The Electoral Commission is not necessarily my favourite body. I have already described its handling of an investigation clearing the Tory-donor-funded Constituency Campaigning Services as an example of a watchdog that neither barks nor bites.
But I feel compelled to come to its defence over what looks like a negative and spiteful campaign in parliament to slash the salary of the new chair, Jenny Watson, from £150,000 to £63,000 a year being waged by Bob Spink, the former Conservative and now Ukip MP.
The Commons authorities have already bowed to Spink by cutting her salary from £150,000 to £100,000. As a result she will work three days a week instead of the five-day week of the present chairman, Sam Younger.
But the rolling over of Sir Peter Viggers, head of the Commons committee that recommends her appointment to parliament means that MPs have scented blood.
Like of pack of hounds who see a vixen on the run, the government seems quite relaxed to leave her wounded in a ditch while MPs take it out on the elections watchdog. I wonder why. Spink tells me that he raised the matter because he thinks the Electoral Commission is a poor body that fails to police electoral returning officers, fails to increase voting turnout and is slow on issues such as votes at 16.
He also thinks that her appointment is one of the "jobs for the boys", like the recent pay rise for Richard Thomas, the information commissioner, from £98,000 to £140,000.
"£63,000, a MP's salary, is money enough" says Spink. In that he is supported by David Taylor, the Labour MP for Leicestershire North West, who makes it clear that this is not a personal issue against Watson. All this goes down very well in Essex by the way.
Personal or not, I suspect another agenda. MPs hate the Electoral Commission because it polices their spending and is responsible for a lot of bad headlines when MPs fail to declare their expenses.
Victims include Peter Hain, the former work and pensions secretary, over £100,000 of undeclared expenses on his failed deputy leadership campaign; and Ukip itself, which is in serious trouble for not declaring a raft of party spending. So why not bash the impudent inquirer - however flawed - who causes all this angst?
There is, however, a far better way. If the Electoral Commission has its failings, the right venue to challenge them is at a detailed hearing by the Commons public administration committee, which can explore their record.
Drag Watson before them and make her sweat over the commission's omissions.
What is not permissible, in my view, is to take potshots at Watson, who by all accounts was a fearless chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission, a campaigner for equal pay and maternity rights and not afraid of going to court on behalf of workers.
I suspect she might be quite a good chair of the commission. Parliament does itself no good in sniping at her in this squalid way.
