- Social:
Federal Election Commission
Chairwoman of the Federal Election Commission; former chair of the California Fair Political Practices Commission
PROFILE
Ann Ravel
Guest
FROM Ann Ravel
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Ann Ravel on the future of campaign finance reform and why she resigned from the FEC Ann Ravel, one of the Democratic members of the Federal Election Commission, has resigned in protest to the agency’s failure to enforce campaign finance laws. She says because of Republican obstruction, it’s impossible for the commission to do its job.
To the Point
Dysfunction at the FEC The Federal Election Commission, divided between three Democrats and three Republicans, is supposed to regulate the way political money is raised and spent. Next year's presidential campaign is expected to generate more than $10 billion. But FEC Chairwoman Ann Ravel recently told the New York Times , "the likelihood of the laws being enforced is slim" and that the FEC itself is "worse that dysfunctional."
To the Point
California, Ballot Measures and Dark Money California law says voters should know who's spending the money for and against ballot propositions, but federal law protects non-profits from revealing who their funders really are. When a nonprofit in Arizona spent $11 million last-minute on two California measures, the State Supreme Court ordered disclosure . The Arizona group complied, but not with the names of individual donors. It only revealed two other nonprofits. Americans for Responsible Leadership revealed that it got the money from the Center to Protect Patients' Rights — which originally received it from Americans for Job Security , a national conservative, pro-business organization. The money was spent against California Governor Jerry Brown's tax increase for public schools and for a measure that would limit fundraising by unions . Former federal litigator Ann Ravel, now Chair of the state's Fair Political Practices Commission , says it was the biggest disclosure of campaign money laundering in California history.
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