Democrats cite complaints about Bush’s FEC nominee

Ben Evans

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats signaled last week that they might oppose President Bush’s nominee to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) over his views on voting rights and criticism that he politicized his office at the Justice Department.

Citing complaints from his co-workers, Democrats said Hans von Spakovsky, a former Republican Party chairman in Fulton County, Ga., took a partisan approach while serving as a senior attorney in the Justice Department’s civil rights division, shifting the office’s focus away from protecting minority voters.

“That’s a real problem,” said Rules Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. “I can’t speak for the Republican side, but I believe it’s a real problem for the Democratic side.”

Feinstein held off a committee vote last Wednesday to allow von Spakovsky a chance to respond in writing to a letter, submitted by six former career staffers at the Justice Department, opposing his nomination. Afterward, Feinstein said in an interview that she was “leaning toward” voting against the nomination.

Bush temporarily appointed von Spakovsky as an FEC commissioner in January 2006 while Congress was in recess, and nominated him this year for a full term to expire in 2011.

Democrats charged that von Spakovsky tried to suppress voter participation through new restrictions such as voter identification laws and voter roll purges, and overruled staff attorneys’ opinion on a contested Georgia law requiring voters to show state-issued photo identification to get a ballot.

In a letter last Tuesday, House Democrats from Georgia, led by civil rights veteran John Lewis of Atlanta, cautioned senators against confirming von Spakovsky, saying his appointment “could potentially turn back the clock on 50 years of progress” in voting rights.

Texas Democrats also sent a letter to Feinstein opposing the nomination, saying “the damage he had done to voting rights and the democratic process in this nation, in Texas and other states altogether invalidates his ability to serve in this capacity.”

In response to aggressive questioning, von Spakovsky said he only offered recommendations to top Justice Department officials.

“I was not the decision maker. My job as a career counselor was to provide legal advice and recommendations,” he said. “But I can tell you … that I believe [the Justice Department] made the correct decision.”

Calling it privileged legal advice, he declined to discuss his recommendations on several cases, including the Georgia voter ID law and a contentious legislative redistricting in Texas orchestrated by former Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

In the Georgia and Texas cases, staff attorneys recommended rejecting the state changes but were overruled by top Bush appointees. The Georgia law has since been blocked in court, while the Supreme Court threw out part of the Texas redistricting, saying it unconstitutionally divided Hispanic voting power.

Disagreement over the cases in question, von Spakovsky said, “wasn’t anything involving politics. It was the different training and views that lawyers have.”

Several Republicans defended von Spakovsky, saying those issues were unrelated to the FEC, where they said he has compiled a good track record.

The FEC is responsible for disclosing campaign finance information, enforcing limits on contributions and overseeing public funding of presidential elections.

(Associated Press)