - you just PRESUME Dems suck, then you attack them, BEFORE anything has happened. It's dumb.

It cracks me up that I get called conservative because I defend democrats on a site called Democraticunderground.

PS - I hate assholes.
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fascisthunter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-26-07 10:58 AM
Response to Reply #7
8. No... Just Too Honest for You too Handle... Buh Bye (nt)
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Bandit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-26-07 11:25 AM
Response to Reply #7
10. Wasn't it Reid that said he was submitting ninty Republican
appointees that Bush* had submitted and only holding back on one? Bush* told him he would fight for that one and yet Reid said he would send in the others anyway...:shrug: Not much a fight if you ask me...
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mod mom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-26-07 10:32 AM
Response to Original message
3. We, the voter, gets screwed either way. Either a partisan disenfranchiser is appointed or
less oversight of the FEC.

von Spakovsky MUST NEVER BE APPOINTED! If there was justice in the world, he would be thrown in prison.
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bluerum Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-26-07 11:05 AM
Response to Reply #3
9. It is not like they were effective in the last two presidential elections.
They threw a bone in 06 and methinks that the mis-administration is trying to stack the deck to prevent dems from increasing their majorities.
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ProSense Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-26-07 04:36 PM
Response to Original message
11. Kick! n/t
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Blaukraut Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-26-07 08:27 PM
Response to Original message
12. kick n/t
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globalvillage Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Dec-26-07 08:28 PM
Response to Original message
13. von Spakovsky sounds dangerous
Who Is Hans von Spakovksy?

During his tenure in the U.S. Department of Justice, Hans von Spakovsky made it harder for Americans to vote.

Now the Bush administration has nominated him to the Federal Elections Commission. If confirmed by the Senate, he could influence election law in this country for the next three election cycles, a prospect that should alarm all who care about the right to vote.

As an attorney in the civil rights division of the Justice Department from 2001-2005, von Spakovksy did everything in his power to minimize the vote, particularly of minorities and Democrats.




http://www.civilrights.org/press_room/buzz_clips/civilrightsorg-stories/who-is-hans-von-spakovksy.html
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