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The FEC’s farcical open hearing
The FEC’s farcical open hearingBy Dana Milbank Opinion writer February 11 at 6:01 PM
@Milbank
It was a noble idea, in theory. ... The Federal Election Commission undertook an unprecedented experiment in democracy on Wednesday: It held an open-microphone hearing and invited any and all members of the public to come in unannounced and make their opinions known to the six commissioners.
....
A woman with a heavy accent gave a difficult-to-follow homily about “fairness, freedom, justice, peace, humanity, productivity” and seemingly unrelated things. “To help you understand the social problem as I have identified,” she said, “I’ve given you six attachments, including my candidate statements. I have run for public office from local to federal since 1994, including U.S. Senate.” ... A man who identified himself as a D.C. lawyer warned that “the United States is rapidly descending into a Koch brothers plutocracy!” The woman who had just testified about the antipsychotic drug applauded.
Next was Republican former congressman Ernest Istook, representing the Tea Party Patriots, who delivered a conspiratorial speech that wandered from health insurance to school lunches to electric bills. ... “Can you wrap up please?” Ravel asked.
After Istook finally finished, the D.C. lawyer began to taunt him. “AstroTurf!” he said. “Started by the Koch brothers!” ... “You don’t even know what you’re talking about,” Istook retorted. ... “You’re with Sarah Palin, you psycho!” the lawyer said before storming from the room. ... The hearing stood in recess.
