That great duo from early in the decade is back together again, this time blocking one of President Obama's nominees:
Campaign finance mavens John McCain , R-Ariz., and Russ Feingold , D-Wis., are joining forces once again – this time to block President Obama’s nomination of labor lawyer John J. Sullivan to the Federal Election Commission.
If confirmed by the Senate, Sullivan would fill one of three Democratic seats on the evenly divided FEC, taking over from Democrat Ellen Weintraub, who continues to sit on the commission even though her term expired on April 30, 2007.
But the two senators, who succeeded in getting landmark campaign finance legislation enacted in 2002, have indicated that they will lift the hold only if Obama picks two more nominees to replace FEC Chairman Steven T. Walther, a Democrat, and commissioner Donald F. McGahn II, a Republican, whose terms ran out on May 1.
“Until the White House nominates replacements for the two other commissioners whose terms have expired, we cannot consent to Mr. Sullivan’s confirmation,” McCain and Feingold said in a joint statement. “The FEC is currently mired in anti-enforcement gridlock; the president must nominate new commissioners with a demonstrated commitment to the existence and enforcement of the campaign finance laws.” ... Melanie Sloan, executive director of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said Obama has done nothing to live up to those promises, and praised the move by McCain and Feingold. Sloan said their hold likely has little to do with Sullivan. Rather, she said, the senators are “trying to force the president’s hand” on overhauling the agency and replacing McGahn, whom she called a force for campaign finance deregulation.
“I’m really glad they did it. The FEC is a disaster, it couldn’t be worse,” Sloan said. “[Obama] is letting Don McGahn run the place into the ground.” -CQ Politics
While it goes against our nature to not abuse any Senator placing holds on Obama nominations, getting McGahn off of the FEC as quickly as possible seems like a noble effort.
