Elections Panel Gets Democrat Appointee

President Bush on Friday placed Democratic attorney Ellen Weintraub on the Federal Election Commission.

The recess appointment -- made when Congress is out of session, and thereby bypassing Senate confirmation proceedings -- lasts only until the end of the next Congress.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) recommended Weintraub for the spot in May.

Bush made the nomination Nov. 19, but the full Senate did not act on it, White House spokeswoman Ashley Snee said.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had secured Bush’s promise to place Weintraub on the commission earlier this year, and an agreement was reached to name her by recess appointment after the inaction in the Senate, Snee said.

The only delay in making that appointment came from Weintraub herself, who notified the White House of possible conflicts of interest that proved to be groundless, Snee said.

McCain and other proponents of the new campaign finance law had been pressing for Weintraub to replace Democratic Commissioner Karl Sandstrom.

Sandstrom has joined three Republican commissioners on several controversial 4-2 votes that critics said opened loopholes in the new law.

Republicans contend they are simply exercising the latitude Congress gave them to interpret the law and trying to prevent the new rules from going further than Congress intended.

Weintraub is a lawyer with the Perkins Coie law firm in Washington, where her clients have included the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and its House counterpart.

Weintraub previously served as counsel to the House Ethics Committee.