Another Round of Recess Appointments
The Resident has just announced some end-of-the-year recess appointments. He is no different than his predecessors in reaching into the presidential tool box for this handy little way to get his friends jobs. The recess appointment route has been used by most presidents anxious to get a nominee with a potentially embarrassing history onto the job without extensive hearings that might jeopardize the nomination. Mr. Bush, however, seems to be using that tool a bit more frequently than most. The NY Times describes his latest appointments.
President Bush has announced four nominees for the Federal Election Commission, moving to keep the policing of campaign abuses firmly in the hands of party wheel horses. The timing of the announcement - the president waited until the Senate had gone home - is likely to allow the nominees to avoid the full hearing and confirmation process needed to evaluate them properly.
The most objectionable nominee is Hans von Spakovsky, a former Republican county chairman in Georgia and a political appointee at the Justice Department. He is reported to have been involved in the maneuvering to overrule the career specialists who warned that the Texas gerrymandering orchestrated by Representative Tom DeLay violated minority voting rights. Senators need the opportunity to delve into that, as well as reports of Mr. von Spakovsky's involvement in such voting rights abuses as the purging of voter rolls in Florida in the 2000 elections.
Both parties suggested candidates; the Democrats include a union lawyer and a trusted political associate of the Senate minority leader, Harry Reid. By endorsing them, the president has finally shown his commitment to bipartisanship in the worst of ways: by installing another undistinguished group of factotums to referee the democratic process. [Emphasis added]
Sadly, most Americans will probably ho-hum the appointments since the FEC isn't nearly as sexy as Ambassador to the UN. It is, after all, just a commission. This commission, however, is the one that is charged with making sure that elections in the nation are run cleanly and fairly, that keeps track of campaign donations and their use, that enforces the election rules.
We deserve better than political hacks of either stripe on that commission. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear we are going to get that this time around.
President Bush has announced four nominees for the Federal Election Commission, moving to keep the policing of campaign abuses firmly in the hands of party wheel horses. The timing of the announcement - the president waited until the Senate had gone home - is likely to allow the nominees to avoid the full hearing and confirmation process needed to evaluate them properly.
The most objectionable nominee is Hans von Spakovsky, a former Republican county chairman in Georgia and a political appointee at the Justice Department. He is reported to have been involved in the maneuvering to overrule the career specialists who warned that the Texas gerrymandering orchestrated by Representative Tom DeLay violated minority voting rights. Senators need the opportunity to delve into that, as well as reports of Mr. von Spakovsky's involvement in such voting rights abuses as the purging of voter rolls in Florida in the 2000 elections.
Both parties suggested candidates; the Democrats include a union lawyer and a trusted political associate of the Senate minority leader, Harry Reid. By endorsing them, the president has finally shown his commitment to bipartisanship in the worst of ways: by installing another undistinguished group of factotums to referee the democratic process. [Emphasis added]
Sadly, most Americans will probably ho-hum the appointments since the FEC isn't nearly as sexy as Ambassador to the UN. It is, after all, just a commission. This commission, however, is the one that is charged with making sure that elections in the nation are run cleanly and fairly, that keeps track of campaign donations and their use, that enforces the election rules.
We deserve better than political hacks of either stripe on that commission. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear we are going to get that this time around.
posted by Diane at 4:50 AM
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