FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20463

OFFICE OF THE CHAIR July 25, 2013

The Honorable Candace S. Miller, Chairman
The Honorable Gregg Harper

The Honorable Phil Gingrey

The Honorable Aaron Schock

The Honorable Todd Rokita

The Honorable Richard B. Nugent
Committee on House Administration

U.S. House of Representatives

1309 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Chairman Miller and Members of the Committee:

Thank you for your letter of July 19, 2013 regarding the Office of General
Counsel’s Enforcement Manual. As you no doubt are aware, the Enforcement Manual
has already generated considerable public interest. Along with your letter, we have
received comments from a dozen public interest organizations, as well as a joint letter
from six United States Senators — including Senator Schumer, the Chairman of the Senate
Committee on Rules and Administration. While your letter advocates prompt action on
the Manual, both the Senators and the outside public interest organizations strongly urge
no further action until after the Senate confirms President Obama’s two latest nominees
to the Commission. Plainly, the diversity of views regarding the Manual’s substance also
extends to the process for its consideration. As a Commissioner, I will continue to make
every effort to weigh all perspectives, and I am sure that my colleagues will do the same.

In your letter, you express concern about delays in the Commission’s
consideration of the Manual, and inquire specifically as to why the Commission failed to
take up the Manual at our June 13, June 27, and July 11 open meetings. You also request

an-explanation. for why. the Manual will not. be considered .today,.at the July.25.open

meeting.

As you know, the Commission has an unusual structure, according to which the
office of Chair rotates yearly, and carries little power to make unilateral decisions. While
I, like any Commissioner, can place a matter on an agenda, I cannot unilaterally force the
Commission actually to take the matter up. Thus, in my prior correspondence with
Chairman Miller, I was able to commit that the Manual would be placed on an agenda in
June, at which time it would also be publicly released. However, I was (and remain)
unable to guarantee that discussion of the Manual will actually take place at any given
time.



The Honorable Candace S. Miller, Chairman, et al.
Committee on House Administration.
Page 2

My intent was that the Commission would discuss the Manual at one or more of
our three previous open meetings. Not only does the Manual implicate important
questions that I think are well worth careful deliberation, but a discussion at any of the
three previous meetings could have included the Commission’s now-former General
Counsel, Anthony Herman, who was instrumental in the Manual’s creation and whose
perspective I believe would have aided the Commission’s deliberations.

My colleagues, however, were not prepared to discuss the Manual at any of our
three previous open meetings. Initially, there was mutual agreement to place the Manual
on the agenda for the Commission’s June 13, 2013 open meeting. However, the evening
before that meeting, at 10:09 p.m., Vice Chairman McGahn and Commissioners Hunter
and Petersen circulated extensive proposed edits that made it necessary to postpone the
discussion to June 27. At 7:15 p.m. on June 26, however, the Republican Commissioners
sent an e-mail asking that the Manual again be held over. I inquired as to the reason for
this second postponement but received no reply. At the June 27 meeting, I announced
that the Commission would take up the Enforcement Manual at our July 11 meeting, and
that Mr. Herman had agreed to postpone his vacation to be present for that discussion.
Subsequently, however, my colleagues requested that the discussion be postponed for a

third time.

At the request of one of my colleagues, in accordance with Commission
procedures, I again placed the Manual on today’s agenda. Like the Senators and public
interest organizations who have written to us, however, I am increasingly concerned
about the Commission considering significant changes to its longstanding policies in light
of President Obama’s nomination of two new Commissioners — Ann Ravel and Lee A.
Goodman. The Senate Committee on Rules and Administration held a hearing on these
nominations just yesterday, at which Senators from both parties praised the nominees’
qualifications, and Chairman Schumer expressed optimism that they would be swiftly
confirmed. In my view, it would be highly inappropriate for the Commission to take
precipitous action on a matter of this importance without giving our new colleagues the
opportunity to participate. I am also concerned about taking such an action when the
Commission’s foundational bipartisan structure is out of balance, but soon to be

corrected.

For these reasons, I have (for the first time) exercised my own prerogative as a
Commissioner to hold over discussion of the Manual today, though I remain committed
to a full and frank discussion of the Manual in the near future.


The Honorable Candace S. Miller, Chairman, et al.
Committee on House Administration
Page 3

Please feel free to contact my office directly at (202) 694-1035 should you have
any further questions or concerns. Thank you for your ongoing interest in the work of the
Commission.

Sincerely,
Elem b. bd vata L~

Ellen L. Weintraub
Chair

ce: The Honorable Robert A. Brady
Ranking Member, Committee on House Administration