Tipsheet

Another Biden Nominee Shown to be Partisan Activist, and This One Could Have Role in FEC

The Biden administration seems to have a terrible habit of nominating some rather partisan nominees. Especially in such a digital age as today, the Internet is forever. It's not hard and it doesn't take long to do a deep dive look on the social media activity of nominees, and for key roles no less. The latest partisan activist in the hot seat appears to be Dara Lindenbaum, a nominee for Commissioner of the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

Lindenbaum has a particular interest in tweeting about the For the People Act, which would amount to a federal takeover of elections. Lindenbaum was also part of Fair Fight Action, an organization led by Stacey Abrams. 

When that bill failed, the White House went on to promote a similar bill, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, with President Joe Biden himself even using demonizing language in a speech from January to bully Republicans into supporting the bill. None budged, and that bill also failed in the U.S. Senate, due to the filibuster. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) then moved to change the Senate rules in order to get it passed, in a move that failed as well.

When it comes to so-called voting rights as well as issues on race and support for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, Lindenbaum also has a great interest in retweeting Abrams and other far-left activists. 

The American Accountability Foundation (AAF) has been tracking Biden nominees. In a statement for Townhall, AAF founder explained why his organization opposes Lindenbaum's nomination so strongly. 

"The playbook of winning for the far-left activists funded by dark money is to use taxpayer dollars and full power of the federal government to control elections," he said. "Dara Lindenbaum for Federal Election Commission spent her entire career involved in partisan elections, not to hold accountable candidates and their campaigns, but to advance extremist agendas like Black Lives Matter and radicals like Stacey Abrams that undermine our democratic Republic. We oppose people like Lindenbaum who hold hateful and bent ideologies that bring chaos to the democratic process and division instead of peace."

Last March, Neera Tanden pulled her name out of consideration for the head of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), due to her incessant partisan activity on social media. This included targeting Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who joined Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) in signaling her opposition to the nomination. Tanden went on to become a senior adviser and a White House staff secretary.

Gigi Sohn, who has been nominated to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) and just on Thursday advanced out of the Senate Commerce Committee thanks to a party-line vote., similar has a history of partisan tweets and retweets, including those still up on her Twitter account, as I highlighted last month. In light of her advancement on Thursday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), as Katie covered, has warned that the FCC is "a particularly dangerous place" for her.

"My principal concern with Ms. Sohn is that she has expressed a significant willingness to use government power against political enemies, and to use government power as a tool of censorship and I think the FCC is a particularly dangerous place for a partisan who is willing to try to muzzle those with who she disagrees," he said. "There was a time when there were Democrats willing to speak out in defense of free speech. That time seems to have passed. I think that is unfortunate. I hope that at least some in the Democrat caucus continue to value free speech and don't want to see government power abused."   

Lindenbaum's nomination was announced by the White House on January 21, 2022.