Obama, Feingold Block von Spakovsky’s Nomination

by Eric Marshall

In response to the overwhelming response from the civil rights community, Senators Barack Obama and Russ Feingold blocked a vote in the Senate on Hans von Spakovsky’s nomination to the Federal Election Commission yesterday.  The move by the two senators came at an opportune time because the controversial nominee was on the brink of confirmation.  The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported:

Obama and Feingold thwarted a deal by Democratic and Republican leaders in the Senate that would have allowed a vote on von Spakovsky along with votes on three other nominees to the commission that oversees the nation’s elections.

"While at the Department of Justice, Hans von Spakovsky was directly involved in efforts to politicize the Department and use the Voting Rights Section to disenfranchise voters, rather than enforce our nation’s civil rights laws," Obama and Feingold said in a joint statement.

"As a recess appointee to the FEC he has been a committed, ideological opponent of the campaign finance laws he is supposed to enforce," they continued. "Putting him at the head of the FEC is just another example of this administration putting the fox in charge of the hen house. We oppose his nomination, and any effort to tie his nomination to the other pending nominations to the FEC."

While it is all but certain there won’t be a vote on von Spakovsky for at least a week, the fight to keep him off the FEC is far from over.  The Lawyers’ Committee will continue to put the pressure on.  Stay tuned for more details.