Senate Ends Standoff With Confirmations

The Senate confirmed 16 of President Clinton’s judicial nominees to lifetime terms on the federal bench Wednesday, but only after voting to place on the Federal Election Commission a conservative professor who believes there should be no limits on political donations.

Bradley A. Smith was confirmed 64 to 35. The judges and 47 other Clinton nominations were approved either on voice vote or by wide margins.

The confirmation of Smith, who was lauded by his main Senate backer as “the most qualified nominee” in FEC history, was sharply criticized by Common Cause, the leading lobbying group for overhauling current campaign finance laws.

“The Senate has made a weak and ineffective agency even worse,” said Scott Harshbarger, the group’s president.

Countered Smith: “They don’t have any idea what I’ll do as a commissioner. They have one view of what reform is and they don’t want another voice to be heard.”

Two of Clinton’s judicial picks--Timothy B. Dyk for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and Gerard E. Lynch for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York--were criticized on the Senate floor as too inclined to be activist.

But both were confirmed, Dyk on a 74-25 vote and Lynch on a 63-36 vote.

“We hope today’s votes represent a new beginning on the road toward full and fair consideration of all nominations currently pending before the Senate,” White House spokesman Joe Lockart said. He said 36 more judicial nominations and 204 other nominations to senior government posts need to receive a hearing and/or a vote.

Until this week, Senate Republicans refused to schedule votes on any of the nominees because Democrats were blocking a vote on Smith. His nomination became a rallying point for lawmakers frustrated by the Senate’s failure to act on campaign finance legislation.

“This is a vote about whether we are serious about reform and getting some of the money out of politics,” Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) said.

“He [Smith] has long advocated the repeal of campaign finance regulation. How can he now take an oath to uphold the laws?” asked Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who made his long-standing effort to eliminate unregulated “soft money” donations a cornerstone of his unsuccessful bid for the GOP presidential nomination.

Smith, who teaches law at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, believes it is unconstitutional to limit campaign contributions and has written many scholarly articles critical of campaign laws.

He was recruited for the FEC post by the Senate’s most aggressive foe of campaign finance reforms, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

McConnell called Smith “the most qualified nominee in the 25-year history of the Federal Election Commission.”

The FEC enforces federal campaign finance law, making sure candidates comply with disclosure requirements and contribution limits. The six-member commission is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, all of whom serve six-year terms.