The Washington Post reports on the power struggle over what role the bureaucracy should play at the Federal Election Commission (FEC).  The Post found some space in the article for Commissioner McGahn to explain the type of activity that needs to be reigned in.  Withholding information from Commissioners on interagency cooperation with the Holder Department of Justice is concerning and indicative of more problems with the bureaucracy.

In a wide-ranging interview, McGahn said the proposed policy is aimed
at reining in the general counsel’s office, which he accused of
exceeding its authority by sharing records with the Justice Department
and then withholding information about interagency cooperation from
commissioners. The most recent head of the office, Anthony Herman, ended
his tenure Friday after submitting his resignation last month.

“This isn’t a power grab,” McGahn said. “It’s a question of who’s responsible and who’s accountable.”

McGahn
invoked the recent scandal at the Internal Revenue Service, whose
employees singled out groups with certain words in their names for extra
scrutiny. “You just can’t have an agency where the staff is sort
of left to their own devices to come up with lists and do their own
thing, because it creates such an opportunity for people to accuse the
place of playing political games,” McGahn said.