Ann Ravel

Ann Miller Ravel (born April 6, 1949) is an American attorney who was a Democratic Commissioner on the Federal Election Commission (FEC),[1] an independent regulatory agency created by Congress to administer and enforce campaign finance law.[2]

Ann M. Ravel
Chair of the Federal Election Commission
In office
January 1, 2015 – December 31, 2015
Preceded byLee E. Goodman
Succeeded byMatthew S. Petersen
Member of the Federal Election Commission
In office
October 25, 2013 – March 1, 2017
Nominated byBarack Obama
Preceded byCynthia L. Bauerly
Succeeded byShana M. Broussard
Personal details
Born
Ann Miller

(1949-04-06) April 6, 1949
United States
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)Stephen Ravel
ChildrenThree
ResidenceLos Gatos, California
Alma materHastings Law School, UC Berkeley
ProfessionAttorney

Ravel was appointed by President Obama on June 21, 2013, and, after unanimous confirmation by the United States Senate, took office on October 25, 2013.[3] She was Chair of the Commission for 2015, and Vice Chair in 2014.[4] Ravel resigned from the commission on February 19, 2017, effective March 1, 2017. Ravel is currently a Professor at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.[5]

Ann Ravel was a candidate in the 2020 election for California State Senate in District 15, but lost to Dave Cortese.[6]

Biography

Ravel was born in the U.S. to an American father and Brazilian mother.[7][8][9] At age five, Ravel moved from the U.S. to Chile where her father had a job with the U.S. government before moving back to San Jose, California, when her father took a teaching position at San Jose State College.[8]

After graduating from Willow Glen High School in San Jose,[8] Ravel received a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley in 1970 and her J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1974.[10] She lives in Los Gatos, California with her husband, Stephen, an independent adoption attorney. She has three children, two granddaughters and one grandson.[8]

Political career

Ravel has served as Chair of the Federal Election Commission (FEC)[11] and led the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).

Prior to joining the FEC, Ravel was appointed by California Governor Jerry Brown in February 2011 to serve as the Chair of the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).[12] At the FPPC, Ravel oversaw the regulation of campaign finance, lobbyist registration and reporting, and ethics and conflicts of interest related to officeholders and public employees. In Ravel’s most significant case as Chair, the FPPC pursued a year-long investigation into the methods used by donors who seek to influence political campaigns by anonymous methods. In October 2013, the FPPC fined the Center to Protect Patient Rights and Americans for Responsible Leadership $1 million for forwarding $15 million in "dark money" contributions to a California committee without disclosing the source of those contributions.[13] Ravel testified about the case before the Senate Rules and Administration Committee considering the issue of nondisclosure by political groups on April 30, 2014.[14] While at the FPPC, Ravel sought to leverage technology to "enhance efficiency, improve governance and repair the relationship between the public and their government."[15] To that end, the FPPC adopted regulations to allow political contributions to be made by text message[16] and created an online, searchable database of California public officials’ Statements of Economic Interests.[17] During Ravel’s tenure, the FPPC also released a mobile phone application to track gifts received by public officials[18] and held a hackathon to explore creative options to better disclose the Agency’s public data.[19] As Chair of the FPPC, Ravel created the Regulation Clarification Project, an effort to clarify and streamline California regulations.[20] This project was designed to make the law more understandable to the public, promote easier and less onerous compliance for state and local officials, and ensure that the regulations complied with the governing statutes and courts decisions.[21] Among other changes, the FPPC created guides to analyze gift laws and reorganized the regulations by topic.[22] During her tenure at the FPPC, she established the States Unified Network (SUN) Center, a nonpartisan group of state and local jurisdictions promoting transparency in campaign finance.[23] The group shares enforcement, litigation, and campaign finance data through a public website, which provides nationwide disclosure and aids in enforcement.[24]

Before joining the FPPC, Ravel was Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Torts and Consumer Litigation in the Civil Division of the United States Department of Justice.[25][26] She also worked as an attorney in the Santa Clara County Counsel's Office, ultimately serving as the appointed County Counsel from 1998 until 2009. Ravel represented the County and its elected officials, provided advice on the state Political Reform Act, initiated programs in elder abuse litigation,[27] educational rights,[28] and consumer litigation[29] on behalf of the Santa Clara County government and the community, and joined a group of California municipal attorneys suing to overturn the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.[30]

Ravel has served as an elected Governor on the Board of Governors of the State Bar of California,[31] a member of the Judicial Council of California,[32] and Chair of the Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation.[32] Ravel received the Professional Woman of Achievement Award from the San Jose Mercury News and the Commission on the Status of Women in 1980, the Elizabeth Ent Award for her contributions to law and justice in 1995, and the Circle of Service Achievement Award from the California State Association of Counties in 2004.[33] In 2007, the State Bar of California recognized Ravel’s contributions to public service, naming her Public Attorney of the Year.[34] In 2014, she was named as a California Attorney of the Year by California Lawyer magazine for her contributions to Government law.[35]

Ravel was appointed member of the Federal Electoral Commission (FEC) by President Obama on June 21, 2013, and took office on October 25, 2013 after being confirmation by the Senate.[3] On October 24, 2014, Ravel called for "a reexamination of the commission's approach to the internet and other emerging technologies..." "The suggestion on its face should have been non-controversial: 'As a Commission, we need to consider the changing role of technology in our elections and recognize how technology is changing our politics. For that reason, next year, I will bring together technologists, social entrepreneurs, policy wonks, politicos, and activists—from across the spectrum—to discuss new and emerging technologies and how the Commission’s current approach may or may not fit with future innovations.'"[36] Then-FEC chairman Lee Goodman "characterized the suggestion as an attempt to regulate speech."[37]

In May 2015, Ravel told the New York Times that it is unlikely that the FEC will be able to regulate the coming 2016 presidential election. "The likelihood of the laws being enforced is slim," she told The New York Times. "I never want to give up, but I’m not under any illusions. People think the FEC is dysfunctional. It’s worse than dysfunctional."[38] Ravel resigned from the FEC on February 19, 2017, effective March 1, 2017.

In 2019, Ravel began a campaign for California state senator.[39] During the campaign, Ravel attracted controversy for her past opposition to the recall of Judge Aaron Persky over his handling of the Brock Turner case including from Michele Dauber who led the petition drive for the recall campaign with Dauber and other leaders of the recall campaign releasing an open letter critical of Ravel and her employer attorney James "Jim" McManis who also opposed the recall and claimed Chanel Miller consented to Brock Turner's sexual assault with the letter calling on Ravel to return McManis's $2,000 campaign donation.[40] McManis told a Vogue reporter that "This woman (Miller) was not attacked...".[41] Ravel said she only defended Persky against the recall "on principle" and still supports the campaign against the recall's "underlying cause".[42] Democratic Activists for Women Now (DAWN) then voted to rescind its endorsement of Ravel as a result of refusing to return McManis's campaign donation and her opposition to Proposition 15.[43]

Ravel also received criticism, mainly from rival candidate Nora Campos, from receiving campaign donations from insurance companies and related PACs such as the Personal Insurance Federation of California Agents & Employees PAC and the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company Federal PAC despite Ravel insisting she would run a grassroots campaign and thus wouldn't accept contributions from PACs such as the campaign donations in question.[44]

On March 3, 2020, in California's jungle primary concurrent with then presidential Super Tuesday primaries, Ravel placed in 2nd place and thus was able to move on to the general election with then-Santa Clara County Supervisor for District 3 Dave Cortese placing in 1st place.[45] But in the general elections, Ravel lost to Cortese.[46][47]

References
  1. "Democrat member of Federal Election Commission to make early exit: NYT". Reuters. Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Mark Potter. February 19, 2017. Retrieved February 19, 2017.CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. "Biographical Information of FEC Commissioner Ann M. Ravel". Federal Election Commission. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  3. "Senate confirms Obama's FEC nominees". Politico. Retrieved May 19, 2014.
  4. "Biographical Information of FEC Commissioner Ann M. Ravel". Federal Election Commission. Retrieved February 25, 2015.
  5. "Ann Ravel | Berkeley Law". Berkeley Law. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
  6. "Ann Ravel". Ballotpedia. Ballotpedia. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  7. https://www.law.berkeley.edu/our-faculty/faculty-profiles/ann-ravel/
  8. "The Ravel Family: Making a Difference in the Community and Beyond" (PDF). Los Gatos Living. December 2019. pp. 12–14.
  9. https://ravelforca.com/about-ann/
  10. https://www.mcmanislaw.com/people/lawyers/ann-ravel
  11. "The Influence of Dark Money with Kellee Marlow & Ann Ravel". Spark Podcast. Retrieved June 25, 2020.
  12. "Former Santa Clara County Counsel Ann Ravel to chair state's campaign finance watchdog agency". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved December 12, 2013.
  13. "California fines groups $16 million for funneling money to campaigns". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  14. "California Campaign Finance Case Echoes Despite Koch Denials of Any Involvement". Bloomberg BNA. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  15. "New Law Opens Door into the Financial Dealings of Public Officials". PublicCEO. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  16. "State panel allows campaign contributions by text message". LA Times. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  17. "State political watchdog agency seeks to expand searchable online conflict of interest database". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  18. "Gift Tracking Mobile App". FPPC. Archived from the original on July 4, 2014. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  19. "Unlocking New Value from Government Data". Code for America. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  20. "FPPC Update- New Regulations and Other Developments" (PDF). League of California Cities. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  21. "New Gift Regulations for California, Finally". Huffington Post. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  22. "Regulation Clarification Project: Summary of April 14, April 21, and June 09, 2011 Meetings" (PDF). FPPC. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 7, 2012. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  23. "States out to expose campaign-finance abuses: SUN Center could aid enforcement". Washington Times. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  24. "SUN Center Website". Archived from the original on April 26, 2014. Retrieved April 10, 2014.
  25. "Assistant Attorney General Tony West Announces New Members to Civil Division's Senior Leadership". Department of Justice. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  26. "Ann Ravel Joins U.S. Justice Department". Palo Alto Online. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  27. "Santa Clara County Counsel: Financial Abuse Specialist Team". County of Santa Clara. Archived from the original on July 22, 2014. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  28. "Educational Rights Project". Santa Clara County Counsel. Archived from the original on August 5, 2014. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  29. "Lead paint lawsuit: Billion-dollar ruling in Santa Clara County-led suit against manufacturers". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  30. "News Release: 2009-03-02 A Public Sector Consensus for Marriage Equality". City and County of San Francisco. Archived from the original on August 30, 2014. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  31. "President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts". White House. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  32. "AP Interview: Campaign watchdog focuses on judges". Deseret News. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  33. "County Counsel Ann Miller Ravel Named 2007 Public Lawyer of the Year" (PDF). Santa Clara County. Retrieved August 22, 2014.
  34. "2007 Public Lawyer of the Year". State Bar of California. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  35. "California Lawyer Attorneys of the Year". California Lawyer Magazine. Archived from the original on August 26, 2014. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  36. http://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/1346032/final-checks-and-balances-statement-ravel.pdf
  37. "Chair of the Federal Election Commission: Who Is Ann Ravel?". AllGov. May 17, 2015. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  38. "F.E.C. Can't Curb 2016 Election Abuse, Commission Chief Says". New York Times. February 5, 2015. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  39. "Ann Ravel for California Senate". Retrieved October 15, 2019.
  40. politics, San Jose Inside staff that provides a behind-the-scenes look at local (September 30, 2020). "Recall Persky Campaign Leaders Call on Ann Ravel to Return Donations from Jim McManis". San Jose Inside. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  41. Read, Bridget. "These Women Put Rape Culture on the Ballot in California". Vogue. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  42. "State Senate Hopeful Ann Ravel Says She Regrets Endorsing Judge Persky's Campaign". San Jose Inside. March 8, 2019. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  43. "DAWN Revokes Endorsement of State Senate Hopeful Ann Ravel". San Jose Inside. October 22, 2020. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  44. Lauer, Katie (January 24, 2020). "San Jose: Senate candidates launch attacks over campaign funding". San José Spotlight. Retrieved December 25, 2020.
  45. "Election Night Reporting". results.enr.clarityelections.com. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  46. "East San Jose native Dave Cortese wins Senate D-15 race". KRON4. November 7, 2020. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
  47. "Santa Clara County Supe Dave Cortese wins state Senate seat representing the South Bay". SFChronicle.com. November 12, 2020. Retrieved December 24, 2020.
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