Thomas Elected Chairman of Federal Election Commission

For Immediate Release:                                                                                             Contact:   Kelly Huff
December 10, 1998                                                                                                                       Ron Harris
                                                                                                                                                        Sharon Snyder
                                                                                                                                                        Ian Stirton


 


THOMAS ELECTED CHAIRMAN OF FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSION 


-Wold to serve as Vice Chairman-

 

WASHINGTON -- Members of the Federal Election Commission have elected Scott E. Thomas
as Chairman and Darryl R. Wold as Vice Chairman for 1999.

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.

Commissioner Thomas, a Democrat, has been Acting Chairman since late September. He
assumed those duties when Commissioner and 1998 Chairman Joan D. Aikens retired.

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.

Vice Chairman-elect Wold, a Republican, was nominated to the Federal Election
Commission by President Clinton on November 5, 1997, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on
July 30, 1998.

Prior to his appointment Mr. Wold was in private law practice in Orange County, CA,
since 1974. In addition to his own practice, he was counsel for election law litigation
and enforcement defense matters to Reed and Davidson, a firm that practices election and
political law, with offices in Orange County and Los Angeles.

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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