A member of the Federal Election Commission is accusing her colleagues of taking orders from Congress, and arguing that former president Jimmy Carter had the right idea when he tried to appoint members on his own.
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“What happens is that because Congress is so divided and so polarized … the appointees are people who will do as they’re told,” Democratic FEC Commissioner Ann Ravel said in remarks about her colleagues before an audience at Gonzaga University. Though the speech was delivered in late April, video of the event was not posted online until Monday.
“I am actually the only member of the FEC that … was appointed by the president. The others were nominated either by the majority leader or minority of the Senate,” Ravel said. “President Carter tried to appoint to the FEC directly, and the Senate refused to confirm.” She added that if that had been the case today, “I would not have gotten my unanimous consent.”
Ravel, who held the agency’s rotating chairmanship last year, has repeatedly slammed her colleagues as “dysfunctional” for refusing to support her initiatives. Some of those proposals have included regulating online political content like the Drudge Report, and amending campaign finance law to favor racial minorities who run for political office.
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She closed with a suggestion that the president appoint a special commission to diminish the role of Congress and reduce the chance that members hold differing views.
“I think that the … next president could have a blue ribbon committee that could nominate or suggest people that might be difficult for either party to reject,” Ravel said. “And they should actually have people on the commission who believe in the law.”
