Mar. 3, 2008
Partisan Gridlock Endangers Election Integrity
By John Thompson
RALEIGH – Sen. John McCain said when he passed legislation that dramatically altered how the Federal Election Commission (FEC) operates, “we won because we're going to take the government out of the hands of the special interests and give it back to you.”
Now he finds himself in the crosshairs of the very regulatory agency he gave more teeth, except it appears those teeth are nothing more than dentures, sitting in a glass on the nightstand for the 2008 election cycle.
Last year, McCain opted into the presidential public financing system, which offers matching funds to candidates in exchange for abiding by strict spending limits. His coffers low on cash, he may have used his promised participation in the program as collateral to secure a loan for his campaign.
Now that he is the presumptive GOP nominee and finding his campaign’s finances improved considerably, McCain is seeking to back out of the program. He notes that he has not yet received a cent from the fund, and as such should be free to opt out. Critics say that his campaign benefited from his anticipated participation when he secured the loan, and he should be required to stay in the program through the remainder of the primary election period.
If his critics are correct, McCain will have relatively little money to spend before the Republican National Convention in September, effectively silencing his campaign for months while his Democratic opponent will be free to spend millions to get his or her message out to voters.
However, the fate of McCain’s campaign cannot be determined because the one body that could provide a clear answer -- the FEC -- has been left a hollow shell. There are only two members currently sitting on a commission that seats six, meaning there is no quorum to decide McCain’s question, or any others for that matter. In essence, the FEC will be sidelined for this election cycle -- unless the U.S. Senate acts soon and swiftly.
Normally, the FEC includes three members from each party, providing an even partisan split. There are currently three nominees (two Democrats and one Republican) who await confirmation by the Senate. But certain Senate Democrats find the lone Republican nominee unacceptable. Republicans have refused to choose another nominee. A deadlock has ensued.
The current FEC chairman, David Mason, correctly expressed to Congress the importance of a functioning FEC when he said, “conducting and regulating elections is the most fundamental and necessary task for the government of a free people.”
Unfortunately, the question of McCain’s financing and all other issues awaiting clarity from the FEC gather dust on Chairman Mason’s stack of “things to do when I have a quorum.” Voters, too, are forced to wait and see if the very body charged with enforcing federal campaign finance laws is able to fulfill its duty, or is rendered powerless as our nation faces one of the most important elections in a generation.
They can hardly be blamed if the American people assume the Senate is content to make them wait, leaving the fate of the FEC languishing in partisan gridlock, and instead using taxpayer money to focus on the more pressing issues of what Roger Clemens may or may not have injected and if Patriots coach Bill Belichick taped his opponents before the Super Bowl.
A word of caution to the Senate, which seems slow to fulfill its duty to the FEC: There is nothing so effective in harmonizing the outrage of otherwise divided Americans as politicians that appear to put party politics above the good of the nation. As Aristotle once said, “A common danger unites even the bitterest enemies.”
John Thompson is the executive director of the N.C. Center for Voter Education, a Raleigh-based nonprofit and nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving elections in North Carolina.
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