Thomas Elected Chairman of Federal Election Commission

WASHINGTON --Members of the Federal Election Commission have elected Scott E. Thomas as Chairman and Michael E. Toner as Vice Chairman for 2005.

  In December of each year, Commissioners elect a Chairman and Vice Chairman to serve for the upcoming calendar year. The Federal Election Campaign Act requires that the Chairman and Vice Chairman be of different political parties, and states that a member may serve as Chairman only once during a six-year term of office.

  Chairman-elect Thomas was originally nominated by President Reagan on September 26, 1986 , and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on October 3, 1986 , to a term that expired on April 30, 1991 . Thomas was nominated to his second term on the Commission by President Bush on November 21, 1991 . Commissioner Thomas was nominated by President Clinton to his third term on September 2, 1997 , and confirmed by the U. S. Senate on July 30, 1998 .

  Prior to his appointment, Mr. Thomas served as Executive Assistant to FEC Commissioner Thomas E. Harris. He previously worked as an attorney and later as an Assistant General Counsel for Enforcement in the FEC''''s Office of General Counsel.

  A Wyoming Native, Mr. Thomas graduated from Stanford University and holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center . He is a member of the District of Columbia and U.S. Supreme Court bars.   

  Vice Chairman-elect Toner, a Republican, was nominated to the Federal Election Commission by President George W. Bush on March 4, 2002 and appointed on March 29, 2002 . Mr. Toner was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 18, 2003

  Prior to being appointed to the FEC, Mr. Toner served as Chief Counsel of the Republican National Committee. Mr. Toner joined the RNC in 2001 after serving as General Counsel of the Bush-Cheney Transition Team in Washington , DC and General Counsel of the Bush-Cheney 2000 Presidential Campaign in Austin , TX .

  Before joining the Bush campaign in Austin , Commissioner Toner was Deputy Counsel at the RNC from 1997-1999. Prior to his tenure at the RNC, Mr. Toner served as counsel to the Dole/Kemp Presidential Campaign in 1996.

   Mr. Toner received a J.D. cum laude from Cornell Law School in 1992, an M.A. in Political Science from Johns Hopkins University in 1989, and a B.A. with distinction from the University of Virginia in 1986. He is a member of the District of Columbia and Virginia bars as well as the United States Supreme Court bar, the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. District Courts for the District of Columbia and the Eastern District of Virginia.

  Created in 1975, the Federal Election Commission is an independent federal agency established to enforce limitations and prohibitions on contributions, require candidates and committees to make public disclosure of their financial activities, and to administer the public financing program for Presidential elections.

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