Bye Bye Constitution

Will we appoint anybody to the Federal Election Commission so it can function?

Is the Vice Chairman of the Federal Election Commission really stepping down on August 31? The FEC was not very effective in recent months and even in recent years but the law says it must have four members for a quorum. This will leave only three. Unless at least one member is appointed the FEC is essentially “neutered” and it cannot do anything including rule on investigations into voter issues. Trump has nominated one member in 2017 but there has been no action to confirm by the Senate. Why would they since the FEC had a Republican majority in recent years?

Yahooo … For Federal elections it will be back to the “Wild West”. The “sheriff” has left town.

Not only will the commissioners be totally ineffective the staff needed to investigate has shrunk over the years and that reflects the drastically declining number and dollar value of fines leveed by the FEC. Some of the staff shortages include no General Council, no Inspector General, and no Deputy Inspector General to name a few key slots.

The design of a six member commission was also prone to gridlock and no decisions in prior years since there were frequently tie votes so no decision was taken. But at one point, based on fines, it appears they did try to enforce Federal election laws but that was…