Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer Blasts White House
for Withdrawing “Holdover” FEC Commissioner David Mason as FEC Nominee After
Mason Raised Legal Questions About Senator McCain’s Effort to Withdraw from the
Presidential Primary Public Financing System

Democracy 21 Also Repeats Serious Concerns It First
Raised in 2005 about Appointing Don McGhan to Serve on FEC. McGahn
has served as NRCC Counsel and as a Campaign Finance
and Ethics Lawyer for Former Majority Leader Tom DeLay  

Statement of Fred Wertheimer

The White House today withdrew the nomination of “holdover” FEC Commissioner David Mason to serve as a Commissioner on the FEC. 

The White House dumped Mason after President Bush had twice proposed Mason for the FEC in the last two and a half years, in December 2005 as a recess appointment and in January 2007 as a nominee to the FEC for Senate Confirmation.

The only apparent reason for President Bush to drop Commissioner David Mason at this stage, an FEC candidate he had twice proposed for the Commission, is to prevent him from casting an adverse vote against Senator McCain on important enforcement questions pending at the Commission. The questions deal with Senator McCain’s request to withdraw from the presidential primary public financing system and the consequences of a loan the McCain campaign took out and the collateral provided for the loan.

Under these circumstances, President Bush’s dumping of Mason can only be viewed as a bald-faced and brazen attempt to wrongly manipulate an important enforcement decision by the nation’s campaign finance enforcement agency.

The White House action today represents the political equivalent of obstruction of justice.

It is very similar to the improper way in which the White House and Justice Department previously removed U. S. Attorneys from their positions because of what they did, did not do or might do in various enforcement matters.

The nomination of Don McGhan for confirmation to serve on the FEC simply affirms that the White House and Senator Mitch McConnell have little interest in the enforcement of the nation's campaign finance laws.

Mr. McGhan, who has served as counsel to the NRCC and as a campaign finance and ethics lawyer for former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, has shown disdain for the FEC and for the nation’s campaign finance laws in his previous actions.

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