FEC To Return to Full Strength

Democratic boogeyman Hans von Spasky has withdrawn from consideration according to the Washington Post.

In 2006, Bush gave von Spakovsky and several others temporary recess appointments to the FEC. Rather than confirming them, however, Democrats raised questions about von Spakovsky's tenure at the Justice Department, where he was a counsel in the Civil Rights Division. Led by Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, they accused him of politicizing his oversight of voter laws.

The White House rejected those accusations again yesterday, saying von Spakovsky's "good-faith legal positions" had been vindicated by federal court rulings on issues such as voter identification laws.

"Senate Democrats put partisanship ahead of a fully functioning, bipartisan FEC," White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore said.

McConnell had demanded that the entire slate of bipartisan nominees be considered at once or that they be voted on in bipartisan packages of two nominations. That tradition has ensured that neither party can reject the other's nominees to the evenly divided six-member commission.

Unwilling to compromise, Reid and McConnell allowed the recess appointments to expire on New Year's Day. The FEC essentially has not conducted business since.

There is lots of pending business before the Commission and the new Commissioners will have lots of work to do.