Political action committee

From Free net encyclopedia

In the United States, 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 in order to promote legislation, often supporting the group's special interests.

• See also List of political action committees.

Federal PACs are limited in the amount of money that 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.

However, PACs are not limited to advertising spent on the support of their own issues.

Contents 1 Categorization of PACs 2 2004 Presidential election 3 See also 4 External links

Categorization of PACs

• OpenSecrets, a website run by the Center for Responsive Politics, categorizes PACs, large and small, as follows:

1. Republican/Conservative - organized to elect conservative/Republican candidates; examples are GOPAC and many others
2. Democratic/Liberal - see above; examples are many PACs affiliated with Democratic or liberal groups
3. Leadership - PACs maintained by members of Congress in order to gain influence with fellow members
4. Foreign & Defense Policy
5. Pro-Israel - ex.
6. Women's Issues - ex.
7. Human Rights - ex.
8. Misc Issues - ex.
9. Environment - ex.
10. Gun Control - ex.
11. Gun Rights - ex.
12. Abortion Policy/Pro-Life - ex.
13. Abortion Policy/Pro-Choice - ex.

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

1. Agriculture
2. Real Estate/Construction
3. Communication, Technology
4. Defense
5. Energy, Natural Resources
6. Finance, Insurance
7. Business - Retail, Services
8. Health Care
9. Law
10. Organized Labor
11. Manufacturing
12. Public Employees
13. City/County
14. Transportation
15. Foreign Countries
16. Miscellaneous
17. Undetermined

2004 Presidential election

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

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

See also

• Politics of the United States
• Soft money
• GOPAC - a GOP PAC specializing in training political candidates
• GAMPAC - the Godless Americans PAC
• 527 group

External links

• PoliticalMoneyLine
• Campaign Guide for Corporations and Labor Organizations
• Campaign Guide for Nonconnected Committees
• Money in Politics Data
• Helpful Resources, eNewsletter, and Linksde:Political Action Committee