The Wall Street Journal's Washington Wire is right. Complaints are piling up at the FEC.  It's time for Senator Mitch McConnell to end the impasse.  Help us Fix The FEC:

The political gridlock that has left the Federal Election Commission unable to do its job of enforcing campaign finance laws has prompted one outside liberal watchdog group to launch a new Web site protesting the inefficiency.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington today launched FixTheFec.Org, which puts the blame on Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell for blocking the votes needed to fill three of the six-member FEC’s four vacant seats.

Congress and the White House have been at odds over the normally mundane appointments because many leading Democrats oppose the nomination of Republican pick Hans Von Spakovsky and are pushing for separate up or down votes on each of the three pending nominees. The White House and Senate Republican leaders want one vote to approve the nominees together. The dispute has left the panel without a quorum and unable to make any rulings since December.

(For more on the stand-off, read this Wall Street Journal story.)

In any other year, the consequences of an FEC political stand-off might not be so great, but the complaints are piling up at the commission in a high-stakes election year that is shattering previous campaign finance records.

Today's Washington Post takes note of several new complaints filed with the FEC.  More importantly, the Post reports that nothing can be done with those complaints until we fix the FEC, which is why CREW launched FixTheFEC.org:

All the complaints highlight a problem that the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is now attempting to spotlight with its new website, Fixthe FEC.org.

With the senate in a prolonged stalemate over how to proceed on President Bush's nominations to fill four vacancies on the six-member commission, the FEC has been unable to do much of anything with these and other complaints. It takes four votes of the commission to rule on complaints, but the FEC has only two members.

"In the midst of the presidential campaign season, the Federal Election Commission has been rendered ineffectual," said the CREW's executive director, Melanie Sloan, in a statement. "Incredibly, the FEC cannot address any complaints against presidential candidates or a series of public financing questions. With no one on the watch, who's to say some unscrupulous souls won't violate the law in order to gain advantage in an election? Once an election is over there is no unseating the winners, whether or not they played by the rules."

CREW's new website, FixTheFEC.org, is getting some attention today.

Scott Shepard at "Window on Washington," the Cox News Blog reports we are trying to end the impasse at the FEC:

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.”

Jonathan Stein at the MoJo Blog thinks we're "trying the impossible":

CREW's new website is a badly needed effort, but one that is unlikely to succeed. I say that with a tone of resignation. The FEC is not a sexy topic and no one but good government reformers gets excited about it. Besides, there is no one whose interests are directly affected by the agency's work. This was a point made to me by Robert Lenhard, a former nominee for the FEC who withdrew his name from consideration recently because of the delay in getting the FEC fixed. "This is an agency without a constituency group," he said. "There is no one other than the American people in some sort of broad and abstract sense whose self-interest is advanced by the existence of the FEC. There is no group that comes forward and says, 'No, no, no. This agency's work is essential and must continue.'"

Good luck to the folks at CREW in their fight on this issue. They'll need it.

Today, CREW launched a new website, FixtheFEC.org, created to prompt Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to allow for a vote on federal election commissioners that can get the FEC back to policing federal elections business. We are in the midst of the presidential campaign season, but the Federal Election Commission (FEC) has been rendered ineffectual -- unable to perform its function, to administer and enforce campaign finance laws. Melanie Sloan explains:

CREW’s site features a letter that can be emailed from FixtheFEC.org directly to Sen. McConnell’s office. It also posts all of the FEC complaints that have not been addressed this year. Currently, there are nineteen.

Because of the intransigence of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) isn't functioning.  The FEC staff continues to provide advice to candidates for federal office.  CREW thinks the FEC got it wrong on an issue involving congressional candidate Todd Goldup "who wanted to pay himself a salary out of campaign funds even though he hasn't been earning any money otherwise. Goldup had no income last year because he's a stay-at-home father to his two young children."  The FEC staff said no, but CREW thinks that was the wrong decision, via Jeff Birnbaum:

"Hopefully, when the FEC has a quorum again they will revisit this issue and reach the obviously correct conclusion," said Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. "Any homemaker, regardless of outside earned income, is worth way more than any member of Congress."

Playing politics with the FEC has left campaign finance controversies surrounding presidential candidates unanswered. That has to end as Melanie Sloan stated very clearly today:

The FEC chairman’s letter warning Senator John McCain that he cannot leave the presidential public financing system should convince President Bush and the Senate that it is time to get off the dime and reach a compromise to get the FEC back up and running. Smack dab in the middle of the presidential election is not the time to play politics with the FEC, the enforcer of the nation’s campaign finance laws. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell must allow individual votes on each of the four FEC nominees so that the FEC can be reconstituted and rule on issues such as whether or not Senator McCain can withdraw from the presidential public financing system. By blocking the vote on the four nominations, Senator McConnell has left the FEC paralyzed. This impacts not only Senator McCain, but leaves other important campaign finance controversies unanswered as well such as the legality of the ads being run in Texas and Ohio by the recently formed pro-Clinton 527 organization.

As we noted below, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has garnered some home-state attention.

In our report, Beyond DeLay, CREW named McConnell one of the most corrupt members of Congress.  Here's why:  

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is a fourth-term member of the senate. He is the Minority Leader in the 110th Congress and sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Senator McConnell’s ethics issues stem from earmarks he has inserted into legislation for clients of his former chief of staff, lobbyist Gordon Hunter Bates, in exchange for campaign contributions as well as the misuse of his nonprofit The McConnell Center for Political Leadership at the University of Louisville.

Gordon Hunter Bates and the Bates Capitol Group LLC

Gordon Hunter Bates served as Sen. McConnell’s chief legal counsel and then chief of staff from 1997 to 2002. After a 2003 lawsuit ended his bid for Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky, he opened a lobbying firm, Bates Capitol Group LLC (Bates Capitol). Bates Capitol clients include: E-Cavern, Voice for Humanity, Appriss Inc. and Boardpoint LLC, all of which have received earmarks thanks to Sen. McConnell. In addition, the senator rewrote legislation to help another Bates Group client, UPS Inc. All of these companies have made substantial contributions to Sen. McConnell’s campaigns.

The McConnell Center for Political Leadership

The McConnell Center for Political Leadership was founded by Sen. McConnell in 1991 as a non-profit organization for which the senator raises funds. The University of Louisville Foundation was sued by the Courier Journal of Louisville, Kentucky because the center insisted on maintaining the anonymity of its donors. In November 2004, a Kentucky court ordered the foundation to release the names of corporate donors, including donations made to the McConnell Center. Two of the largest donors to the McConnell Center are Ashland Inc. and UPS, which have donated $500,000 and $400,000 respectively. Some donations to the McConnell Center have been delivered to Sen. McConnell’s Capitol Hill office.

If, Sen. McConnell accepted donations to his campaign and political action committees in direct exchange for earmarking federal funds to clients of Bates Capitol, he may have violated the bribery statute. Similarly, if he provided legislative assistance in return for contributions to the McConnell Center he may have violated the bribery statute.

By using his position as a member of Congress to financially benefit clients of a lobbying firm owned by his former staff member, Sen. McConnell may be depriving his constituents, the United States Senate and the United States of his honest services.

Last month, CREW named Senator Mitch McConnell one of the most corrupt members of Congress in our report Beyond DeLay. 

Over the weekend, The Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader reported that McConnell has arranged earmarks for a foreign firm under investigation for bribery:

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is pushing $25 million in earmarked federal funds for a British defense contractor that is under criminal investigation by the U.S. Justice Department and suspected by American diplomats of a "longstanding, widespread pattern of bribery allegations."

McConnell tucked money for three weapons projects for BAE Systems into the defense appropriations bill, which the Senate approved Oct. 3. The Defense Department failed to include the money in its own budget request, which required McConnell to intercede, said BAE spokeswoman Susan Lenover.

One might think, given the scrutiny of earmarks and the public concern about corruption, that Senator McConnell might want to avoid interacting with a firm under investigation for bribery. That's what CREW's Melanie Sloan told the Herald-Leader:

Ethics watchdogs say they're surprised McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, would continue to give earmarks and take donations from a corporation in hot water with his own government. McConnell should keep his distance, said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

"Most politicians decide that a scandal is a good time to stop doing business with a company, at least until the scandal is over," Sloan said. "Particularly when we're talking about a criminal investigation over bribery. You would think that a member of Congress would want to steer clear of anyone accused of bribery."

You would think that. But many members of Congress still haven't clued in.

Yesterday on ABC's "This Week,"  Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell maintained that the Craig case is in the hands of the Ethics Committee -- and that's all he'll say now:

In news that no doubt made Senate Republicans cringe, Senator Larry Craig, Republican of Idaho, is scheduled to do his first network television interview since his guilty plea in an undercover sex sting and his decision to remain in the Senate even though he has been unable to get the plea withdrawn.

Appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, did not appear too enthusiastic about the television blitz.

“The Senate Ethics Committee will be dealing with these allegations surrounding Senator Craig,” he said. “That’s the way we handle it procedurally in the Senate.”

Still no word from McConnell on ethics investigations of Senators Vitter or Stevens.

MSNBC has a handy Q & A on how the ethics process works in the Senate. 

The Senate GOP caucus has become a hotbed for ethical scandals this year. In response, CREW has requested ethics investigations of Senators Ted Stevens, David Vitter and Larry Craig. In an effort to thwart ethics investigations, Senator John Ensign has stopped progress on a campaign disclosure bill by demanding an amendment requiring disclosure from ethics watchdog groups, like CREW.

So instead of cleaning up the GOP caucus, Senate leaders are obsessing over CREW. TPMmuckraker has the details:

Watchdogs, at least, think the issue is clear. Ensign's (or McConnell's, if you prefer) amendment is obviously targeted at Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which has filed a number of ethics complaints of late against Republican senators, such as Sens. David Vitter (R-LA), Ted Stevens (R-AK), and Larry Craig (R-WY). "I think Sen. Ensign should look at the ethics issues of members of his caucus like Vitter and Stevens and spend less time worrying about how CREW is funded," the group's spokeswoman Naomi Seligman Steiner told me. "But we're glad we're on his radar. Clearly he's concerned about us. Maybe we're making a difference. That seems OK to me."

Chris Farrell of Judicial Watch (which has filed complaints against Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and others) had a similar take. "That sounds to me like an attempt to suppress scrutiny.... It's a sad reversal of the kind of scrutiny there ought to be of politicians who use their office to broker favorable deals for themselves."