The phrase "political action committee" (PAC) is not found in the law governing campaign finance, but PACs are a crucial element of political money. Officially, they are known as "separate segregated funds (SSF)" in FECA[1]. PACs allow many groups to legally raise, contribute, and spend “political money”.
A political committee makes contributions to political candidates or makes expenditures on behalf of political candidates or issues. PACs are often used by corporations, labor unions, and interest groups in order to receive contributions from stakeholders interested in advancing the PAC’s mission. Because a PAC is a legally separate entity and may only be funded by voluntary contributions, entities that cannot contribute directly to candidates often create PACs to do so.
PACs are legally separate entities from their affiliate organization (if they have one)[2]. If a political candidate accepts a contribution from "General Electric PAC" it is incorrect to say the contribution is from "General Electric", although occasionally publications do not recognize this distinction.
A corporation, like General Electric, may not directly contribute to a candidate from their general treasury. They must organize a PAC, collect voluntary contributions from individuals eligible to contribute to their PAC, and then contribute from the PAC to a candidate. This was not affected by the decision in Citizens United, which allowed corporations to fund independent expenditures with treasury funds.
- Connected PAC
- Non-connected PAC
- Leadership PAC
- "Super PAC" (Independent Expenditure Only PAC)
- Super PACs: Unanswered Questions
- What Can Political Action Committees Do?
- Tradeoffs
[1] "Quick Answers - PAC." Federal Election Commission. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. <http://www.fec.gov/ans/answers_pac.shtml>.
[2] "SSFs and Nonconnected PACs." Federal Election Commission. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. <http://www.fec.gov/pages/brochures/ssfvnonconnected.shtml>.
No comments:
Post a Comment