This article originally appeared in US News & World Report.

In the last month, two women have announced their candidacy for the highest office in the land, presidency of the United States. No women have held that office, and fewer women are in high office than men in this country. Yet, the Federal Election Commission should not put its thumb on the scale for female candidates. That is not its job.

FEC Chair Ann Ravel, a Democrat, unilaterally sent out an invitation earlier this spring announcing a public forum “on the challenges women face in the political arena.” The “Women in Politics” invitation continues:

“The purpose of the forum is to begin an open discussion with scholars, social scientists, political practitioners and the public to consider why, despite record-breaking numbers of women in the 114th Congress, women remain significantly under-represented in politics at all levels of government.”

Session 1, “Defining the Problem,” will ask the following questions: “Why are women under-represented in elected political office? What barriers do women face in political fundraising? How has the federal campaign finance system helped or hurt women seeking political office?”

Session 2, “Crafting Solutions,” will ask these questions: “How can we encourage women to seek elected political office? Are women-focused fundraising PACs the solution? How have other countries successfully fostered women’s participation in the political process? What lessons can the United State learn from such programs?”

After Ravel announced this event, Michael Toner, a former FEC Commissioner tweeted:

Not sure why the FEC is sponsoring a forum on women in politics, but it looks like an interesting event nevertheless.

These are interesting questions, but they seem more like questions for think tanks, political organizations and the national parties to be asking and addressing than a federal agency charged with administering and enforcing campaign finance laws. After all, “The duties of the FEC, which is an independent regulatory agency, are to disclose campaign finance information, to enforce the provisions of the law such as the limits and prohibitions on contributions, and to oversee the public funding of Presidential elections.” The role of the FEC is not to pick winners and losers.

Ravel doesn’t appear to be concerned with even giving the appearance that this is a bipartisan inquiry into how to get more women across the political spectrum to run for office. When FEC Commissioner Lee Goodman, a Republican, was chairman last year, he collaborated with Ravel on organizing two public forums, on website improvement and political parties, both of which included Ravel on the press release. Ravel is organizing this forum on her own, and it shows – only one of the 10 panelists is a recognized Republican.

During the public forum Tuesday, the question that should be asked is: Why is the FEC holding this forum at all?