After months without a functioning FEC, as we called on Senate leadership to find suitable nominees and re-constitute the important -- if often ineffectual -- commission in time for the peak of election season, this week it looked like we might have caught a break.  Sen. Harry Reid's office spoke with the White House, and the White House sent six FEC nominations (three D, three R) to the Senate.

How quickly hopes can crumble.

We've recently heard that Sen. Mitch McConnell is poised to insist on a package deal -- all or none -- rather than allowing each nominee to get an up or down vote.

This is an unworkable proposal, not unexpected from McConnell, a bitter opponent to all campaign finance regulation.  First, the choice of nominees reflects a remarkably partisan and subversive intention towards the FEC, in particular the selection of Hans von Spakovsky and Donald McGhan and the removal of current chairman David Mason from the list.  CC Prez Bob Edgar sent this letter to the entire U.S. Senate on Wednesday.  Here's part of his beef:

The subject of stripping Mason's name off the list brought back memories of a similar purge in Common Cause's early days, however, and is in some ways the most egregious piece of this whole maneuver.

I was in Reno, Nevada yesterday with former Nevada Common Cause Board Chair Jim Hulse and a group of activists who were calling on Senator Jim Ensign to explain his obstruction of a bill to require U.S. Senators to tell us who they are taking money from -- now.

Watch a video of our event:

Currently, Senators file campaign finance disclosure reports on paper.  The paper reports are scanned into a computer, printed out, and then retyped to be placed on the Federal Election Commission website.  This process takes about four months and costs about $250,000 in taxpayer dollars.

Huffington Post recently named the top ten public policies of the year -- the DC Voting Rights Act was among them. Congress can pass the bill this year and add some much-needed lustre to the 110th's thin record of achievement. Here's the post:

Cross-posted on The Hill Blog.

Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) said it best today as the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to approve the nomination of Judge Michael Mukasey as attorney general

"He will, in fact, enforce the laws that we pass in the future?" Kennedy said, mocking the assurances Mukasey gave to Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) that he would enforce an anti-torture law if Congress were to pass one. "Can our standards have really sunk so low? Enforcing the law is the job of the attorney general. It's a prerequisite, not a virtue."

Enforcing the law is even more important in a Justice Department that has been badly damaged by an attorney general who put partisan loyalty above the rule of law. The nation cannot afford to have that happen again. Yet by refusing to be clear in his answers on whether he considers waterboarding illegal, Mukasey gives no assurance that he would do anything differently than his predecessor, Alberto Gonzales.

Common Cause is urging the full Senate to vote AGAINST Murkasey's confirmation, and the organization is far from alone.

Four retired Judge Advocates General (JAGs), the legal arm of the U.S. military, declared unequivocally in a letter to Sen Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) that "waterboarding is inhumane, it is torture, and it is illegal." Twenty-four retired US intelligence officers have also weighed in, asking that the Senate Judiciary Committee hold the nomination until Mukasey clarifies his remarks. Four retired generals have also written to Leahy, agreeing that water boarding is illegal torture in all circumstances.

Judge Mukasey's disingenuous responses about torture show a contempt for Congress and a disturbing willingness to turn his back on the law when the alternative - acknowledging illegal torture - could have troubling implications for the President who nominated him.

The Senate should do the right thing for the country and for the beleaguered Justice Department and reject Mukasey and continue searching for a suitable nominee.

When the Senate failed to end the filibuster on the DC Voting Rights Act, there was a lot of talk by opponents about the Constitution.  But behind the rhetoric there is a lot of ignorance about the District - even with Senators who live and work in DC.

One myth is that DC is full of transients, who come here to work in politics for a few years and then leave.  Marc Fisher, in the WaPo, has some stats disputing that myth.  And one of his readers succintly put down this notion:

And here's Fisher's list of cities and % of people who were born in the city and still live there:  -- read more --

The Senate, a week after denying the vote to half million DC residents, this week denied Americans full access to vital information about their campaign contributions.

Once again, a single Senator stopped a simple bill that would require Senate candidates to file their campaign finance disclosure reports electronically and that those reports be posted on the internet.

The Senate's traditions and rituals are sometimes entertaining and cute, but this is just bad policy.

Who did it this time?  Senator John Ensign (R-NV), pictured at the right receiving, of all things, a technology award.  It's probably just from some Washington special interest group and basically meaningless, but the irony kills. 

Here's what the WaPo said about it:

Here's what my very serious friends at the Campaign Finance Institute said:

And, for what it's worth, here's what I said about it awhile ago.

Today, 57 Senators stood up for democracy in America, stood up against taxation without representation, stood up for the voting rights of 580,000 Americans living in the District of Columbia.

But it wasn't quite enough.  We needed 60 votes to end the filibuster led by Republican leaders Mitch McConnell and Trent Lott.  What happened to Democrat Max Baucus?  What about the great American John McCain?  This was a bipartisan bill, with 8 Republicans voting for it.  What happened to other Republicans, like Thad Cochran, Gordon Smith - why didn't they stand up to their misguided leaders and do the right thing?

Mitch McConnell sits smiling (sort of) in this photo, ironically, in front of the American flag.  Nothing to smile about, Mitch, you're disrespecting our flag.  You decided to follow your coarsest political instincts rather than stand up for your fellow Americans in DC.

DC voting rights is on the line tomorrow: Senate vote to end the filibuster on S. 1257, DC House Voting Rights Act.

Today, a press conference and rally in support of the bill outside Senate office buildings.  Fuzzy photo shows the bald head of Mayor Adrian Fenty, the white head of Jack Kemp, a Republican champion of DC and to the right Ilir Zherka, head of DC Vote and the head of the Kentucky NAACP, here to lobby Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader who's leading the opposition.

McConnell is well-known to Common Cause.  He fought campaign finance reform for years - tenaciously, smartly, but wrongly.  He's tough to beat, but we did it then - we can do it now.

Call you Senator today and urge them to vote NO on the filibuster.  NO to a filibuster blocking the fundamental right of Americans to taxation without representation!