CANDICE S. MILLER, MICHIGAN
CHAIRMAN

GREGG HARPER, MISSISSIPPI
PHIL GINGREY, GEORGIA
AARON SCHOCK, ILLINOIS
TODD ROKITA, INDIANA

RICH NUGENT, FLORIDA

KELLY CRAVEN, STAFF DIRECTOR

Congress of the United States

House of Representatives
COMMITTEE ON HOUSE

ADMINISTRATION
1309 Longworth House Office Building

ROBERT A. BRADY, PENNSYLVANIA
RANKING MINORITY MEMBER

ZOE LOFGREN, CALIFORNIA
JUAN VARGAS, CALIFORNIA

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH
CONGRESS

JAMIE FLEET, MINORITY STAFF DIRECTOR

Washington, D.C. 20515-6157
(202) 225-8281
http://cha.house.gov

May 10, 2013

Ellen Weintraub, Chair
Federal Election Commission
999 E Street NW
Washington, DC 20463

Dear Chair Weintraub,

I am writing to you, again, regarding the status of the FEC’s promised updates to its Enforcement
Manual. This letter follows my previous one on the same subject dated January 22, 2013. In your
February 5 reply to that letter, you stated that the FEC’s Office of General Counsel had prepared
a revised Enforcement Manual and circulated the Manual to the Commission on January 29. To
the best of my knowledge, the revised Enforcement Manual has not been formally reviewed by
the Commission or released to the public.

Releasing an up-to-date Enforcement Manual is an important and necessary step for FEC
transparency. When the FEC requested comments on its enforcement process, several campaign
practitioners stated that the enforcement process required “transparency and close review for its
fair and effective operation.” Without a current and public Enforcement Manual, this
transparency is sorely lacking. Other commenters cautioned that individuals “penalized
according to some semi-secret method tend[] to view the entire process with skepticism and as
something less than fully legitimate.” To maintain its legitimacy and demonstrate a commitment
to transparency, the FEC needs to complete and release its revised Enforcement Manual. An
updated manual will allow individuals to understand the enforcement process and ensure fair and
effective enforcement of the Commission’s statutory obligations.

In its May 23, 2012, press release, the FEC stated a revised Enforcement Manual was “scheduled
to be completed and made available to the public early [in 2013].” Nearly a year later, the FEC
is in danger of missing this deadline — notwithstanding that the manual was circulated to the
Commission more than three months ago and Commissioners have had several weeks to review
the dozen comments submitted.

Please provide the Committee with specific dates on which a revised Enforcement Manual will
be (1) finally approved, (2) used by the Office of General Counsel in its enforcement activities,
and (3) released to the public. If the revised Enforcement Manual will not be released in early
2013, as the Commission stated in its press release, please inform the Committee of the reasons
for the delay.


Ellen Weintraub Page 2
May 8, 2013

The Committee’s November 3, 2011, hearing and the documents the FEC released at the
Committee’s request made clear the FEC’s existing Enforcement Manual is outdated, poorly
organized and difficult to understand. The Commission has expressed its commitment both to
update that manual and to release it to the public, and as the FEC’s oversight committee we take
seriously the importance of that commitment.

Please respond to this letter no later than May 20, 2013. If you have any questions about this
letter, please contact the Committee at 202-225-8281.

Sincerely,

od .
M.D
Candice S. Miller
Chairman

cc: Commissioner Don McGahn, Vice Chair
Commissioner Caroline Hunter
Commissioner Matthew Petersen
Commissioner Steven Walther
Anthony Herman, General Counsel