The Democratic chairwoman of the supposedly non-partisan Federal Election Commission is taking up Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton’s call for more women in politics at the highest level — a cause outside the FEC’s duties.
As Clinton began her campaign by decrying big money in politics, FEC Chair Ann Ravel announced that she will hold a session next month to survey the hurdles women face in politics, including fundraising.
“How can we encourage women to seek elected political office?” is one of the key topics she listed in the invitation to the May 12 forum. “What barriers do women face in political fundraising? How has the federal campaign finance system helped or hurt women seeking political office?”
Not sure why the FEC is sponsoring a forum on women in politics, but it looks like an interesting event nevertheless:http://t.co/t1BVm52TgB
— Michael Toner (@michaeletoner) April 15, 2015
Candidate recruitment is far out of the FEC’s mission, which is 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,” according to the regulatory agency’s webpage.
A former commissioner, Michael Toner, raised concerns about the session on Twitter, writing, “Not sure why the FEC is sponsoring a forum on women in politics.”
Republicans have been suspicious of Ravel’s motives ever since she suggested that the agency regulate politics on the internet, possibly even including the Drudge Report. No Republicans were mentioned on the invitation.
Clinton has made helping women in politics a cornerstone of her candidacy and, despite planning to raise a record-shattering $2.5 billion to spend in her White House bid, has also slammed political money.
Ravel’s session is in sync with those efforts. From her official FEC invitation shown in full below:
“You are cordially invited by Ann M. Ravel, Federal Election Commission Chair, to a public forum on the challenges women face in the political arena. The purpose of the forum is to begin an open discussion with scholars, social scientists, political practitioners and the public to consider why, despite record-breaking numbers of women in the 114th Congress, women remain significantly underrepresented in politics at all levels of government. To ensure a productive and wide-ranging discussion, we ask that all forum participants be ready to share their thoughts on this topic at the forum.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
