Jun 24, 2008 -- FEC Confirmation Vote: Statement of J. Gerald Hebert, Campaign Legal Center Executive Director

Tonight's vote was welcome news as the lack of a quorum has crippled an already dysfunctional Federal Election Commission (FEC) since December. A number of issues have piled up that must be addressed by the FEC.

In the short term the new Commissioners should act quickly on the issues that have been neglected over the past six months. We are hopeful that the lobbyist bundling disclosure provisions will be in place in time to offer voters at least some information on a few of the rainmakers behind this year's record fundraising harvest by both parties.

Unfortunately some of the most pressing matters, like the illegal activities of so-called 527 groups, will not be acted upon by the FEC until long after the election's winners take office. But the FEC's late and anemic responses this year to organizations illegally spending millions of dollars to influence elections will have nothing to do with the recent Commission confirmation impasse. Unfortunately that is par for the course every election on a commission designed to deadlock along party lines.

The lengthy standoff over a controversial nominee has drawn unprecedented attention to deep flaws in both the design and execution of the agency charged with implementing and enforcing our campaign finance laws. The next Congress should move forward with proposals to replace the dysfunctional FEC with an agency with both the power and the will to enforce the laws on the books.