FDL: TIME TO HIT THE PHONES -RE: VON SPAKOVSKY APPT TO FEC

[mod mom]

http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/09/25/hanging-on-the-telephone/

Hanging On The TelephoneŠ
By: Christy Hardin Smith

Blondie, Hangin' On The Telephone from 1978Š
Time to hit the phones again, gang. And hit them hard.

Hans Von Spakovsky - yes, the same one that Jane flagged back in 2005 - is up for a vote on Wednesday in the Senate Rules Committee for an appointment to the FEC (Federal Election Commission). Adam Lambert at ePluribusMedia has a three-part series on Mr. Von Spakovsky and why he is utterly wrong for America. And in this DKos diary, Adam covers a potential backroom deal with Reid and Schumer on allowing the Von Spakovsky nomination throughŠsense my disgust. Maha covers a McClatchey piece and some other background on Von Spakovsky's minority voter suppression activities. BradBlog has even more on the voter suppression nastiness. ThinkProgress has a letter from six former DOJ employees imploring the Rules Committee to vote "NO" on this nomination, for all our sakes.

And Digby has a run-down on Spakovsky, the Rules committee, the politics in playŠand the best headline of the bunch. And if that isn't enough, Working Assets has even more on the odious Mr. Von Spakovsky.

Here's the Rules Committee membership list, direct dial numbers, and some toll free ones as well:
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) [phone]
Chairman
Robert Bennett (R-UT) [phone]
Ranking Member
Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) [phone]
Ted Stevens (R-AK) [phone]
Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI) [phone]
Mitch McConnell (R-KY) [phone]
Christopher J. Dodd (D-CT) [phone]
Thad Cochran (R-MS) [phone]
Charles E. Schumer (D-NY) [phone]
Trent Lott (R-MS) [phone]
Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) [phone]
Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) [phone]
E. Benjamin Nelson (D-NE) [phone]
C. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) [phone]
Harry Reid (D-NV) [phone]
Patty Murray (D-WA) [phone]
Lamar Alexander (R-TN) [phone]
Chuck Hagel (R-NE) [phone]
Mark L. Pryor (D-AR) [phone]
Toll-free numbers to the switchboard (via katymine):
1 (800) 828 - 0498
1 (800) 459 - 1887
1 (800) 614 - 2803
1 (866) 340 - 9281
1 (866) 338 - 1015
1 (877) 851 - 6437
You can see why I want you to hit the phones, can't you? Please, for the love of all that is the rule of law and the Constitution, call these people today. I beg you. No, Hans Von Spakovsky. JustŠNO.
PS - Per perris' request, if everyone could please be sure to call Harry Reid's office on this one, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

[robinlynne]

1. This is extremely important DUers!

[OzarkDem]

2. Also, my message to the DNC and Dem candidates...

Not one red cent do any of you get from me until you clean up your act.

I will not fund incompetence and corruption in my own party. :argh:

[madfloridian]

6. What did the DNC do?

The DNC is not allowed to speak out on stuff congress does.
Florida is hurting the DNC bad enough, don't add to it.

[mod mom]

7. this is not about the DNC but about stopping an appointment on someone who

actively worked to suppress minority voters in his role at the DoJ.

I emailed Conyers office in case it has slipped under the radar there.

[madfloridian]

8. I meant the other poster....when people DNC in a post they start opposing

Even though it is not the DNC at all.

Your post is good idea, and FDL in on it now too.

I just don't like the loose way the term DNC is used when Dean is not supposed to speak up on stuff.

[mod mom]

9. Sorry if I misread your comment. Here is what the Campaign Legal Center says:

the Campaign Legal Center:

One final nugget set forth in the EAC documents. While serving at the FEC, von Spakovsky wrote an e-mail to EAC Commissioner Donetta Davidson in January 2007 enclosing documents that she “might be able to use on voter ID.” (027810). One was an article that von Spakovsky wrote for the Federalist Society entitled “Increasing the Security of Elections: The Effect of Identification requirements on Turnout of Minority Voters”. On the first page of the article, von Spakovsky writes: “Voter fraud is a well documented and existing problem in the United States. In the next paragraph he writes that investigations in Milwaukee, Wisconsin “found thousands of fraudulent and suspicious votes in that city, in a state where John Kerry won by only 11,384 votes in the 2004 election.” (027886). And who are among the authorities cited by von Spakovsky for these two statements ? His own law journal article that he published under the name Publius! So Hans von Spakovsky has finally found someone who agrees with his take on voter ID laws: himself. (emphasis mine)

from FDL

PLS CALL!! I have to go play mom-pls keep this kicked so more can be aware of it.

[madfloridian]

12. And I did not mean to sound grouchy to either of you.

But I am so tired of having to stay on guard about what our own party is trying to do. We should not have to monitor them so closely.

I plan to call about this.

[babylonsister]

3. Asking again-what might Reid and Schumer have to do with this?

This was found at ThinkProgress earlier this week but references a Roll Call article, which requires a subscription:

“A coalition of prominent civil rights groups is making a last-ditch push to derail controversial Federal Election Commission nominee Hans von Spakovsky less than a week before he faces a crucial test in the Senate.”

***************

I posted this on Friday but didn't get much feedback. What's goin' on, does anyone know?

This is all news to me. There are imbedded links in the OP link below for more info, too.

http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/story/2007/9/21/12302/1 ...

Reid and Schumer's secret FEC deal? (it's not good)
by clammyc rcs1
Fri Sep 21, 2007 at 12:30:02 PM EST

Note: Action item down at the bottom of this diary

I haven't seen this posted anywhere, and with the focus no longer being on the US attorney firing scandal and the relationship between many of the US attorneys and election integrity issues, I think it bears pointing out. The deal involves the reconfirmation of Hans von Spakovsky, a hyper partisan republican who has many MANY shady ties to voter suppression tactics over the past couple of decades, as one of six members of the Federal Elections Commission.

Back in May, Ice Just Ice wrote a great diary called "Keep Yer Vote Thievin' Hans Off the Federal Election Commission: Action Alert!", and I followed it up (with much help from the ePluribus Media folks) with the three-part series on Hans von Spakovsky that is linked above. Needless to say (as I will highlight yet again below), von Spakovsky is quite possibly the worst person to serve as one of the FEC Commissioners, and his recess appointment was protested by Senator Kennedy as well as a number of other legal scholars.

Additionally and more recently, von Spakovsky was implicated in a voter suppression flap in Missouri, where he shot down a lawsuit that would more fairly represent the voters and representation for local elections. Of course, the lawsuit would have allowed more minority board members as a result of the district being a largely minority district, and probably would have resulted in less republicans being elected.

All of this being said, Senators Reid and Schumer are ready to cut a deal that would allow him to be reconfirmed for a full term, despite his large role in voter suppression, controversial and illegal voter ID laws, sockpuppetry and the illegal TX redistricting that was engineered by Tom DeLay.

lots more...

http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/story/2007/9/21/12302/1 ...

[mod mom]

5. I emailed TPM to ask them to look into it, as they had excellent coverage on von spakovsky.

Any Dem who would ok this man's appt, is a traitor to their base.

[babylonsister]

18. Have they responded, mod mom? I'm a bit worried about their

role in this.

[formercia]

13. This guy is a hack operative

"von Spakovsky is quite possibly the worst person to serve as one of the FEC Commissioners, and his recess appointment was protested by Senator Kennedy as well as a number of other legal scholars."


If they let this appointment go forward, there is no way to ensure a fair election.

[mod mom]

4. THIS MAN NEEDS TO GO TO JAIL FOR MINORITY VOTER SUPPRESSION ACTIVITY NOT APPT TO FEC!

Here is Babylon Sister's post from Election Reform (but the link didn't work):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x483311

[diane in sf]

10. Done, phoned DiFi

[mod mom]

15. Thank you! It's unbelievable if they allow this scoundrel an appointment to the FEC!

[Canuckistanian]

11. Whenever I hear of Hans von Spakovsky

I think of this guy.

http://imgred.com/

Sorry. Carry on.

[corkhead]

14. Reid and Schumer seem to be too comfortable playing for the Washington Generals

[mod mom]

16. Up at TPM Now: "Voter Fraud Guru Up For Vote Tomorrow"

Voter Fraud Guru up for Vote Tomorrow
By Paul Kiel - September 25, 2007, 3:44PM
Finally, the time has come. The Senate Rules Committee will vote tomorrow on whether Hans von Spakovsky, the former Justice Department official who former employees say was key to the politicization of voting rights section, will get a term on the Federal Elections Commission. Von Spakovsky is also a veteran of Republican efforts to target voter fraud.

It's not immediately clear what will happen tomorrow. Howard Gantman, staff director for the committee, said that Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) wants a vote on each nominee separately (as opposed to considering all four nominees, Democratic and Republican, in one vote) and that she continues to have serious concerns about Von Spakovsky. He also said that no deal had been struck.

Former employees of the voting section mounted serious opposition to von Spakovsky's nomination, with a group writing in a letter to the committee that he'd been "the point person for undermining the Civil Rights Division's mandate to protect voting rights." Von Spakovsky, however, portrayed himself during his confirmation hearing as just a lawyer in the section who gave advice when it was asked. It was a portrayal with real problems -- as von Spakovsky himself tacitly acknowledged when he modified his testimony in later written answers to the committee.

Von Spakovsky also sought to spike accusations that he'd retaliated against wrong-thinking employees (i.e. lawyers overly-preoccupied with African-Americans' voting rights) by, among other things, adding negative comments to their performance evaluations. But two former lawyers told us that he'd done just that -- and then went so far as to stifle their appeals of the changes.

-snip

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004289.php

[mod mom]

17. Kicking for the evening folks.

[autorank]

19. This truly a public service. This guy is "The Horror" K*R and THANK YOU