A Political Action Committee (PAC) is an organization that is registered with the Federal Elections Committee (FEC) and whose purpose is to raise funds for the election or defeat of candidates for political office or to support or defeat specific political issues.
What are the types of Political Action Committees?
There are three types of Political Action Committees. Nonconnected PACs (Ideological PACs), Connected (Separate Segregated Funds) PACs and Independent Expenditure-Only Political Committees which are also known as Super PACs or Hybrid PACs.
What are the differences between the types of PACs?
Nonconnected PACs: Nonconnected or ideological PACs raise and spend money to elect or defeat candidates or who support ideals, agendas or specific legislation. Nonconnected PACs are made up of individuals or groups of U.S. citizens, not connected to a corporation, a labor party, a trade union or a political party. An example of a nonconnected PAC would be the National Rifle Association who advocate for Second Amendment Gun rights.
Connected PACs: Connected PACs (also known as Seperate Segregated Fundss PACs) are directly connected to specific corporate entities, labor unions, recognized political parties or trade associations. An example of a connected PAC would be the Teamsters Union who advocate for and are funded by organized labor. These PACs may solicit contributions from their employees or members and make contributions in the PACs name to candidates or political parties.
Super PACs: Super PACs (also known as Independent Expenditure-Only Political Committees) may not make contributions directly to or coordinate with candidate campaigns or parties, but may engage in unlimited political spending independently of the campaigns. Unlike the other two types of PACs, they may raise funds from individuals, corporations, unions, and other groups without any legal limit on donation size.The Sierra Club is an example of a Super PAC.
What should you know before contributing to a PAC?
First and foremost, you should know what the PAC is promoting or opposing. This can be any number of things, from a specific candidate who is running for office to a particular issue like imposing term limits on the U.S. Congress. Know their plan for how they mean to achieve their goals. Finally, find out what their receipts and expenditures have been in the past.
The last one is a confusing issue. Often I have been asked what percentage of a PACs receipts go toward the actual issue or campaign they are promoting or opposing and what percentage goes toward administrative costs. This is not really the question to be asked. The question you SHOULD ask is what is their past receipts and expenditures and how that is broken down and made available to contributors and the public in general.
Like any other business, there are costs incurred with running a PAC. Unlike most businesses, a PAC is dependent upon contributions from donors. This makes it impossible to truthfully claim what percentage of a person's donation will go toward the actual issue which the PAC is promoting or opposing. If, for instance, it costs a PAC $5000 a month to stay operating (this could include rent on office space, phone bills, printing costs, payroll, event fees) and the PAC only receives $5000 that month in contributions. Then 0% is actually furthering the agenda the PAC is pursuing and 100% is going toward administrative costs. However, if that PAC receives $10000 in contributions that month, then 50% of the contributions are being channeled toward furthering the goal of the PAC. In a month where a PAC receives a good amount of contributions, they will be putting more toward the issue and on a bad month, they may actually receive less contributions than it costs to administer the PAC. Ultimately, the question should not be how much goes toward administrative costs, but instead, what ARE those administrative costs, are they broken down and itemized in a transparent way for donors and the public and do you personally accept those administrative costs as necessary for the upkeep of the PAC.
A successful PAC will increase its administrative costs as the PAC grows. More employees, bigger office space, more events attended, more printing, more postage, all of these things increase in cost as a PAC grows and expands its outreach and effectiveness.
ALL PACs must report their receipts and expenditures to the Federal Elections Commission, and the FEC posts those reported receipts and expenditures on it's own website, however, it is not itemized there and gives only general numbers. A transparent PAC with no concerns about their responsibility in expenditures will make available to anyone who wishes to know an itemized list of where each dollar of contributed money goes. The Responsible Representation Committee is dedicated to just such transparency and will, upon request, provide an itemized list of expenditures. Receipts will also be provided, but for privacy issues, and since we accept only donations from individual citizens, names, phone numbers, addresses and other private information will be excluded though itemized donation amounts will be provided upon request.
As with any business, there are questionable PACs and there are responsible PACs. Who you make contributions to should be carefully examined before making a contribution and any upstanding PAC will answer your questions in a forthright and open manner. In an economy like we have in the world of today, one should always understand where the money you spend is going and how it will be used.
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