Republicans Set To Shut Down Fec As Primaries Begin

GOP senators aretrying to claim apower they have noright to demand. Republicans Set To Shut Down FEC As Primaries BeginBy Ciff Montgomery – Dec. 31st, 2007The Federal Election Commission (FEC), the federal agency which enforces the laws governing the Americanelectoral process, will essentially close its doors this New Year’s Eve–just as the 2008 presidential primariesare about to begin.The FEC is effectively set to go dark this Jan. 1st, as Congress  becomes embroiled in a GOP power playto force an unacceptable George W. Bush panel nominee upon the American people and theirgovernment. Thanks to the Republican-led shutdown, the FEC will begin 2008 with only two of its six seatsfilled. The committee needs at least four panelists to perform any official action.”There is, in effect, nobody to answer the phone,” Robert Bauer, a top Democratic Party finance lawyer,recently told The Washington Post.Of course the FEC’s 375 investigators, auditors and lawyers will continue to work; but numerous mattershandled by the panelists will be on hold indefinitely. Among the panel’s primary oversight duties? Launchinginvestigations into possible violations of campaign finance laws, and deciding on the penalties.The FEC recently announced that it has certified a total of $19.3 million of federal matching funds for seven2008 presidential candidates. But what if a candidate misuses those matching funds, or lied to get thosefunds? It will take four panelists to launch any investigation of campaign hijinks.The Democratic and Republican parties each expect a U.S. Treasury infusion of around $1 million to offset thecosts of their national conventions. But it takes four votes to release those dollars to the political parties.And determining whether campaigns comply with a new law which forces them to identify each lobbyistcollecting money on their behalf? That also takes four votes.”Work on [such] questions will grind to a halt,” FEC Chairman Robert Lenhard told the Post. His recessappointment expires on New Year’s Eve. Lenhard added that he’d rather not discuss the impending situationmuch further, but offered a simple reason for the dire situation.”Politics,” he said simply. “That’s what generated this situation.”The six-member FEC panel consists of three appointees chosen from each major party, all of whom arenominated by the White House. There already is one vacancy;  three Bush recess appointments are set toexpire on Dec. 31st.As with most problems our crumbling democracy has suffered in the last seven years, this began with an actionfrom the Bush Administration.A number of Democratic senators strongly opposed a Bush Republican nominee to the panel, Hans vonSpakovsky. Their outrage stems from Spakovsky’s tenure in the civil rights division of the Justice Department.There Spakovsky pushed for a Texas redistricting plan apparently intended to weaken Democrats, and alsohelped institute a Georgia law that forced voters to show a photo I.D. before being allowed to cast ballots.Whatever its stated intention, the Georgia law would deny the right to vote to American citizens who do notpossess a driver’s license or other verified photo I.D.”I am particularly concerned with his efforts to undermine voting rights,” declared Senator Barack Obama(D-IL) in a September statement. After placing a hold on the Spakovsky nomination, Obama worked withothers to build further opposition to Bush’s nomination of Spakovsky. Building a lobbying effort with civil rightsadvocates, the senator soon brought into the fight such civil rights groups as the Leadership Conference onCivil Rights and the NAACP.Senator Obama and the civil rights alliance successfully kept Spakovsky from becoming a member of the FEC.That’s apparently when a handful of Republicans decided that freedom and civil rights have had a real say inour democracy–and they weren’t going to take it anymore.Senate Republican leaders have countered with a spiteful rejection of the democratic process, a move whichessentially is designed to hold all Americans accountable to their personal whims.If their obviously poor pick Spakovsky is rejected, they cried, then they will work to keep the two Democraticnominees from being appointed to the panel.”The Democrats have picked their nominees, and we’ve picked ours,” said Senate Minority Leader MitchMcConnell (R-KY) to the Post a few days ago.”What we have here,” he claimed, is “the Democrats trying to veto one of our nominees. That isn’t going tohappen. They’re all four going to go together, or none of them will be approved.”Since Mr. McConnell clearly doesn’t understand how the democratic process of nomination and appointmentworks, we at have decided to help him.Firstly Mr. McConnell, you seem to be suffering under the delusion that your nominee has some natural right toa post appointment. But every nominee must go through the democratic appointment process, which meansthat even senators who aren’t properly neo-conservative get to vote on whether your nominee actuallydeserves the post.If your nominee loses in this process Mr. McConnell, you take it like a man and find another nominee–onewhich the majority of Americans can actually stomach.That process is called representative government, Mr. McConnell. Another name for it is democracy.Whatever its name, you prove by your actions that you despise the democratic way of life Mr. McConnell, and further show by this ugly display that you and your shrinking cadre of neo-conservative losers believe that you have the natural right to force us to your radical, freedom-hating choices.And in case you haven’t yet guessed, Mr. McConnell, that’s a power you have no right to demand.Like what you’re reading so far? Then why not order a full year (52 issues) of thee-newsletter for only $15? A major article covering an story not being told in the Corporate Press will be delivered to your email every Monday morning for a full year, for less than 30 cents an issue. Order Now!