Election how money works, what it can do
and what it cannot do.
I'm a big believer in PACs, individual
donations and home-based fund raisers.
But you are not going to buy a vote in
Congress or your legislature, nor do you
want to.
I hope when you've finished the book you
will feel better about PACs, politics and
politicians and the money in politics.
Effective Tool to Achieve
Your Political Goals
By Joel Blackwell
Copyright 2007
Email for permission to use
GrassRootsGuy@JoelBlackwell.com
Many people feel awkward and uneasy about money and politics.
You may have read in the newspaper and seen on TV how political action
committees influence members of Congress, how people with the biggest PACs
seem to get what they want, how money can determine who gets elected and that
the PACs have the money. You’ve seen lobbyists and members of Congress go to
jail. You may have reacted with stunned disbelief at the representative with
$90,000 in his freezer. It looks like something you don’t want to be part of.
Whatever your feelings, it’s important to understand that money does have a role
in politics and to see how it is used—what it can do and what it cannot do.
As you consider money and politics, ask this question: Do you want to work within
the system or try to change it? If you want to change the system, you will have a lot
of company among professional lobbyists and corporate and association
executives. Many find the practice of raising and distributing money distasteful.
Many people in Congress and the states want to change the way we finance
elections.
The problem is, no one has been able to come up with a better way that people
will support. Given that it costs a lot of money to communicate to voters and we
want to have elections, a lot of money has to be raised from somewhere. Quite a
few state house and senate races are now costing more than $1 million. Few
people can afford that, so candidates have to raise money wherever they can.
You can make a strong case for publicly financing elections. For $10 to $50 per
citizen, by my guess, depending on how much reform you want to buy, we could
pay for elections.
An organization co-chaired by a group of former senators thinks it would only cost
$6 apiece. Here's a link to their site:
For Just $6 apiece we could finance federal elections
But for now, not enough people want to do that, so what we have is a system of
privatized elections. It’s almost like raising money in the stock market. Candidates
have to make the case and persuade people to invest in something they believe
in. So in a very real sense, the system makes sure only people with support can
run.
By contrast, we pay for police, fire, and health departments; we pay for juries,
judges, and prosecutors; we even pay senators, representatives, governors, and
presidents, once they are elected. But to get elected, they have to beg and borrow
from people whose main interest is getting something in return. Don’t blame the
people who run for office or the people who give them money for behaving the way
they do. All of us are operating in the system taxpayers could change tomorrow, if
they wanted to.
Whatever you think, my goal is to help you work within the system. Incidentally,
these techniques can help you change the system, if that’s what you want.
It’s good to remember that political action committees (PACs) are the reform. They
were created by Congress and the states to shine light on the flow of money into
campaigns. By and large it has worked. We have a system of campaign finance
that is transparent and honest. It used to be much worse.
I had a conversation with a retired banker from Georgia a few years back. He told
me part of his job had been to act as the political ‘‘bagman.’’ He took the gym
bags full of cash over to the capitol in Atlanta. He did not actually go into the
governor’s office; he went off to the side. One of the staff people would take the
bag and thank him. He said he had delivered as much as $50,000 in cash at a
time—many times—this way.
The record is clear that influence used to be bought that way, with cash passed
under the table. In the case of Georgia senator Herman Talmadge, persons
unknown to him used to put large bills in his suit coat pockets— much to his
amazement. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen anymore, but it’s a lot cleaner than it
used to be and the PAC system is the reason.
PAC money is honest, legal money, reported and on the record, and those
records are available for anyone to look at. For now, money to run campaigns will
continue to come mostly from individuals writing private checks, whether to
politicians directly or to PACs. (Some states allow corporate contributions, and,
interestingly, they don’t seem to have any better or worse government than the
others. But that’s another story.)
The major objection many people have is that a PAC contribution feels like an
attempt to buy a vote. Having talked to hundreds of PAC money recipients, both
state and federal, and to the people who give out the money, I don’t think you can
buy a vote. At least not with PAC money, which is in the public record. I did have
one politician say, in a public meeting, that the money does influence his thinking.
He said it is a lot easier to vote with the people who have given money than those
who haven’t.
His comments affirm what I have said: that many times politicians don’t really care
which way an issue goes, and it really doesn’t matter that much to the public
interest, so they vote with their friends. I respect his candor, and I suspect that is
true for all elected officials. I still say PAC money cannot buy a vote for a couple of
important reasons. One is very practical: The limits on PAC contributions mean
that even if a vote were for sale, you couldn’t give enough through a PAC.
Another reason is that, in all probability, your opponents have given money to the
same people you have. Generally speaking, all the players engaged are giving
money and the money tends to balance out or cancel out. This brings up another
important reason to give! If your opponents are giving and you aren’t . . . Who
cares more about the issue and about the elected official?
REASONS TO GIVE TO YOUR PAC
The PAC is the most efficient and effective way to raise campaign money from a
wide base of contributors. It’s an efficient and effective way to make your voice
heard in the legislature and Congress. In fact it is very hard to present a credible
political presence without a PAC. If you have no PAC, you may not be taken
seriously. You just don’t look like a serious organization. If you want to be heard, it
helps to have a PAC.
1. Working together, we have more impact than all of us working separately. The
money we give is pooled so it has more impact. Former senator David Boren of
Oklahoma once pointed out—in opposing PACs—that the average U.S. senator
must raise $13,000 a week for six years to finance the next election. (The number
is higher today.) ‘‘If people come in to see you and one is a student and one is a
small businessman and one is a teacher and one is a farmer and one is a PAC
person with big campaign contributions, who are you going to see in your limited
time?’’ he asked.
Of course, the answer is that many of those farmers and teachers and small
business people had contributed personally and to a PAC, and so . . . Some of us,
when we give money to candidates, will give $100, $250, or maybe $500. But a
contribution of that size is rare. Most people will give less than $100. Candidates
value those and like to brag that they are getting lots of small contributions. With
the advent of the Internet, raising enough small contributions to fund a campaign
may become possible at the national or presidential level. But while candidates
love to get those small contributions, they are expensive to recruit; they can’t
remember the contributors and don’t even know who they are. Therefore, the key
to influential giving is to give enough to rise out of the herd and get noticed.
By pulling together those small contributions into a large PAC check from your
association, you can have a major impact and your association will be
remembered and appreciated.
2. Unlike most of us who only pay attention to politics during the election
campaigns, the PAC is eternally vigilant. It keeps an eye on elected officials and
issues all year round, and can take action as needed and keep you informed.
3. The PAC allows us to hold elected officials accountable. If they don’t support us,
we won’t support them. We may support their opponent. There is a subtle but real
effect on politicians when they know you have a huge war chest you can throw into
elections or issue fights. Usually they would like to avoid a fight, and certainly an
expensive one. The thought that you might go public and oppose them can have a
powerful deterrent effect.
One political operative told me this story: There was a member of Congress from
Pennsylvania who consistently opposed his union clients on an issue involving
the National Labor Relations Board. Finally they decided they had to do something
serious to get the congressman to change his position. They prepared a series of
radio ads to run in the district explaining the congressman’s stand and the effect
on people in the district (from the union’s point of view, of course).
They went to the congressman and told him they didn’t want to run the ads and
they didn’t want to get into a fight, but they were prepared to if he couldn’t
compromise. They played the ads for him. He blinked. Rather than get into a fight
with a well-financed opponent, he cut a deal. Having a well-stocked PAC is like
having missiles in a silo: You may never have to fire them to get the benefit.
4. PAC money has more impact because it is easier to get. Candidates have to
spend money to raise money from individuals, but PAC money comes in large
lump sums. Unless you are Howard Dean or some other famous politician, it’s
almost impossible to run a campaign on money raised in $25 and $50
contributions. It’s too expensive to get each one and you use all your money
raising money.
5. PAC contributions give candidates a clear idea of where you stand on the issue.
When you give personal money, usually the only thing they know is that you like
them personally. A personal contribution may be misunderstood. The PAC money
represents a specific interest, not just an individual. That interest—or rather its
PAC—has carefully considered which candidates to support. That interest group
is permanent; it was here last year and it’ll be here next year—as will the
possibility of support or opposition.
6. The PAC expands your influence beyond your own political district. It directs your
money to candidates you may not know about throughout the state and nation who
need your support. I seldom encounter a person who sends a personal check to a
distant district, to a candidate for whom he cannot vote, unless it’s someone
running for president.
What if the person running for office from your district is adamantly opposed to
your interest? Or just doesn’t care? Or is weak and can’t help?
You won’t give, but how can you identify those people who support your views?
The PAC knows. The PAC looks around the whole state and nation and applies
your money where it will do the most good.
7. The PAC makes a carefully studied, well-informed decision on whom to
support. Many things go on in Congress and the legislature that people outside
the process don’t know about. The PAC and your lobbyists support and oppose
candidates based on inside knowledge of what really happened to your issues.
This differs significantly from the way personal donations are decided.
Givers often don’t know much about a candidate’s voting record or competency in
matters that don’t show up in votes. My experience has been that the most
important factor in whether people contribute personal money is whether they
know and like a candidate. One reason is that most of us don’t have the time or
interest to focus on what our elected officials do in office. We don’t know all the
different ways and occasions they may have acted for or against our interest.
One state representative in Florida told this story to a group of Realtors I was
training. He explained that he was a banker and served on several committees
relating to banking and finance. Having been there some years, he carried a lot of
clout. The Realtors had supported him and he considered himself their friend.
The Realtors were supporting a bill that came up in one of his committees that
related to finance. Although he had some reservations about the bill, they weren’t
serious, and so, because of his friendship, he said nothing. ‘‘I could have killed
that bill, but I sat on my hands,’’ he said. His point was that this action—or
inaction—was not something that would show up in voting records, but it was
important.
Most of us are unlikely to know about such actions and unlikely to support
someone far from our home district who helps us this way. But the PAC knows.
8. The PAC makes its decisions based only on your issues as decided by the
membership and leadership of your association. Sometimes it will support a
candidate that some members don’t like because of her stand on unrelated
issues. That’s because the PAC is designed to support only narrow issues.
Maybe she is a Democrat and you are a Republican. Your personal feelings on
those issues may not allow you to give money to that candidate. But that same
candidate may have consistently supported budget increases and other issues
that help you. Maybe she is the chair of a key committee. (Incidentally, you can
learn a lot from the Realtors, who are politically very effective. As I said above, they
like to say they are not for the Republican Party or the Democratic Party: they are
for the Realtor Party.)
The PAC will make a cold, calculated investment to protect your interest, one you
might not make because of the conflicting issues. The PACs I work with that are
most successful, and the ones I set up operate systematically and
dispassionately to evaluate candidates.
You have a local and perhaps a state and national committee that considers
candidates and elected officials already in office. They go through a rigorous
process of evaluating what candidates have said and done, their electability, and
their understanding of issues.
They try hard to separate out the stands on social issues, political parties, and
other factors not relevant to the narrow focus of the organization.
They ask, ‘‘Which candidate is best for this special interest?’’ and then invest your
money where it will represent you the best.
9. PACs are legally established by the legislature and Congress. The purpose is
to establish an open, honest regulated system by which people can join together
to support or oppose candidates. The PAC system allows the public to know who
contributes and who receives money. PACs are one way we have chosen to
finance elections.
10. The PAC is an important education device for elected officials. Properly done,
the process by which your association decides who will get PAC money becomes
an important communication medium to elected officials. I learned this when I ran
for state house of representatives in my home state of North Carolina. Only one
PAC was interested in my race. It was a coalition of builders, Realtors, apartment
companies, and developers.
They sent around a person who lived and worked in my district with a long
questionnaire. On the surface, the purpose was to find out how I felt about the
issues they were concerned with.
It was a real eye-opener for me. I had no idea how to answer many of the
questions, although it was clear I needed to know the answers if I were to be
effective after I was elected. In answering their questions, I had to ask for more
information and think hard about what I heard. It was an introduction to a lot of
issues and information I had never had access to.
When I set up PAC committees for my clients, I recommend a formal process in
which a committee screens all candidates. This way you get a dialogue between
the committee and the candidates. When candidates are appealing for money
from your PAC, they will learn about your association and your issues better than
at any other time.
11. Your PAC is an important tool to protect your specific interest. It is designed
and operates to protect your business and create a positive, profitable climate.
When you think about whether to give and how much, ask yourself, ‘‘What is it
worth to get the results I want?’’
People in oil marketing, banking, logging, fishing, and many other industries have
awakened to find their ability to stay in business compromised by a failure to pay
attention to the political climate they operate in. The same thing can happen to
issues you care about. Giving to your PAC makes sure someone is looking after
you and your interest.
Former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson was talking about grassroots
involvement, but he summed it up well when he said, ‘‘Take part or get taken
apart.’’
2020 Pennsylvania Avenue NW #929
Washington DC 20006
GrassRootsGuy@JoelBlackwell.com
Washington (202) 277-5209 / Sacramento (916) 273-9180
