By Scott Shepard, Cox Newspapers Blog, April 28, 2008

28 Apr 2008 // A private watchdog group is trying to end a congressional impasse over the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the federal agency that enforces federal campaign finance laws.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) today launched a website, fixthefec.org, in an effort to pressure Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to allow a vote to get the FEC back in business.

“Since Senator McConnell has dug in his heels and refused to allow for a vote, the nation’s watchdog has been muzzled right when we need it most,” CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan said. “Incredibly, the FEC cannot address any complaints against presidential candidates or a series of public financing questions.”

The FEC has six members, and a quorum of four is needed to act. Right now, the FEC has four vacancies, and McConnell will not allow a Senate confirmation vote unles all four nominees are voted on at the same time.

Such a procedure would make it easier to get confirmation of Hans von Spakovsky, who served on the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections in Atlanta before becoming an assistant attorney general in the Justice Department.

At Justice, he headed the Civil Rights Division and was instrumental in the approval of a controversial Georgia ID voter law over the objections of the department’s career staff. His name has also surfaced in the on-going congressional investigation into the Bush administration’s dismissal of U.S. attorneys.