On Friday controversial nominee Hans von Spakovsky took his name out of the hat of possible Federal Election Commissioners. The way is now cleared for some interrupted business at the Federal Election Commission, which is tasked with “enforc[ing] the Federal Election Campaign Act - the statute that governs the financing of federal elections,” including hearing public financing inquiries from presidential candidates. The AP gives the back-story:

Democrats have objected to Mr. von Spakovsky’s tenure at the Justice Department, where he oversaw voting rights matters. The standoff has held up other Senate confirmations to the six-member commission, which is without a quorum and has been unable to conduct business [...] Democrats have accused Mr. von Spakovsky of trying to suppress voter participation through new restrictions like voter identification laws and purges of voter rolls.

Republicans say a recent Supreme Court ruling upholding a strict Indiana voter identification law vindicated Mr. von Spakovsky’s stance on the issue.

I met Spakovsky at an April 2, 2008 lunch meeting of the Los Angeles Federalist Society that I found out about online. Spakovsky’s lecture was called “Litigating Elections: the Campaign Process in 2008.” After his talk we chatted (see photo), but he declined to be interviewed by Why Tuesday? for our vlog.