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Friday, May 09, 2008 --- 4 days ago http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/05/08/fec-stalemate-deal-in-the-works
 Filed under: Bush Administration , Senate , Breaking News , 2008 President President Bush and Senate Democrats may have reached a deal in a long-running battle over the Federal Election Commission. The commission has been unable to function since October of 2006 because of controversies surrounding Bush nominee Hans von Spakovsky. Senate Democrats don't like von Spakovsky's views and have blocked him from consideration by the full Senate. The FEC has six commissioners, three Republicans and three Democrats, and needs at least four to function. Only two of the commission's seats have been filled as a result of the stalemate. Now, as part of a package meant to break the impasse, the president has nominated three new candidates for the commission. Likely Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama placed a hold on von Spakovsky's nomination, triggering a series of Republican Senators to place holds on Democratic nominees in protest. Obama's hold, placed together with Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), was made in reaction to certain controversial decisions that von Spakovsky, a lawyer in the Justice Department's Voting Rights section, had made. Von Spakovsky is seen by Senate Democrats as a champion of policies, such as a Georgia voter identification law and a Texas redistricting plan, that would disenfranchise black and Latino voters respectively. Both the Georgia law and the Texas redistricting were eventually upheld by the F ... |
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