TPM Reports on Spakovsky's Return
Hans von Spakovsky is likely to be confirmed to a volunteer post on a commission that advises the US Commission on Civil Rights (USCCR), along with a attorney who is a member of the Republican National Lawyer's Association, to serve on the State Advisory Committee for Virginia.
More after the jump.
Spakovsky has long been a controversial figure in voting-rights circles. He has consistently championed voter ID laws and other measures that, the evidence suggests, make it disproportionately harder for poor people and minorities to vote. As a senator in 2007, Barack Obama assailed Spakovsky's "efforts to undermine voting rights" and his "record of poor management, divisiveness, and inappropriate partisanship" during his tenure as an official at the Bush DOJ. Spakovsky was nominated by President Bush to be an FEC commissioner but his nomination was withdrawn last year when Democrats refused to confirm him.
Well, as a resident of Virginia, I, for one have no interest in seeing Spakovsky appointed to anything that resembles a position of responsibility in my state or any other. The voter-suppression guru and fan of 'National ID' has no place anywhere near the Civil Rights Commission.
Commissioner Todd Gaziano, a Spakovsky backer who is also the director of the conservative Heritage Foundation's Center for Legal and Judicial Studies, told TPMmuckraker that he was "at least one of the people" who recommended both Spakovsky and Quinn for the advisory committee -- which is an unpaid, volunteer position -- calling both "well-qualified to serve". As we reported last year, it was also Gaziano who recommended Spakovsky for a gig as a "consultant and temporary full-time employee" at USCCR in the run up to last fall's election.
According to the commission's website, the state advisory committees are "composed of citizens familiar with local and State civil rights issues." They're designed to "assist the Commission with its fact-finding, investigative, and information dissemination functions." Gaziano -- himself a former state advisory committee member for Virginia -- noted that the commission's rules require an "intellectually diverse" slate of state of advisory committee members, and said he believes the Virginia panel is "especially balanced and diverse."
How many times do we have to get rid of this excess baggage of a Republican? What does it take?
Finally, a position for Spakovsky that does not require confirmation and will ensure that his viewpoint lingers, now as it pertains to the Civil Rights of citizens in Virginia. Gaziano evidently wanted to keep appointing or recommending Spakovsky until he actually got a job gumming up the works in an area that is reeling from inattention and under-staffing in the last eight years. They are just one big happy family, huh?
Amazing.
H/T: tweet by my friend Vivian J. Paige of Norfolk.