Cynthia Bauerly, one of six commissioners at the Federal Election Commission, handed in her resignation on Friday and will officially leave the body that oversees campaign finance regulation in February. “It has been my honor and privilege to serve on the Federal Election Commission since 2008,” Bauerly, one of the three Democrats on the commission, wrote in the resignation letter obtained by The Huffington Post. “I am grateful to have had the opportunity to serve the country in this role and I will step down on February 1, 2013.”
Bauerly’s resignation may spark changes in the commission, which has been plagued by partisanship and inaction and is routinely cited as one of the most dysfunctional government bodies. According to election law professor Rick Hasen, the agency is “as good as dead.”
Democracy 21 president Fred Wertheimer, the dean of campaign finance reformers, hopes that Bauerly’s resignation can begin the process of replacing members of the commission. Five of the commissioners, including Bauerly, have served well past the expiration of their terms. The term of the sixth, Caroline Hunter, will expire in April.
Full Article: Cynthia Bauerly, FEC Commissioner, To Resign On February 1.