Former FEC member pushes transparency

SANTA FE — A former member of the Federal Election Commission is in New Mexico for several days to meet with local groups and officials about an effort to enact election-related disclosure rules.

Ann Ravel, who resigned from the FEC in March, said Thursday that gridlock at the federal agency has hampered enforcement efforts. Largely for that reason, she said it will largely be up to states to take the lead in requiring more disclosure of political spending and donors.

“I really think disclosure and transparency are incredibly important to the people,” she told the Journal.

Ravel’s visit to New Mexico comes as Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver is proposing new campaign spending rules that would trigger more disclosure from groups that spend significant sums of money in state elections, among other things.

However, Ravel did not attend a Thursday hearing on the proposed rules and said the timing of her trip is coincidental. She’s working on a separate disclosure-related amendment to the state Constitution, she said, along with similar efforts in other states.

Ravel, a Democrat, quit her FEC term early due to frustration about the commission’s structure. The six-member regulatory agency can have no more than three members of the same political party, and it takes four votes to launch investigations or take formal action.

“What has happened over the last 10 years is a steady decline in enforcement matters,” she said.

Ravel, who also previously served as chairwoman of the California Fair Political Practices Commission, said current federal election rules essentially allow groups to funnel money to various causes without having to identify their donors.

That’s led to what she described as a “lopsided system” and a greater skepticism of money in politics among the American public.