FEC Nominee Comes under Fire for Voter Rights Actions at Justice Department

WASHINGTON — Hans von Spakovsky, a former Justice Department voting rights lawyer, defended controversial voter identification requirements Wednesday as he faced sharp questions at a Senate confirmation hearing on his nomination to the Federal Election Commission.

Von Spakovsky, a Republican who has served as a voting official in Fulton County, Ga., came under criticism from Democrats for his role in giving federal clearance to a 2005 Georgia voter ID law that was later thrown out by a federal court as discriminatory.

Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said the Georgia law is seen as "a national disgrace" and asked von Spakovsky, "Can you understand the concern that a lot of people have when you still don't seem to be convinced that this was a bad law?"

Speaking in low, measured tones, von Spakovsky answered, "My recommendations on voter IDs are that they be put in such a way that people who are eligible to vote are able to vote."

Durbin called that answer "inconsistent" with his support of the now-defunct Georgia voter ID law.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee hearing, asked von Spakovsky to describe his role when the Justice Department approved a hotly disputed congressional redistricting plan for Texas that was designed by then-U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, the former Republican majority leader.

Von Spakovsky responded that his recommendation was "privileged" legal advice to Justice Department superiors who made the final decisions on whether to clear a state's voting changes.

However, he defended the Justice Department's approval of the Texas plan as a correct interpretation of the voting rights laws, although the U.S. Supreme Court later rejected part of the new map, which the court said would weaken the voting strength of Latinos in South Texas.

Von Spakovsky was introduced by fellow Georgia Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson, who called him a close friend and "extraordinary individual" who, as the son of East European immigrants, graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Vanderbilt Law School.

At the hearing, von Spakovsky was among four nominees seeking confirmation to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the six-member bipartisan panel that regulates federal campaign finance laws.

All four nominees are already serving on the FEC. Because the Senate has been slow to confirm nominees, von Spakovsky, Steven Walther of Nevada and Robert Lenhard of Maryland were appointed by President Bush to temporary terms during a congressional recess and now need formal confirmation. A fourth, David Mason of Virginia, is a holdover commissioner whose term expired and who has been nominated for a new term.

Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, said the four nominees had already formed a collegial working group and urged that they be confirmed as a group.

But von Stakovsky faces stiff resistance. The Democratic House delegations from Georgia and Texas each signed letters urging the Senate to reject his nomination.

Feinstein told him that he had become a "lightning rod" for criticism of the Justice Department and that she was disturbed that six of his former co-workers in the voting rights section had sent a 5-and-a-half-page blistering critique of his record.

Among other charges, the letter said the Republican had "injected partisan political factors into decision-making on enforcement matters" and in hiring.

Von Spakovsky told the panel that he was being singled out not because he had authority but because he was the "face from the front office" who was sent to tell the staff about new policies and changes.

Feinstein asked von Spakovsky for a point-by-point rebuttal to the letter from the former government lawyers, who include the former chief of the voting rights section, Joseph D. Rich.

The committee is scheduled to complete its information gathering by June 20 and then vote on its recommendation to the full Senate on the FEC nominees.