This post appears at TPMmuckraker. Also, Gerry Hebert of the Campaign Legal Center has released this statement:

Today, the Campaign Legal Center calls on President Bush to withdraw the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky to the FEC. Though his recess appointment expired, von Spakovsky’s nomination remains pending and the FEC is down to two commissioners. It is now time for President Bush to decide if he wants the FEC to function at all.
We call on President Bush to do this because it was his decision to nominate von Spakovsky in the first place. Given his record of suppressing minority voting rights and partisan misdeeds at the Justice Department, von Spakovsky should never have been rewarded with a recess appointment by the Bush Administration, let alone a formal confirmation by the Senate.
But President Bush is not alone in creating the stalemate that has left the FEC with only two commissioners (out of six). Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s decision not to allow a simple up-or-down vote in the Senate on von Spakovsky helped cement the current deadlock. Rather than face defeat in the Senate on the von Spakovsky nomination, McConnell chose to torpedo two other FEC nominees who suffered from none of the infirmities that plagued von Spakovsky.
One press report from yesterday showed that even von Spakovsky knows his confirmation is not going to happen. In an e-mail reportedly sent New Year’s Eve, the day his recess appointment expired, von Spakovsky told supporters that his time at the FEC had come to an end and that even he now understands that he is not confirmable. President Bush should immediately withdraw von Spakovsky’s nomination and submit a new consensus nominee to the Senate for prompt confirmation.
Regrettably, outright contempt for our nation’s campaign finance laws has not blocked FEC nominations before — or Brad Smith and a few other notables would never have served on the FEC. But von Spakovsky’s partisan misuse of the Justice Department to undermine minority voting rights went so far beyond the pale that his confirmation was doomed from the outset.
Too often the FEC is hamstrung by the partisan make-up of the Commission, but even a weak enforcement entity is far better than no enforcement entity at all. The current impasse must be resolved, especially given the fact that it is an election year. At this juncture, the ball is in President Bush’s court.
The Campaign Legal Center urges the President to withdraw the von Spakovsky nomination and allow the confirmation process for qualified FEC nominees to move forward.