Bush's FEC nominee withdraws name

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush's contentious nominee for the Federal Election Commission removed his name from consideration Friday, potentially ending a lengthy stalemate that had paralyzed the work of the agency. Hans von Spakovsky, a former Justice Department official who never had Democratic support to win confirmation, withdrew his nomination, saying it was time for the protracted deadlock to end. Bush "reluctantly accepted" von Spakovsky's request, the White House said.

Democrats have objected to von Spakovsky's tenure at Justice, where he oversaw voting rights matters. The standoff has held up other Senate confirmations to the six-member FEC, which is without a quorum and has been unable to conduct business.
In a letter to Bush, von Spakovsky said the long-stalled process has been extremely hard on his family. "And quite frankly, we do not have the financial resources to continue to wait until this matter is resolved," he wrote.

He added: "The agency that is tasked with policing our campaign finance system needs to be operational during a presidential election year. The opposition to my nomination (however unfair) is preventing that from happening." Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., welcomed von Spakovsky's withdrawal. Democrats have charged that von Spakovsky tried to suppress voter participation through new restrictions such as voter identification laws and voter roll purges.

"Democrats stood united in their opposition to von Spakovsky because of his long and well-documented history of working to suppress the rights of minorities and the elderly to vote," Reid said. "He was not qualified to hold any position of trust in our government."

Read more: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jgOXndrnNmSMN92M0Uh15YPkZ99wD90N22PG0

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Terrific news. von Spakovsky is a scumbag.

Senate hearing, 6/13/07 = http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x133578

Get this commission approved and looking at McCain.

Wow....that surprises me.

It seems Bush/Cheney Stonewall is crumbling a bit?
They have had such a take no prisoners attitude, suddenly this week they are backing down on some things...

Not that I will stop being severely suspicious of anything they do or say....

Federal Election Commission Likely to Have a Quorum Soon
May 16th, 2008 - http://www.ballot-access.org/2008/05/16/federal-election-commission-likely-to-have-a-quorum-soon/

.... the U.S. Senate is likely to fill all the vacancies on the FEC by the end of May. The new Commission will almost certainly consist of these individuals:

Democrats: holdover appointee Ellen L. Weintraub; Cynthia L. Bauerly; and Steven T. Walther. Bauerly is from Minnesota and is a former Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Walther is from Nevada.

Republicans: Donald F. McGahn; Caroline C. Hunter; and a third name still to be determined. McGahn formerly represented Tom DeLay in election law court cases. Hunter was an attorney for the Republican National Committee in 2003; she oversaw the Republican lobbying effort to persuade states to relax their deadlines for parties to certify their presidential candidates. The 2004 Republican National Convention was so late in the year, 7 states had to be persuaded to relax their certification deadlines.

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Way to go Democrats!