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Dictionary:

political action committee


n. (Abbr. PAC)

A committee formed by business, labor, or other special-interest groups to raise money and make contributions to the campaigns of political candidates whom they support.


 
 
Business Dictionary: Political Action Committee (PAC)

Separate and segregated fund established by an organization for making political contributions. These funds were authorized by the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 and clarified through subsequent court decisions. PACs allow organizations to contribute money to federal elections, control the disbursement of funds, solicit contributions from an organization's shareholders and employees, and accept contributions from any lawful source. PACs have been extremely important in financing elections.

 

USA

Political action committees, or PACs, are organizations in the United States that obtain contributions from individuals and distribute donations to candidates for political office. PACs may contribute no more than $5,000 per candidate per election, but may contribute larger sums for so-called party-building activities. The rapid growth in the number of PACs, the amounts of money involved, and the danger of their supplanting parties have been the subject of concern.

— David Mervin

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: political action committee

In U.S. politics, an organization whose purpose is to raise and distribute campaign funds to candidates seeking political office. PACs rose to prominence after the Federal Election Campaign Act (1971) limited the amount of money any corporation, union, or private individual could give to a candidate. PACs were able to circumvent these limits by soliciting smaller contributions from a much larger number of individuals. During the late 20th and early 21st centuries the vast amounts of money raised by PACs greatly increased the cost of running for office and led to efforts to reform this method of financing campaigns.

For more information on political action committee, visit Britannica.com.

 
US History Encyclopedia: Political Action Committees

Political Action Committees, (PACs), groups that collect contributions from their members or politically like-minded citizens, represent a single interest group, and use their funds to influence the legislative and executive branches of government. PACs attempt to gain support for their interests by contributing to political campaigns, hoping their favors will be returned once candidates reach office. Because federal-level political campaigns cost so much during the late twentieth century, candidates who eschewed PAC money could not compete with those who accepted PAC donations, unless they were independently wealthy.

The origin of PACs can be traced to the American labor movement and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). The first PAC was formed during World War II, after Congress prohibited the assets of organized labor from being used for political purposes. The CIO created a separate political fund in 1943 to receive and spend voluntary contributions, calling it the Political Action Committee. A PAC called the Committee on Political Education (COPE) was formed in 1955 after the CIO merged with the American Federation of Labor. Other PACs, such as the American Medical Political Action Committee (AMPAC) and the Business-Industry Political Action Committee (BIPAC), were formed during the 1950s and 1960s, but it was not until the reform legislation of the 1970s that the number of PACs began to increase significantly.

Although labor unions formed PACs during the 1940s, corporations were not allowed to support candidates until the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) of 1971, which allowed corporations to use their money to set up PACs. FECA was amended in 1974 and 1976, giving trade associations and corporations a new role in politics. As a result, FECA changed its guidelines for raising political money, sparking a tremendous growth in the number of PACs and the amount of money spent to influence the political system. Even though revisions in FECA set limits on the amount of money PACs could contribute to individual candidates and political campaigns ($5,000) and set a $1,000 limit on individual contributions per candidate per election, PACs were able to get around these limitations and still influence the political system.

Observers argued for reform of the election process, insisting that PAC money should be eliminated or at least severely limited. Even when there were legal limits, individuals and groups circumvented them by giving so-called soft money to political parties instead of directly to candidates. Officially, soft money was to be used for maintaining the parties themselves, but parties managed to pass on some of the cash to candidates. Gifts of soft money tended to obligate party managers to PACs and their political goals. The existence of PACs after the 1970s ran up the tab on elections to such an extent that congressional elections routinely involved millions of dollars in campaign expenditures. By 1988 the number of PACs had increased to approximately 4,200, with $132 million in contributions, primarily to incumbents. This increase raised public criticism of PACs and led to congressional proposals to eliminate them in 1991 and 1992, but no significant action was taken.

During 1997 and 1998 some 4,600 PACs raised approximately $503 million and spent about $471 million, contributing $220 million to federal candidates, some of whom would run for election in future years. As in the past, incumbents received most of the PAC money, with Republican candidates receiving slightly more than Democratic candidates. PACs spent money to support favored candidates, but they also spent a lesser amount toward the defeat of candidates they opposed.

Bibliography

Bennett, W. Lance. The Governing Crisis: Media, Money, and Marketing in American Elections. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992.

Sorauf, Frank J. Money in American Elections. Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman/Little, Brown College Division, 1988.

Stirton, Ian. "FEC Releases Information on PAC Activity for 1997–98." Federal Election Commission, U.S. Government. Available from http://www.fec.gov/press/pacye98.htm.

Wertheimer, Fred, and Susan Weiss Manes. "Campaign Finance Reform: A Key to Restoring the Health of Our Democracy." Columbia Law Review 94, no. 4 (May 1994): 1126–1159.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: political action committee
(PAC), U.S. organization formed by a corporation, labor union, or association to raise money for political activity. Funds can be gathered by voluntary contributions from members, employees, or shareholders. Political action committees were first organized in the 1940s. The Political Action Committee organized by the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in 1943 was a model for later PACs. Since the election reform of 1974, which limited individual campaign contributions and set guidelines for PACs, their numbers grew rapidly to more than 4,000 in 1988; they now number about 3,800. Many represent special-interest groups, e.g., the National Rifle Association of America; others represent large conservative or liberal coalitions. Most PACs have directed their contributions toward congressional elections, in which they can contribute up to $5,000 to a candidate for each campaign (primary, runoff, and general election). Some, however, have conducted independent negative campaigns against candidates they oppose. Increased campaign contributions by PACs have raised fears that legislators may accede to pressure from these groups and become less responsive to their constituents. Federal legislation enacted in 2002 forbids attacks on candidates by name immediately before an election.


 
Politics: political action committees

Committees formed by interest groups to funnel donations to political candidates who are likely to support their position on various issues. Because of current campaign laws, PACs are allowed to make much larger donations than can individuals.

 
Wikipedia: political action committee


This article is part of the
Lobbying in the United States
series.
Political action committee
527 group
Campaign finance
Campaign finance reform
Major industry lobbies
Agribusiness
Health
Organized labor
Software
Transportation
Major single-issue lobbies
Pro-life / pro-choice (abortion)
Environment
Federal leadership
Foreign and defense policy
Gun rights / gun control
Israel

In the US, a political action committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect or defeat government officials or to promote legislation. Legally, what constitutes a "PAC" for purposes of regulation is a matter of state and federal law. Under the Federal Election Campaign Act, an organization becomes a "political committee" by receiving contributions or making expenditures in excess of $1,000 for the purpose of influencing a federal election.

Contributions by individuals to federal PACs are limited to $5000. Corporations and unions may not contribute to federal PACs, though they may pay for the administrative costs of a PAC affiliated with the specific corporation or union. Corporate and union affiliated PACs may only solicit contributions from executives, shareholders and their families (in the case of corporations) or members (in the case of unions). "Independent" PACs not affiliated with a corporation or union may solicit contributions from the general public but must pay their operating costs from these regulated contributions.

Federal Multi-candidate PACs are limited in the amount of money they can contribute to other organizations:

  • at most $5,000 per candidate per election. Elections such as primaries, general elections and special elections are counted separately.
  • at most $15,000 per political party per year.
  • at most $5,000 per PAC per year.

Under federal law, PACs are not limited in their ability to spend money independently of a candidate campaign.

Categorization of PACs

Political Money Line

PoliticalMoneyLine uses the following categories for PACs (The latest totals are available here):

2004 Presidential election

In the 2004 elections, the top 10 PACs by money spent by themselves, their affiliates and subsidiaries were as follows:

  1. EMILY's List $22,767,521
  2. Service Employees International Union $12,899,352
  3. American Federation of Teachers $12,789,296
  4. American Medical Association $11,901,542
  5. National Rifle Association $11,173,358
  6. Teamsters Union $11,128,729
  7. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $10,819,724
  8. National Education Association $10,521,538
  9. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees $9,882,022
  10. Laborers' International Union of North America $9,523,837

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Business Dictionary. Dictionary of Business Terms. Copyright © 2000 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Political Dictionary. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics. Copyright © 1996, 2003 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
US History Encyclopedia. © 2006 through a partnership of Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
Politics. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Political action committee" Read more

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