FEC Nominee Faces Tough Questions about Record on Voting Rights
Feature Story by Celia Rhoads - 6/15/2007
Hans von Spakovsky, President Bush's nominee to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), faced harsh criticism from Senate Democrats at a Rules and Administration Committee hearing on June 13.
Three other nominees also sought confirmation to the FEC at the hearing, but committee members paid the most attention to von Spakovsky, a former senior attorney in the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.
Von Spakovsky has been accused by former colleagues and voting rights activists of attempting to suppress poor and minority voter participation during his three-year tenure in the Division from 2003 to 2005.
"Mr. von Spakovsky played a major role in the implementation of practices which injected partisan political factors into decision-making on enforcement matters and into the hiring process," said six former career staffers at the Justice Department, in a letter to committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D. Calif., and Ranking Member Bob Bennett, R. Utah.
"Why should we vote to confirm you with this on the record and knowing the things that happened at Justice?" asked Feinstein, who quoted the letter on numerous occasions throughout the hearing.
The letter, which charged von Spakovsky with being "the point person for undermining the Civil Rights Division's mandate to protect voting rights," also implicated him as a key voice in a decision to override career staff and approve a law in his native state of Georgia, which required voters to show photo identification before casting ballots.
The law was later struck down by a federal judge, who likened it to Jim Crow-era poll taxes on minority voters.
"Serious questions have been raised about whether or not you were respectful of the right of Americans to vote," Sen. Dick Durbin, D. Ill., told von Spakovsky, calling the voter ID law a "national disgrace."
In response to the allegations, von Spakovsky said he was not the "decision maker" on the matter and refused to discuss his recommendations further, characterizing them as "privileged" legal advice.
In another line of questioning about his role in thwarting a Department of Justice investigation into discriminatory voter ID provisions in Minnesota, von Spakovsky said he could not recall his involvement, even though it was documented in a May 31 Los Angeles Times article.
Sen. Bennett, who was among the Republicans defending von Spakovsky, urged the committee to confirm all four nominees "as a group," and said that von Spakovsky's activity while at the Department of Justice had no bearing on his ability to serve on the FEC.
Many of von Spakovsky's critics disagree, including J. Gerald Hebert, former head of the Department of Justice's Voting Section.
"I think Hans von Spakovsky's record demonstrates that he will use his office to elevate partisan concerns among legitimate law enforcement concerns," said Hebert, during a June 7 Brennan Center for Justice event on von Spakovsky's nomination.
Numerous voting rights advocacy groups are opposing von Spakovsky, including People for the American Way, the Lawyers' Committee on Civil Rights under Law, and a number of campaign finance watchdogs. They urge Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D. Nev., to block the nomination.
Such a move could prove tricky for Sen. Reid, however, as Republicans would likely retaliate by blocking his own nominee, Steven T. Walther, a former AFSCME lawyer and Sen. Reid's campaign finance lawyer.
In addition to von Spakovsky and Walther, the Republicans nominated former commissioner, David V. Mason, and the Democrats nominated Robert D. Lenhard, former associate general counsel for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
The committee is expected to vote on the nominations by the end of the summer.
