Back to Officials
Name: Hunter, Caroline
Current Position: Former Chair
The Federal Election Commission (FEC), an independent agency established by Congress in the wake of campaign finance abuses by the re-election campaign of President Richard Nixon, elected a new Chair to a one-year term on December 15, 2011. The FEC, which monitors campaign contributions, enforces regulations on campaign spending and funding, and distributes public funds for Presidential elections, chose Caroline C. Hunter, a well-connected Republican placed on the FEC by President George W. Bush in 2008.
Born circa 1976 to Richard and Christine Critchfield , Hunter grew up in Florida, earned her B.A. at The Pennsylvania State University in 1997, and her JD at the University of Memphis School of Law in 2000. Almost immediately, she went to work for the Republican Party, working first as associate counsel and then deputy counsel at the Republican National Committee (RNC) from 2001 to 2005, where her work focused on election law and the implementation of the Help America Vote Act.
From 2005 to 2006, she served as executive officer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman. From January to October 2006, she served as deputy director of the White House Office of Public Liaison, until President George W. Bush nominated her to serve as Vice-Chair of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Despite criticism over her lack of experience and a questionable letter she wrote in 2003 when she was working for the RNC, asking television stations not to run an ad critical of President Bush, she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on February 15, 2007.
Just a little more than a year later, on May 6, 2008, President Bush nominated her to the Federal Election Commission, and the Senate confirmed her on June 24, 2008. Criticism of Hunter followed her to the FEC, as the left-leaning but nonpartisan group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has accused her and the other two Republican Commissioners of improperly coordinating their actions with officials of the Republican Party.
Hunter’s husband, Justin R. Hunter, is a lobbyist for HealthSouth. The couple has two daughters, Helena and Vivian.
A longtime Republican, Hunter has made only one political contribution in her own name: in 2005, she gave $250 to Republican Wally Herger, a Republican Congressman from California. Her husband, however, has made contributions totaling $44,900 since 2002, all but $4,750 to Republican candidates and causes or to corporate PACs. Of the $4,750 for Democrats, $2,000 went to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada), $1,000 to Senator Ben Nelson (D-Nebraska) and $750 to Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia).
Republican Members of Election Commission Block Disclosure of Campaign Donors (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)
Documents Show Republican FEC Commissioners Working in Concert with Outside Allies (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) (pdf)