Michael E. Toner, American attorney and political appointee, specializes in election law, and is currently employed by

Wiley Rein Wiley Rein LLP, sometimes shortened to Wiley, is an American law firm based in Washington, D.C. With 260 lawyers, the firm represents clients in complex regulatory, litigation, and transactional matters. Many of the firm's lawyers and public po ...

LLP where he co-chairs the Election Law & Government Ethics Practice. He formerly served as the chairman of the

Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent agency of the United States government that enforces U.S. campaign finance laws and oversees U.S. federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Campaign ...

(FEC), the regulatory body that oversees

campaign finance Campaign financealso called election finance, political donations, or political financerefers to the funds raised to promote candidates, political parties, or policy initiatives and referendums. Donors and recipients include individuals, corpor ...

for United States federal elections. Toner joined Wiley Rein in 2011, after leaving

Bryan Cave Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP (BCLP) is an international law firm with 31 offices worldwide. BCLP is headquartered in St Louis, Missouri. BCLP states that it specializes in Real Estate, Tax, Finance, Corporate, Litigation & Corporate Risk and ...

LLP, where he was a partner for four years, and was also president of Bryan Cave Strategies, which was Bryan Cave's government affairs division. Prior to working at Bryan Cave, Toner served as chairman of the

in 2006. He was nominated to be an FEC commissioner by President George W. Bush on March 4, 2002, and was given a

recess appointment In the United States, a recess appointment is an appointment by the President of the United States, president of a Officer of the United States, federal official when the United States Senate, U.S. Senate is in Recess (motion), recess. Under the ...

to the FEC on March 29, 2002. The United States Senate confirmed Toner to a full term as Commissioner on March 18, 2003, and he served on the FEC until 2007. Prior to being appointed to the FEC, Toner was Chief Counsel of the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is the primary committee of the Republican Party of the United States. Its members are chosen by the state delegations at the national convention every four years. It is responsible for developing and pr ...

. He joined the RNC in 2001 after serving as general counsel of the Bush-Cheney Transition Team in Washington, D.C., and general counsel of the Bush-Cheney

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

presidential campaign in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. Before joining the Bush campaign in Austin, Toner was Deputy Counsel at the RNC from 1997 to 1999. He previously served as counsel to the Dole/Kemp presidential campaign in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

.
Chambers USA
has continually recognized Toner as a top-tier election law attorney and refers to his experience as "unique and valuable." They say that he "calibrates risk, practicality and the law better than 99% of other outside counsel" (2016); and that "his background of government service gives him great insight into the workings of the Federal Election Commission and the way it thinks" (2014). In 2019, Chambers USA further praised Toner, saying "he continues to co-lead a vibrant Practice Group while being an active author and maintaining high visibility among peers and media" (2019). Toner is a contributing author on various books including ''Trumped: The 2016 Election that Broke all the Rules'', ''The Surge'', ''Barack Obama and the New America'', ''Pendulum Swing'', ''The Year of Obama'', ''The Sixth Year Itch'', and ''Divided States of America: The Slash and Burn Politics of the 2004 Presidential Election''. He has also published articles in ''The Washington Post'', ''USA Today'', ''The Boston Globe'', ''The Chicago Tribune'', ''The Washington Times'', ''The Hill'', ''Campaigns and Elections'', ''Roll Call'', and ''Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball''. His insider knowledge of the FEC has made Toner a reputable commentator on CNN, Fox News Channel, ABC News, CBS Evening News, MSNBC, Bloomberg News, Fox Business Network, C-SPAN, BBC, and National Public Radio. In 2016, Toner served as a presidential campaign delegate analyst for CNN. Toner was an associate attorney at Wiley Rein LLP (formerly Wiley Rein & Fielding LLP) in Washington, D.C., from 1992 to 1996. His work there included advising political committees and corporate clients on federal and state election law compliance. He was also involved in a number of

First First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and Fourteenth Amendment appellate litigation matters, including two cases that were successful in the

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

. Toner has been an adjunct professor of law at the William and Mary Law School and a lecturer in the department of politics at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. He is a member of the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

Bar and

Virginia Bar Association The Virginia Bar Association (VBA) is a voluntary organization of lawyers, judges and law school faculty and students in Virginia, with offices in Richmond, Virginia. Key elements are advocacy, professionalism, service and collegiality. It pro ...

, as well as the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

Bar. He is also admitted to appear before the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Courts for the District of Columbia and Eastern District of Virginia. Toner received a J.D., cum laude, from

Cornell Law School Cornell Law School is the law school of Cornell University, a private university, private, Ivy League university in Ithaca, New York. One of the five Ivy League law schools, Cornell Law School offers four degree programs (Juris Doctor, JD, Maste ...

in 1992, an M.A. in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

from

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

in 1989, and a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

, with distinction, from the

in 1986.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Toner, Michael E. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Cornell Law School alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni University of Virginia alumni People associated with the 2000 United States presidential election Members of the Federal Election Commission Recess appointments during the George W. Bush administration George W. Bush administration personnel