FEC Chair Discusses Campaign Financing with Students
Ann Ravel, chair of the Federal Election Commission (pictured center) with student organization leaders (l-r): Allison Dhand, Elizabeth Britzke, Jessica Maugeri, and Kristina Hartman.
The 2016 presidential campaign is expected by many political insiders to generate a record $10 billion in spending. Congress created the Federal Election Commission after “Watergate” to regulate campaign financing.
On Nov, 3, Ann Ravel, chair of the FEC, spoke to law students at Stetson University College of Law about campaign financing and the rise of super PACs.
Ravel said that Americans are losing faith in their ability to create change by using the election process. “A major concern for our representative democracy is that the youth is not voting, contributing or involved in politics,” said Ravel.
The chair of the bipartisan FEC commission blames the struggle in part on the balance in power between the wealthy and the middle class, citing a major decline in what she calls “smaller pocket donors.”
Ravel said that her major concern in the election process is that few people are being heard and only a select portion of society is making new policy. “Ultimately we will end up with a permanent class of outsiders who are not involved in government and that is problematic for the country.”
Ravel was nominated to the FEC by President Obama on June 21, 2013. She has served as an elected governor on the Board of Governors of the State Bar of California, member of the Judicial Council of the State of California, and chair of the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation. In 2007, the State Bar of California named her “Public Attorney of the Year” for her contributions to public service. Ravel received her B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
Post date: Nov. 5, 2015
Media contact: Kate Bradshaw
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