Toothless Growl
Although their bark has always substituted for their bite, the Federal Election Commission is all that stands between you and every damn crooked politician in America.
And now, they are at a full stop.
Vice Chair Matt Petersen Resigning, Leaving Agency Without A Quorum and a Dysfunctional Agency Even More Powerless
Now the FEC will not be able to hold meeting, initiate audits, vote on enforcement matters, issue advisory opinions or engage in rule making.
This is every politicians sweetest dream. No adits, no enforcement.
You know what I think? I think Donald Trump is just waiting for everyone to resign so he can declare himself king, get a sash ribbon and some metals, carry around a sword poking things, and make Melania stop looking at Justin Trudeau that way.
That’s what I think.
“But it will be business as usual in other ways: answering questions, litigating cases, maintaining our website, conducting ongoing audits, processing complaints…”
Alleviating your fears so it won’t be quite as big a shock.
1so is this a position the prez needs to appoint? congress must approve? in any case, what are the odds the man was paid to leave his position in order to leave the FEC neutered for the duration. everything stinks so bad right now, i can’t tell which thing smells worse on any given day. or why it stinks.
2No. Das Fuehrer.
It might be time for ordinary citizens leave some day. Keeping my passport current and brushing up my Spanish and French.
This is getting scary…
3Sarah O @ We seem to be shy on Democrats.
The commission allows 3 members per each party. The Senate to approve.
Commissioners are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
By law, no more than three Commissioners can represent the same political party, and at least four votes are required for any official Commission action. This structure was created to encourage nonpartisan decisions.
Commissioners serve in staggered six-year terms; two seats are subject to appointment every two years. The Chair of the Commission changes every year, with no member serving more than once per term.
The Commission meets in closed sessions to discuss matters that, by law, must remain confidential, and in public to formulate policy and vote on legal and administrative matters.
Current
Ellen L. Weintraub Chair Democrat
Matthew S. Petersen Vice Chairman Republican (left)
Caroline C. Hunter Republican
Steven T. Walther Independent
https://www.fec.gov/about/leadership-and-structure/
4Oops, left out two vacant spots.
same link:
5https://www.fec.gov/about/leadership-and-structure/
Chalk up another one for Moscow Mitch – didn’t let any nominations get to a vote.
6Great! Who needs election oversight, after all? Terrific for Republicans, who have shown that they’re willing to cheat to win; not so terrific for the rest of us.
7No election oversight.
8Another way to win the 2020 election with 41% of the vote.
Impeach. Impeach impeach impeach. Impeach. Impeachment. Impeach Trump. Impeach impeach impeach. Impeach. Nancy Pelosi, Impeach.
9Another arguement for Warren v. Biden.
10A system that is based upon the supposition that both parties wish for the country to be well governed has been shown to be a failure when one side (thug’s) are nihilists intent upon gathering more power and wealth no matter the cost.
So the system where regulatory agencies are counting on separate party leaders to nominaite and approve “honest” brokers is dead.
The thug’s are past masters of scamming this system. Remember when the twit appointed a thuglican chair to the equal rights commission, a seat by law that was designated for a D, but since his puppet “switched” party registration just before being nominiated he was technically a D, you know like lipinski or cuellar.
Biden is argueing to return to the days where thugs are offered respect and the presumption of good will no matter that recent history has shown that to be an illusion of ignorant “useful” idiots on the part of the D’s.
Warren on the other hand recognizes and wishes to address the trogalyte behavior of the supremeists ( be they white, christianists, lieatarians, misognists) that is the thuglican party and wishes to change the system to deprive them of their ill gotten control over government, finance, law and the other lever off power.
Would love to see her push for return to days when undesireable aliens such as murdock and the moonies could not own any media outlets inside the US just to start.
In a statement, FEC chairwoman Ellen Weintraub said the agency would be ready and willing to do whatever was necessary to continue its mission, irrespective of quorum or enforcement.
“The FEC will still be able to shine a strong spotlight on the finances of the 2020 campaign,” said Weintraub.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/08/27/democracy-watchdog-warns-fec-courting-disaster-heading-2020-elections-without-quorum
repost:
If DID NOT VOTE were a candidate in 2016
11https://brilliantmaps.com/did-not-vote/
WE know the Rs cannot win an open, fair and free election. They’ve succeeded in gaming the electoral system through gerrymandering and such.
Republicans are a rot on this country. And sometimes the Ds seem complicit.
12Litigation, litigation, LITIGATION! If there’s not enough commissioners on the FEC to take action, SUE THE BEJEEZUS out of the current administration.
Failure to do due diligence as a start, intent to subvert the will of Congress for a second, and, oh, yeah, attempting to fix an election… or is that ‘electioneering?’
Isn’t this currently in Obama/Holder’s wheelhouse?
13Only slightly off-topic:
https://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/459067-mississippi-officials-confirm-multiple-cases-of-voting-machines-changing
Reason we’re hearing about it: the machines are changing the votes for a Republican in a primary. If it were the general elections you can be sure it’d be votes for the Democrat getting flipped over to a Republican – and nary a word would be said by state officials.
I’m sure when the U.S. starts buying Ivanka-branded voting machines, things will be much better:
https://www.bustle.com/p/ivanka-trump-trademark-for-voting-machines-was-approved-by-china-heres-what-that-means-13095260
14Experience has shown me that the FEC is pretty good about going after the small fry. Need I say more?
15