Sunday, February 12, 2006

Political Action Committee

Political action committee
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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[hide]
1 Categorization of PACs
2 2004 Presidential election
3 See also
4 External links
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Categorization of PACs
OpenSecrets, a website run by the Center for Responsive Politics, categorizes PACs, large and small, as follows:
Republican/Conservative - ex.
Democratic/Liberal - ex.
Leadership - ex.
Foreign & Defense Policy
Pro-Israel - ex.
Women's Issues - ex.
Human Rights - ex.
Misc Issues - ex.
Environment - ex.
Gun Control - ex.
Gun Rights - ex.
Abortion Policy/Pro-Life - ex.
Abortion Policy/Pro-Choice - ex.
PoliticalMoneyLine uses the following categories for PACs (The latest totals are available here):
Agriculture
Real Estate/Construction
Communication, Technology
Defense
Energy, Natural Resources
Finance, Insurance
Business - Retail, Services
Health Care
Law
Organized Labor
Manufacturing
Public Employees
City/County
Transportation
Foreign Countries
Miscellaneous
Undetermined
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2004 Presidential election
In the 2004 elections, the top 10 PACs by money spent by themselves, their affiliates and subsidaries were:
EMILY's List $22,767,521
Service Employees International Union $12,899,352
American Federation of Teachers $12,789,296
American Medical Association $11,901,542
National Rifle Association $11,173,358
Teamsters Union $11,128,729
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $10,819,724
National Education Association $10,521,538
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees $9,882,022
Laborers' International Union of North America $9,523,837
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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
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External links
PoliticalMoneyLine
Campaign Guide for Corporations and Labor Organizations
Campaign Guide for Nonconnected Committees
Money in Politics Data
Helpful Resources, Links, and Information
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_action_committee"
Categories: United States political action committees Political ter