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CloseSSFs are political committees established and administered by corporations, labor unions, membership organizations or trade associations. These committees can solicit contributions only from individuals associated with a connected or sponsoring organization.
By contrast, nonconnected committees — as their name suggests — are not sponsored by or connected to any of the aforementioned entities and are free to solicit contributions from the general public.
Super PACs [independent expenditure only political committees] and Hybrid PACs [political committees with non-contribution accounts]
Super PACs [independent expenditure only political committees] are committees that may receive unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, labor unions and other PACs for the purpose of financing independent expenditures and other independent political activity.
Hybrid PACs [political committees with non-contribution accounts] solicit and accept unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, labor organizations and other political committees to a segregated bank account for the purpose of financing independent expenditures, other ads that refer to a federal candidate, and generic voter drives in federal elections, while maintaining a separate bank account, subject to all the statutory amount limitations and source prohibitions, that is permitted to make contributions to federal candidates.
Leadership PACs
A Leadership PAC is a political committee that is directly or indirectly established, financed, maintained or controlled by a candidate or an individual holding federal office, but is not an authorized committee of the candidate or officeholder and is not affiliated with an authorized committee of a candidate or officeholder. Members of Congress and other political leaders often establish Leadership PACs in order to support candidates for various federal and nonfederal offices.
Like other multicandidate PACs, a Leadership PAC may contribute up to $5,000 per election to a federal candidate committee.
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Alternate titles: PAC
By Michael Levy
Table of ContentsKey People:Michael Steele...[Show more]Related Topics:political system campaign finance lobbying...[Show more]
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political action committee [PAC], in U.S. politics, an organization whose purpose is to raise and distribute campaign funds to candidates seeking political office. PACs are generally formed by corporations, labour unions, trade associations, or other organizations or individuals and channel the voluntary contributions they raise to candidates for elective offices, primarily in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. PACs may also spend their funds on what are termed independent expenditures—defined in law as a message “expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate that is not made in cooperation, consultation, or concert with, or at the request or suggestion of, a candidate, a candidate’s authorized committee, or their agents, or a political party or its agents.”
The first PAC was created in 1944 by the Congress of Industrial Organizations, which sought to raise funds to assist the reelection of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt. PACs were an ancillary part of political campaigns in the United States until the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 [and its amendment in 1974]. Ostensibly, the law was established to reduce the influence of money in campaigns by setting strict limits on the amount a particular corporation, union, or private individual could give to a candidate. By soliciting smaller contributions from a much larger number of individuals, however, PACs were able to circumvent these limitations and provide substantial funds for candidates. Following the reforms, the number of PACs proliferated, from about 600 in the early 1970s to more than 4,000 by 2010. With this proliferation came a massive escalation in the cost of running for federal office in the United States.
Britannica Quiz
American History and Politics QuizWhile most PACs have historically been associated with businesses or unions, in the early 21st century new kinds of PACs began to exert greater influence. Among them are Leadership PACs, which are often formed by politicians who might aspire to higher office [particularly the presidency] or more influence within their political party by raising funds and disbursing them to the campaigns of other candidates; Super PACs, which were established in 2010 following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision [and the subsequent SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission ruling] and which allow both corporations and unions to make independent expenditures from their general treasuries; and nonconnected PACs, which are independent of corporations, unions, and political parties and which make contributions and expenditures to support a particular ideology or issue.