Political Action Committee

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A Political Action Committee ( PAC ) is the US name for a lobby group that focuses on supporting or opposing government representatives or electoral officials. The PACs are subject to certain statutory rules; In addition to interest groups, many incumbents also set up their own PACs to organize their fundraising .

One of the rules PACs are subject to is the maximum amount they can donate to certain candidates and parties:

  • $ 5,000 per candidate per election, with primary and election counting separately
  • $ 15,000 a year to one party
  • $ 5,000 per year to another PAC

However, you can use unlimited funds to place your own advertisements or to advertise your candidate (s) in other ways.

Super PACs

Basically, it was stipulated that individuals could support the election campaign with a maximum of $ 2,500 per candidate or $ 5,000 per candidate in the presidential election campaign. Companies, associations and trade unions are not allowed to support candidates financially.

Since 2010 there has been an exception to this principle for special Political Action Committees, the so-called Super-PACs . In 2010, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruled that the right to freedom of expression also applies to companies and associations and that donations are subject to the formation and expression of opinion. Shortly thereafter, in March 2010, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in SpeechNow.org v. The Federal Election Commission makes it clear that PACs can accept unlimited donations from individuals and legal entities unless they direct funds to or coordinate their campaign with candidates, political parties, or other PACs. These PACs are known as Super PACs. You do not normally have to name your donor and the amount donated until the election is over.

After evaluating the reports on the 2012 election campaign , supervisory authorities and journalists came to the conclusion that the financing of the Super-PACs through multiple transfers between various groups and initiatives is completely non-transparent: “The path of money cannot be followed”.

2004 presidential elections

In the 2004 US presidential election , the 10 PACs who (themselves and related organizations) spent the most money were:

  1. EMILY's List $ 22,767,521 (Supports Democratic women politicians)
  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

Elections 2010

  1. SarahPAC , PAC by Sarah Palin

Elections 2012

The New York Times has compiled a list of the largest donors in the last three months of 2011 based on the registrations received.

Elections 2016

According to research by the Washington Post leading up to the 2016 presidential election in the United States , the Super PACs raised $ 1.1 billion by the end of August 2016.

Mayday.US

Mayday.US is a special Super-PAC, which aims to abolish all Super-PACs. Members of the Congress should be elected who oppose the corrupting influence of money in politics and want to abolish PACs. The Super-PAC is endowed with more than 7.9 million dollars and was funded by more than 55,300 donors through crowdfunding (as of August 2014). The initiator of the PAC is the Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig .

literature

  • R. Sam Garrett: Super PACs in Federal Elections: Overview and Issues for Congress . Congressional Research Service, April 2013 (also online )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Jump up ↑ Battle of the Super Pacs . Southgerman newspaper. January 17, 2012. Retrieved March 9, 2012.
  2. ↑ The Atlantic : There's No Way to Follow the Money , December 16, 2013
  3. ↑ Who's Financing the 'Super PACs' ( English ) The New York Times. February 20, 2012. Retrieved March 9, 2012.
  4. ^ Matea Gold and Anu Narayanswamy: "How 10 mega-donors already helped pour a record $ 1.1 billion into super PACs" Washington Post, October 5, 2016
  5. ↑ Mayday US, Super PAC
  6. ↑ BoingBoing, MAYDAY.US IS DOWN TO THE WIRE: FIGHT CORRUPTION IN CONGRESS!