McCain Responds to Retraction of FEC Nominee

Republican presidential candidate John McCain is speaking out against accusations that the White House's decision to remove Republican David Mason from the Federal Election Commission has anything to do with protecting his bid for president. Campaign reformers decried the Bush administration's move this week, saying it was political retaliation after Mason questioned the legality of McCain's decision to withdraw from the primary public finance system earlier this year. Writing the McCain campaign on the FEC's behalf, Mason inquired whether the campaign used the public funds that were due to it as collateral for a campaign loan, which would have been illegal. Once McCain's political fortunes improved, he decided to forgo the public money, and repaid his loans.

"These are presidential appointments, not McCain appointments," Brian Rogers, a spokesman for McCain, told The Politico. "We obviously did not request the White House appoint or not appoint anyone." 
 
A lawyer for McCain called the controversy manufactured, stating that Mason has not yet determined that McCain violated federal campaign finance laws and wouldn't necessarily do so if he remained on the commission. Yesterday we blogged more fully about President Bush's new slate of Federal Election Commission nominees and the impasse that has left the agency disabled this year.