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This Wednesday, September 26th, the Senate Rules committee will begin debate on the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky to join the Federal Election Commission (FEC) as a permanent member of that six-person commission. The FEC is charged with oversight of all provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act, which governs all aspects of financing federal elections.

Regrettably, von Spakovsky has shown such blatant political bias and inappropriate behavior in his previous work at the Department of Justice that there is simply no way the Senate should confirm him.

Von Spakovsky's tenure at the Department of Justice was so bad that six former career professionals at DOJ have written a letter to Senate leaders opposing his nomination to the FEC. Just a few of their reasons for opposing von Spakovsky include:

• He played a major role in injecting partisan politics into the decision-making process on law enforcement actions, as well as hiring and promotion practices at DOJ.
• He demanded that supervisors alter performance evaluations for individuals with whom he did not agree.
• He refused to recuse himself from the Georgia voter ID issue even though he was well known to be biased in favor of the Georgia proponents of the measure.
• He tried to impede the enforcement of the Help America Vote Act by recommending that voters be kept off the rolls for typographical errors or other mistakes made by election officials.
• He drafted legal briefs supporting Republicans concerning elections in Ohio, Michigan, and Florida just before the 2004 election -- in violation of the policy that the Civil Rights Division should not inject itself into politics on the eve of an election.

The administration of justice should always be nonpartisan -- especially when it concerns the most fundamental right of our democracy, the right to vote. Tell your Senators to reject Hans von Spakovsky and compel the President to nominate a more suitable and ethical candidate for the position of Federal Elections Commissioner.