Political Action Committees

                A Political Action Committee (PAC) is an organization created for the purpose of campaigning for or against a political candidate. Money is derived from a number of sources including multi-national corporations, wealthy individuals and bundlers. As with other aspects of this section, the actual influence exerted by PACs may well be considered excessive. At the very least, there is always the potential for an unhealthy relationship to emerge between those who have money and those who make political decisions.

                Many PACs gain contributions from their employees (in the case of organizations) or their members. This could be considered undemocratic because not all employees or members would necessarily support that particular candidate. Those PACs who are not directly connected to a political candidate may also gain money from everyday citizens, thereby promoting a specific agenda in tune with its particular cause. There are also leadership PACs (such as Every Republican is Crucial and AmeriPAC: The Fund for a Greater America) formed by politicians themselves in order to fund campaigns by other politicians. This might reflect a degree of shared ideological ground or a semblance of party loyalty. Leadership PACs are formed for two reasons; to make allies and to make money. They can also act as something of a sounding board to the party leadership.

                Super PACs is a term widely used within political discourse, although it should be noted that it is not a type of PAC in itself. Super PACs simply refer to the increase influence of PACs since the Citizens United case ruled that organizations and corporations hold the same first amendment rights as individuals. The Citizens United ruling has prized open the floodgates for an even greater amount of campaign finance within American politics. During the 2012 campaign, it is estimated that super PACs spent over $546 million. The crucial point to note of course is that money from all PACs is categorized as soft money and therefore not subject to regulation from the FEC. The only legal obligation is that PACs must register their financial reports with the FEC. Money raised by PACs constitutes the majority of campaign finance raised in the states, which gives further support to the party decline thesis.