The New York Times calls shenanigans on doings at the Federal Election Commission: as Senate Republicans, led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) champion the nomination of Hans von Spakovsky who's well-known for his opposition to voting rights legislation, current FEC chairman David Mason is fired after he suggest Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) may have broken the law in his efforts to extricate himself from the presidential public financing system.

And who will replace Mason?

The White House proposes to replace Mr. Mason with Donald McGahn, a Republican warhorse. F.E.C. commissioners are expected to be aligned with a party — one of the new Democratic nominees is a staff member of Senator Charles Schumer of New York — but Mr. McGahn has a particularly partisan background. He was the party’s Congressional campaign counsel — and the ethics lawyer for Tom DeLay, the former House majority leader from Texas who left office under multiple clouds.

Oh, excellent. The FEC is already crippled by unfilled commissioner seats and is unable to render binding decisions on campaign finance questions in the midst of the most expensive presidential race in history. This recent decision further restricted its oversight capacity.