Ellen L. Weintraub

Ellen L. Weintraub is Chairman of the Federal Election Commission (FEC). She "received a recess appointment to the Federal Election Commission on December 6, 2002, and took office on December 9, 2002. She was renominated by President George Walker Bush on January 9, 2003, and confirmed by unanimous consent of the United States Senate on March 18, 2003. Upon her arrival at the FEC, Ms. Weintraub served briefly as Vice Chair and was elected Chair of the Commission on December 18, 2002, taking office on January 2, 2003. She is the third woman to serve on the Commission.

"Prior to her appointment, Ms. Weintraub was Of Counsel to Perkins Coie LLP and a member of its Political Law Group. There, she counseled clients on federal and state campaign finance laws, political ethics, nonprofit law, and lobbying regulation. During the election contest arising out of the 1996 election of Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Ms. Weintraub served on the legal team that advised the Senate Rules Committee. Her tenure with Perkins Coie represented Ms. Weintraub's second stint in private practice, having previously practiced as a litigator with the New York firm of Cahill Gordon & Reindel.

"Before joining Perkins Coie, Ms. Weintraub was Counsel to the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct for the U.S. House of Representatives (the House Ethics Committee). Like the Commission, the Committee on Standards is a bipartisan body, evenly divided between Democratic and Republican members. There, Ms. Weintraub focused on implementing the Ethics Reform Act of 1989 and subsequent changes to the House Code of Official Conduct. She also served as editor in chief of the House Ethics Manual and as a principal contributor to the Senate Ethics Manual. While at the Committee, Ms. Weintraub counseled Members on investigations and often had lead responsibility for the Committee's public education and compliance initiatives.

"Ms. Weintraub received her B.A., cum laude, from Yale College and her J.D. from Harvard Law School. A native New Yorker, she is a member of the New York and District of Columbia bars and the Supreme Court bar."

TERM SUMMARY APPOINTED: December 6, 2002 SWORN IN: December 9, 2002, by FEC Chairman David M. Mason TERM: April 30, 2007 Copied from FEC web site.