Feb 9 , 2008

Election Procedures Issues Team

GET THE FEC BACK INTO OPERATION FOR THE ELECTION

ACTION

Write to Senators Sherrod Brown and George Voinovich and urge them to work with Harry Reid to appoint members to the Federal Election Commission in time to monitor the 2008 election, and to reject the nomination of Hans vonSpakovsky.

Contact Information

Sherrod Brown http://brown.senate.gov/contact/
George Voinovich http://voinovich.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm

ISSUE

The Federal Election Commission administers and enforces rules pertaining to campaign finances of federal elections. Its members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. George Bush appointed Hans von Spakovsky, a notorious partisan who previously served the Bush administration as an aggressive party hack at the Justice Department. There, he defended G.O.P. redistricting and mandating photo ID’s in Georgia — a device to crimp the power of minorities and the poor who might favor Democrats at the ballot. Democrats are refusing to confirm him, but President Bush refuses to withdraw the von Spakovsky nomination.

Three other vacancies at the FEC also need to be filled, but Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell refuses to allow the Senate to vote on any of them individually, insisting that all four be supported or denied as a block of nominees. This maneuver has left the FEC with only two members, an insufficient number to conduct business in this crucial election year. With the FEC crippled, candidates can take full advantage of the opportunity to skirt new FEC rules against anonymous bundling, knowing that the FEC cannot enforce the rules against it.

TALKING POINTS

* The credibility of our election system has been severely shaken in the last two elections. We desperately need the FEC fully staffed and functional to monitor this year’s election and help restore credibility to the election system.
* Hans von Spakovsky should be voted on as an individual nominee. Republicans should be forced to either filibuster against their own unqualified partisan or to vote for him in broad daylight.
* The identity of money bundlers IS at least as crucial to understanding where candidates stand as their campaign promises.
* When wealthy individuals are a wellspring for campaign cash, their influence drowns out the voices of ordinary voters.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Visit the website of the Federal Elections Commission and read about their history and mission.
http://www.fec.gov/about.shtml

Read a summary of the situation by Congressional Quarterly
http://public.cq.com/docs/cqt/news110-000002652907.html

See what the People for the American Way have to say about von Spakovsky and Barack Obama.
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=24906

See what the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights has to say about von Spakovsky.
http://www.civilrights.org/library/advocacy-letters/lccr-letter-on-hans.html

Visit these websites of Public Citizen and read an excellent, though old, review of mechanics and hazards of bundling.
http://www.whitehouseforsale.org/documents/bundling_2.pdf
http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=2557

Previous Alerts:

CLOSE GUANTANAMO PRISON

MUKASEY CONFIRMATION AS ATTORNEY GENERAL

STOP CORPORATE MONOPOLIES ON OUR NEWS AND INFORMATION

OPPOSE SPAKOVSKY NOMINATION TO FEDERAL ELECTIONS COMMISSION

SUPPORT THE BEST FISA REVISION
REGARDING WIRETAPS

RESTORE HABEAS CORPUS

STOP APPT. OF CIA GENERAL COUNSEL

STOP FUNDING FOR IRAQ WAR

NBC AND TUCKER CARLSON'S COMMENTS

FISA COURT REVISIONS FOR WIRETAPPING

RESTORE HABEAS CORPUS & REAL ID