Bling Bling in the ATL

Wednesday, Jan. 4

President Bush took advantage of the Congressional recess to appoint a trio of commissioners to the Federal Election Commission today, a move that was expected but has several prominent campaign finance reformers crying foul.

The newly appointed Republican commissioner is Hans von Spakovsky, a political appointee in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, who was previously a Republican election appointee in Georgia. He fills the vacant GOP seat on the six-member commission that was held until last summer by Brad Smith, who has retired.

A little bit about Spakovsky -
- a key player in the 2000 Florida Election Boondoggle,
- card carrying holder of the Federalist Society
- former Republican Party Chairman in Georgia,

Spakovsky was also behind the legal opinions given supporting the Georgia Photo ID requirement laws and the Texas redistricting pet project of indicted former House Majority Leader, Tom DeLay. 4 out of 5 attorneys said the Georgia law would disenfranchise minority voters. While 8 out of 8 unaminously found the new Texas congressional map to be in violation of the law for similar reasons. Both of those decisions were overriden with the help of von Spakovsky and resulted in an effective gutting of the very heart of the 40 year-old Voting Rights Act of 1965

// posted by MMIMIKA @ 8:13 PM