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The Commission is made up of six members, who are appointed by the President Of The United States and confirmed by the United States Senate . Each member serves a six-year term, and two seats are subject to appointment every two years. By law, no more than three Commissioners can be members of the same Political Party , and at least four votes are required for any official Commission action. This structure was created to encourage nonpartisan decisions. The Chairmanship of the Commission rotates among the members each year, with no member serving as Chairman more than once during his or her term. Critics of the FEC, such as major Campaign Finance Reform supporters like Common Cause and Democracy 21 , have criticized this feature of the FEC, claiming that it renders the agency toothless. These critics claim that most FEC penalties for violating election law come well after the actual election in which they were committed. Defenders of the Agency point out, however, that this problem may be endemic to the system. To complete steps necessary to resolve a complaint - including time for defendants to respond to the complaint, time to investigate and engage in legal analysis, and finally, where warranted, prosecution - necessarily takes far longer than the comparatively brief period of a political campaign. At the same time, other critics, such as former FEC Chairman Bradley A. Smith and Steven Hoersting, criticize the FEC for pursuing overly aggressive enforcement theories, and for infringing on First Amendment rights of free speech. Bradley A. Smith and Steven Hoersting, A Toothless Anaconda: Innovation, Impotence, and Overenforcement at the Federal Election Commission, Journal of Election Law 1: 145 (Summer 2002). As part of its official duties, the FEC publishes reports filed by Senate, House of Representatives and Presidential campaigns that list how much each campaign has raised and spent, and a list of all donors over $200, along with each donor's home address, employer and job title. This list is fully searchable, and is mirrored at other websites such as fecinfo.com. This database also goes back to 1980, making it a useful database of past employment histories and home addresses of any campaign donors. Campaigns are legally prohibited from using these data to solicit new individual donor (and sometimes there are false names inserted as a measure to prevent this), however they may use this information to solict Political Action Committee s. REFERENCE
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