Elections Commissioner Ann Ravel Resigns, Plans Return to Bay Area

Federal Elections Commissioner Ann Ravel has resigned from her post on the FEC, citing gridlock that she says has prevented the agency from effectively carrying out its mission of regulating campaign financing.

Ravel was appointed to her position by President Obama in 2013, after leading the California Fair Political Practices Commission, which oversees lobbying and campaign finance in the state. Before that, she was County Counsel for Santa Clara for more than a decade. Ravel posted her resignation letter to President Donald Trump on Sunday morning on the website Medium.

"The stalemates at the  commission make it impossible for me to perform the job that Congress intended that I should do on the FEC," Ravel said in an interview with KQED News. "I can’t be somewhere where I’m not achieving the job that I’m supposed to do.”

Ravel's dissatisfaction with the commission she sat on was recapped in a report she authored this month titled "Dysfunction and Deadlock: The Enforcement Crisis at the Federal Election Commission Reveals the Unlikelihood of Draining the Swamp."

The report details the increase in deadlocked votes between the Commission's three Democrats and three Republicans, and the decrease in civil penalties handed out to violators of campaign finance law. The last part of the report's title reflects Ravel's doubt that President Trump will follow through on a campaign promise to quell the influence of money in politics.

"There is a concern because the White House counsel that was appointed by President Trump is a former commissioner of the FEC," says Ravel.  "The destruction of the FEC and the purpose of not achieving anything while on the commission started with that White House counsel: Don McGahn." 

President Donald Trump has the ability to appoint Ravel’s successor, though he cannot choose a registered Republican. The FEC is prohibited from having more than three Republicans or Democrats.

Currently, the five remaining commissioners are all serving beyond the expiration date of their terms, meaning the President could technically put in place six new commissioners.

As for Ravel, she intends to return home to the Bay Area and work with either a non-profit or a foundation on issues around civic engagement.

"I think it is a corollary of our campaign finance system," Ravel says. "Many people are disaffected because they don’t think that they have a voice in our government and in our political system, and therefore are not voting, not contributing, not involved in the government, and I’d like to work on that issue.”