Federal Election Commission

Federal Election Commission
FEC
Agency overview
Formed October 15, 1974
Headquarters Washington, D.C.
Employees 339 (2006)
Agency executives Lee E. Goodman, Chairman
Ann M. Ravel, Vice Chair
Website FEC.gov

The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency that was founded in 1975 by the United States Congress to regulate the campaign finance legislation in the United States. It was created in a provision of the 1975 amendment to the Federal Election Campaign Act. It describes its duties as "to disclose campaign finance information, to enforce the provisions of the law such as the limits and prohibitions on contributions, and to oversee the public funding of Presidential elections."[1]

Membership

The Commission is made up of six members, who are appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate. Each member serves a six-year term, and two seats are subject to appointment every two years.[1] By law, no more than three Commissioners can be members of the same political party, and at least four votes are required for any official Commission action. Critics of the Commission argue that this structure regularly causes deadlocks on 3-3 votes,[2] but others argue that deadlocks are actually quite rare,[3] and typically based on principle rather than partisanship.[4] From 2008 to August 2014, the FEC has had over 200 tie votes, contributing to a loosening of campaign finance restrictions and a lack of regulation of outside spending by Super PACs.[5]

The Chairmanship of the Commission rotates among the members each year, with no member serving as Chairman more than once during his or her term.

Official duties

Although the Commission's name implies broad authority over U.S. elections, in fact its role is limited to the administration of federal campaign finance laws. It enforces limitations and prohibitions on contributions and expenditures, investigates and prosecutes violations (investigations are typically initiated by complaints from other candidates, parties, "watchdog groups," and the public), audits a limited number of campaigns and organizations for compliance, administers the presidential campaign fund, which provides public funds to candidates for president and nominating conventions, and defends the statute in challenges to federal election laws and regulations.

The FEC also publishes reports filed by Senate, House of Representatives and Presidential campaigns that list how much each campaign has raised and spent, and a list of all donors over $200, along with each donor's home address, employer and job title. This database also goes back to 1980. Private organizations are legally prohibited from using these data to solicit new individual donors (and the FEC authorizes campaigns to include a limited number of "dummy" names as a measure to prevent this), but may use this information to solicit Political Action Committees. While these exhaustive campaign finance resources are available to everyone, they are rarely used by the public. The FEC also maintains an active program of public education, directed primarily to explaining the law to the candidates, campaigns and committees which it regulates.

Criticism

Critics of the FEC, including campaign finance reform supporters such as Common Cause and Democracy 21, have complained that it is a classic example of regulatory capture where it serves the interests of the ones it was intended to regulate. The FEC's bipartisan structure renders the agency "toothless." Critics also claim that most FEC penalties for violating election law come well after the actual election in which they were committed. Additionally, some critics claim that the commissioners tend to act as an arm of the "regulated community" of parties, interest groups, and politicians when issuing rulings and writing regulations. Others point out, however, that the Commissioners rarely divide evenly along partisan lines, and that the response time problem may be endemic to the system. To complete steps necessary to resolve a complaint - including time for defendants to respond to the complaint, time to investigate and engage in legal analysis, and finally, where warranted, prosecution - necessarily takes far longer than the comparatively brief period of a political campaign.

At the same time, however, other critics, such as former FEC Chairman Bradley A. Smith and Stephen M. Hoersting, Executive Director of the Center for Competitive Politics, criticize the FEC for pursuing overly aggressive enforcement theories, and for infringing on First Amendment rights of free speech.[6]

Commissioners

Current

Name Position Appointed By Sworn In Term Expires
Lee E. Goodman Chair Barack Obama September 2013 April 30, 2015[7]
Ann M. Ravel Vice Chair Barack Obama September 2013 April 30, 2017[7]
Ellen L. Weintraub Commissioner George W. Bush June 2008 Expired—serving until replaced
Matthew S. Petersen Commissioner George W. Bush June 2008 Expired—serving until replaced
Caroline C. Hunter Commissioner George W. Bush June 2008 Expired—serving until replaced
Steven T. Walther Commissioner George W. Bush June 27, 2008 Expired—serving until replaced

Former

Resigned effective February 1, 2013

See also

References

Further reading

External links