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Paul Ryan Removing Chairman of the Election Assistance Commission Who's Been Fighting Russian Hackers
Paul Ryan and the Trump White House are getting rid of the current chairman of the Election Assistance Commission, a John Boehner-picked official who has spent the past year helping states bulletproof election systems from Russian hackers. Matthew Masterson has worked tirelessly to help states protect election systems from possible cyber attacks by Russia or others.
Matthew Masterson, a member of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission who currently serves as its chairman, has been passed over for a second four-year term as one of the agency’s four commissioners. “The appointment expired in December and we are going in a different direction for our nomination.....” AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Ryan, said by email on Thursday.
Masterson has been a popular figure among state election officials, many of whom have praised his expertise and leadership on cyber security issues and expressed chagrin at his pending departure. The agency was created by Congress in 2002 to assist states in complying with federal election standards.
Masterson originally was picked by former Speaker John Boehner, a Republican and fellow Ohioan, and nominated by former President Barack Obama, a Democrat, before being confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate in 2014.
Republican leadership is complicit in the Russian election interference by their continued words and actions to ignore and/or encourage it. Treason.
The action raises fresh questions over the degree to which Trump and his fellow Republicans who control Congress are taking steps to protect the security of American elections, and some state officials have accused them of doing too little to address the threat.
There is intense scrutiny of the security of U.S. election systems after a 2016 presidential race in which Russia interfered, according to American intelligence agencies, to try to help Trump win with presidency.
This is a politically motivated move that should not be occurring.
Masterson has spent the last year as the commission’s chairman, focusing largely on election cyber security, state election officials said. Twenty-one states experienced probing of their systems by Russian hackers during the 2016 election, according to U.S. officials.
“It is pretty remarkable that in this environment, given the importance of this issue, that the speaker would choose this moment to not reappoint the person doing the most work in this area,” said Judd Choate, Colorado’s election director and the immediate past president of the National Association of State Election Directors.