Common Cause Weekly Update - May 27, 2008
Read about this past week's efforts by Common Cause. We have another occasion to celebrate: Common Cause is relaunched in the state of Hawaii. Federal Elections Commission (FEC): Time to Rethink It
CC President Bob Edgar sent a letter on May 21 to the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration Chair, Senator Dianne Feinstein, to coincide with their meeting to consider the nominations of three candidates to the FEC. He stated that it is time to rethink the FEC. He urged them to take advantage of the opportunity their meeting affords by embarking on a plan to create a new and better designed federal election agency that could enforce the campaign finance laws Congress passes and that would avoid the politicization that has made the current FEC an ineffective and failed agency. CC believes there are models for an FEC that Congress can adopt that will put upholding the nation’s campaign finance laws above party loyalty. One model of other more effective law enforcement agencies, for example, are those agencies headed by a single administrator who is appointed for a fixed term by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
FEC, lobbyists, campaign reform
By Josh Zaharoff
Posted on Fri May 23, 2008 at 03:07:36 PM EST
Two Post editorials today on campaign finance and election issues. The first criticizes the recent attention to lobbyists within the Obama and McCain campaigns, and includes a strong argument for public financing. My take: the Post is mostly right. They're wrong to dismiss the lobbyist question entirely--it IS a powerful illustration of how power players and powerful influences move within Washington and through federal campaigns--but they're right that it's not a long-term prescription for change. This is, as we suspect both candidates know, a silly exercise. Lobbyists are a symptom of a larger problem that can't be fixed by turning them into political pariahs. The real problem is the distorting influence on public policy of moneyed interests; lobbyists are merely a particularly efficient delivery vehicle for the money that candidates need to satisfy their fundraising habits. The most effective cure would be to free lawmakers of this addiction by providing for public financing of campaigns, a solution that is, admittedly, a long way off. The second piece takes a look at the FEC -- or lack thereof -- and highlights one of the most egregiously partisan nomination maneuvers in an agency that is defined by partisan maneuvers. Common Cause Weekly Update
Here's a recap of Common Cause's work over the past two weeks. We're celebrating hard-won victories regarding the FEC and FCC and highlighting other important work throughout the country.
Federal Election Commission (FEC): We Stopped The White House Again!
On May 16 controversial White House nominee Hans von Spakovsky withdrew his name from consideration for a position on the FEC. Common Cause, working with a coalition of voting rights and reform groups, had opposed von Spakovsky because of his work at the Justice Department rolling back voting rights laws.
FEC History: Wayne Hays
By Ed Davis
Posted on Mon May 19, 2008 at 04:18:20 PM EST
Wayne Hays
My former colleague, Meredith McGehee, has a scathing, incisive piece on the pathetic Federal Election Commission in Roll Call today ($$ - but an excerpt here from Josh Z). In it she says: But the stalemate is a symptom of the underlying problem intentionally built into the statute. The FEC was designed for deadlock. Who was a key player in the design of the FEC 30+ years ago? A US Rep long forgotten to history, but a fearsome power in the House at the time. Wayne Hays chaired the House Administration Committee and the DCCC, wielding power over everything from campaign laws to campaign money and office furniture -- and abusing his power to a degree that would make Tom Delay envious. When Hays did not succeed in blocking reform legislation entirely, he made sure that the FEC would not be able to enforce the law. He was brought down in a scandal - hiring a "secretary", Elizabeth Ray, who later said, "I can't type, I can't file, I can't even answer the phone." But part of his legacy, the FEC, lives on.
"Failure to Enforce Commission"
By Josh Zaharoff
Posted on Mon May 19, 2008 at 12:43:56 PM EST
The good news about Hans von Spakovsky withdrawing his name from FEC nomination should not obscure the need for a fundamental overhaul of the FEC. As Meredith McGehee writes in today's Roll Call (sub req'd), the months-long drama over the FEC highlights its overtly partisan and perpetually ineffective history, and she calls for an overhaul to what she labels the "Failure to Enforce Commission." Next year, Congress should deep-six the current FEC and replace it with a new agency as proposed in pending bipartisan legislation. Instead of a deadlocked commission, a new agency would consist of a chairman and two other members appointed by the president from different parties. The chairman, serving a 10-year term, would have broad powers to manage the agency. This structure will help avoid the deadlocks that have plagued the FEC and prevented proper enforcement, resulting in travesties such as the soft-money abuses by the presidential candidates and party committees in the 1996 elections and allowing the problems posed by 527s to explode. The new agency could impose civil monetary penalties or issue cease-and-desist orders in the event of violations, and enforcement proceedings would be conducted before impartial administrative law judges.
The resolution of the von Spakovsky stalemate was certainly overdue. But the stalemate is a symptom of the underlying problem intentionally built into the statute. The FEC was designed for deadlock. In theory, the 3-3 party split is to ensure balance and fairness. In reality, it ensures either partisan warfare that prevents enforcement action or partisan collusion such as that seen at the height of the now-banned soft-money system. Hans von Spakovsky withdraws nomination -- victory
By Josh Zaharoff
Posted on Fri May 16, 2008 at 05:57:30 PM EST
Campaign finance reformers, voting rights advocates, and the general public scored a victory today as Hans von Spakovsky withdrew his nomination to the FEC.
This likely clears the way for the Senate to confirm the remaining five nominees as a package. While we still have grave concerns over one of those nominees, Don McGhan, and concerns over the absence of another, David Mason, for what appears to be partisan retribution, we've said all along that Hans is not appropriate for the FEC and should not be approved. And this makes it possible that we'll actually have an FEC in time for the 2008 election, which isn't a bad thing.
Good work team, again.
Reid firing back
By Josh Zaharoff
Posted on Mon May 12, 2008 at 02:44:05 PM EST
After last week's series of disappointing non-resolutions to the FEC nomination mess, Sen. Harry Reid pushed back and demanded that the White House either remove Hans von Spakovsky or allow individual votes on the slate of FEC nominees. (Roll Call subscription req'd.) FEC mess
By Josh Zaharoff
Posted on Fri May 09, 2008 at 01:50:06 PM EST
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: We continue to oppose the White House's choice of Hans von Spakovsky to the FEC and urge Senators to vote against his confirmation.
We also oppose the nomination of Donald McGhan to the FEC. McGhan served as counsel to former Rep. Tom Delay (R-TX) on matters of campaign finance reform and ethics. As you know, Mr. Delay was indicted on campaign finance violations by the U.S. Attorney's office in Texas and was admonished repeatedly by the House Commission of Official Standards of Conduct. It would be difficult to find a more ill-suited candidate. 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.
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