White House Nominates An Unknown For The EAC

[Wilms]

White House Nominates An Unknown For The EAC

By Warren Stewart, VoteTrustUSA
September 16, 2006

Who is Caroline Hunter And Why Is She Qualified To Be An EAC Commissioner?

In a press release on September 15, the White House announced its nominee to replace Election Assistance Chairman Paul DeGregorio, who’s term expires on December 12. The nominee is Caroline C. Hunter, who currently serves as Deputy Director of Public Liaison at the White House. The brief resume provided by the White House and a scan of the internet reveal nothing to suggest that Ms. Hunter in any way fulfills the qualifications required for EAC Commissioners under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).

Title 2, Section 203 of HAVA clearly requires that “Each member of the Commission shall have experience with or expertise in election administration or the study of elections.” According to the press release, prior to her current position with the White House, Ms. Hunter served as Executive Officer of the Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman at the Department of Homeland Security. Earlier in her career, she served as Deputy Counsel of the Republican National Committee. Ms. Hunter received her bachelor's degree from Pennsylvania State University and her JD from the University of Memphis. Apparently, in her role as Deputy Counsel to the Republican National Committee, she assisted the RNC and State Parties in some way with HAVA implementation.

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I share Mr. Tokaji’s concern that “the EAC will become an agency in which the commissioners viewed their roles as protecting the interests of their parties, rather than promoting a better functioning election system as HAVA originally promised. That would likely lead to stalemates along party lines, which would effectively paralyze the EAC and destroy its ability to serve as an effective instrument for election reform.”

By law, membership on the Commission is evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans (apparently other parties do not have a stake in American elections). We can only hope that the Democratic recommendation for a nominee to replace retiring commissioner Ray Martinez, will have the direct experience with elections that is not only required by law, but desperately needed at the EAC at this critical time.

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http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1784&Itemid=26

[OnTheOtherHand]

1. does she have any background with Arabian horses? ;) n/t

[babylonsister]

2. She was Deputy Counsel of the Republican National Committee.

Why does this not surprise me?

[OnTheOtherHand]

3. kick

The Election Assistance Commission isn't as exciting as some other topics one might mention, but it's more important than a bunch of them.