Controversial Georgian Wins Round in Bid for FEC

WASHINGTON — Georgia lawyer Hans von Spakovsky moved a step closer to confirmation to the Federal Election Commission Wednesday when a Senate committee voted to package his controversial nomination with three others for consideration by the full Senate.

The panel voted to send to the floor all four FEC nominees without any recommendation after Rules and Administration Chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., announced her opposition to von Spakovsky.

"I believe this nominee is not an unbiased individual," she said.

Von Spakovsky, a Republican and former Justice Department official, has come under fire from civil rights groups for advocating voter identification requirements and especially for his role in pushing a Georgia voter ID law.

Despite the objections by Feinstein and some other Democrats, von Spakovsky has the advantage of long-standing precedent. The FEC is made up of six members, three from each party. Appointments have nearly always been considered in pairs, so that neither party can have the upper hand in the agency, which oversees and enforces federal campaign finance laws.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell warned that he would block any effort to stop von Spakovsky. "All of these nominees will move together on the Senate floor or not at all," McConnell told the committee.

Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss, a Republican, told fellow committee members that he, too, would insist that all four nominations be voted on together.

"The Democrats have the right to their nominations, and the Republicans have the right to make their nominations," Chambliss said. "That's the way it has always been."

Von Spakovsky is seeking confirmation to a full term on the election commission, where he now serves in a temporary position based on President Bush's appointment during a congressional recess, as does fellow nominee Robert Lenhard, a Democrat, the current FEC chairman.

Also going to the full Senate for a confirmation vote are Steven T. Walther, a Democrat, and Republican David Mason, who has been nominated for a second term.

Feinstein stopped short of predicting that the four will be confirmed, but she acknowledged that it could be difficult to stop von Spakovsky, since the other nominees have strong supporters in the Senate leadership. Walther, for example, was the choice of fellow Nevadan, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat.

J. Gerald Hebert, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center, a group that opposes von Spakovsky, said the Senate Rules vote showed "that no nominee's partisan record of misdeeds is enough to derail their nomination to the FEC" and restated charges that von Spakovsky had served partisan goals by pursuing policies that suppressed minority voting during his tenure at the Justice Department.

"We remain hopeful that the Senate leadership will stand tall and insist on a separate vote on the von Spakovsky's nomination," Herbert said.

Von Spakovsky's office, asked to respond to the vote, referred callers to the White House, where spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore said, "We are happy the committee acted and we encourage the Senate to confirm these nominees as soon as possible."