Leadership Conference on Civil Rights

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Tell Bush and McConnell to Stop Holding the FEC Hostage to Reward a Political Crony

As Congress prepares to leave Washington for the holiday, President Bush and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) are preparing to hold hostage the Federal Election Commission (FEC). They are insisting on the all-or-none confirmation of four nominees, including Hans von Spakovsky, who has an egregious record of politicizing the U.S. Justice Department and rigging the system against minority voters.

One of the architects of the Bush Administration’s voter suppression efforts targeting minority voters, von Spakovsky has a record of partisan enforcement of voting rights laws. As an official at the Justice Department, von Spakovksy helped impose sweeping restrictions to make it harder for poor and minority voters to cast ballots, including the Georgia voter ID law that was later struck down by a federal judge as akin to a Jim Crow-era poll tax. Rewarding von Spakovsky with a six-year term on the FEC would undermine the enforcement agency charged with overseeing federal elections and could unjustly influence election law for the next three election cycles.

Without at least four Commissioners in place by the holiday recess, the FEC will not be able to fully operate. President Bush can resolve this stalemate by withdrawing von Spakovsky’s nomination and instead nominating someone who has not compiled such a shameful civil rights record. But to date, President Bush has refused, despite the strong opposition of several senators who continue to block von Spakovsky’s confirmation. The Senate must not give in.