On August 1, 2008 the Horizon Changed!
Capitol Advantage, Capitol Advantage Publishing, and Knowlegis are now joined with The
Roll Call Group, publishers of Roll Call, GalleryWatch, CongressNow,
and Briefing Room.
For
more than 50 years, Roll Call has been the cornerstone of Capitol Hill,
delivering superior coverage of the people, politics, and process of
Congress. Capitol Advantage has been the
industry leader of government relations technology and products for 22
years.
This unprecedented combination of companies now shares one core mission: to
redefine the world of congressional information and advocacy
communication in Washington, while delivering innovative, influential,
and indispensable offerings to our customers.
We will
embrace this challenge to deliver a superior suite of tools and
services for those engaged in the democratic process. Our combined
companies are excited about the extraordinary opportunities this unique
partnership presents to our customers.
...Good News for those who sit on PAC boards or control PAC
contributions from a PAC “connected” to their employer— On July
15, the Secretary of the Senate and Clerk of the House issued updated
guidance on what Federal lobbyists and lobbying organizations must
report on their LD-203 reports due by July 30, 2008. The
new rules significantly narrow the scope of required reporting and
diminished the administrative burdens on LD-203 filers.
With
regards to lobbyists who sit on PAC boards or manage corporate PACs,
the Secretary and Clerk noted that if the registrant (the employer)
discloses PAC contributions in its form, those lobbyist employees
who control the PAC need not duplicate the information on their own
LD-203, provided they report that they are a board member of the PAC or
are in a position to control the direction of PAC contributions.
However,
the new guidance provides general guidelines
rather than presenting clear rules. Essentially, the Secretary and
Clerk revised and expanded the examples given in their consolidated LDA
guidance. The guidance can be viewed in its entirety at www.senate.gov/legislative/resources/pdf/S1guidance.pdf
The next LD-203 report is due on January 30, 2009, covering the period from July 1 through December 31, 2008.
…Campaign Contributions and influence on policy—BUILD-PAC,
the nation’s 17th-largest political action committee as well
at the seventh-largest corporate PAC according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics,
made headlines February for refusing to give any more campaign
contributions to congressional candidates (incumbents and challengers).
At the time, the association had unsuccessfully pressed lawmakers to
adopt a provision to reduce the tax liability of home builders by
allowing them to offset their past profits with future losses. In
May, this move was reversed and BUILD-PAC voted unanimously to resume
campaign contribution because of their new priority—a $7,000 tax credit
for first-time home-buyers—which was approved by a House
committee.
The BUILD-PAC decision to halt campaign
contributions after their setback in Congress brought a lot of concern
to lobbyists who try to shed the image of lobbyists tying contributions
to votes. The unspoken connection that interest groups tie their
donations to the decisions they hope lawmakers will take on their
behalf was brought into surface with this move. The move also rattled some
lawmakers who do not like to be reminded in public that lobbyists offer
them money in hopes of receiving favorable treatment. To many this
seemed to be the most public display of quid pro quos between lobbying
and political contributions!
...The long-defunct Federal Election Commission is back in working order—A
six-month standoff between Senate Democrats and the White House ended
in late June, putting the backlogged elections regulator back in
business with few days left until the November elections. The
newly confirmed commissioners are Democrats Cynthia L. Bauerly of
Minnesota and Steven T. Walther of Nevada, along with Republicans
Caroline C. Hunter of Florida, Donald f. McGahn of the District of
Columbia and Matthew S. Petersen of Utah. The priorities for the
commissioners include new disclosure rules for the lobbyists who bundle
campaign contributions, requests for matching funds, and certifying
public funds for the general election.
...FEC unanimously concluded that even short political ads must contain disclaimer—In
its first ruling as a functioning agency, the FEC concluded that even
10- and 15-second TV and radio ads for or against Federal candidates
must include the spoken disclaimer at the end identifying the group
responsible for the ad. The Club for Growth PAC sought an exemption
from the spoken-disclaimer requirement last fall for the short ads but
commissioners denied the exemption citing that when
Congress amended the law to carry a spoken disclaimer, they didn’t
create an exemption for the duration of the ads.
Because of
Express Advocacy or Electioneering Communications, political action
committees must state in radio and television ads that their group “is
responsible for the content of this advertising” in support or defeat
of a candidate. PACs must also disclose in writing their “full name and
permanent street address, telephone number, or Web address of the
person who paid for the communication, and that the communication is
not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.”
Best Solicitation Option: Peer to Peer Fundraising
One
of the most effective PAC solicitation methods for both corporate and
association PACs is peers soliciting peers. Association PACs seek
active members to be volunteer leaders, and corporate PACs recruit
midlevel, eligible employees, and/or other executives below the
management ranks to solicit for the PAC. Peer solicitations are mostly
successful when conducted in small group and one-on-one meetings. For
best results solicitation are done on a face-to-face setting but peers
certainly can contact peers via telephone, e-mail, or fax. Peer
solicitation programs have increased PAC participation and receipts as
high as 300 percent.
In PACbuilder,
you easily can keep track of your Peer to Peer solicitation campaign,
and give recognition to your PAC volunteer leaders by using the “Source Code” to identify your solicitation campaign and the “Attribution Code” to tag your volunteer leader. If you need help to setup these codes, please contact your Account Manager.
… Filing Compliance Reports Responsibility of PAC Treasurer
When
FEC Reports are filed late or not filed at all, the PAC treasurer may
become liable for administrative fines levied by the FEC against the
PAC. Although these fines can be appealed, it negatively affects
the committee’s reputation and therefore should be avoided at all cost.
PACbuilder’s Financial Statement is a report that every PAC treasurer should run and compare with their
FEC report, and bank statement before filing any report.
This
report breaks down ALL transactions that have occurred within your
filing period and shows you a statement summary of your transactions.
In
addition to reconciling bank statement, the treasurer is also
responsible for updating the committee’s registration report. Whenever
your PAC address, treasurer, affiliation, or bank information is
updated, the FEC requires the treasurer to file an updated FEC Form 1.
Please
note that although the FEC does not require the PAC to report every
officer, it remains the treasurer’s responsibility to maintain written
record of such officer’s assignment/authorization.
Depositing
receipts, authorizing disbursements, and keeping records are also part
of the responsibilities delegated to the PAC treasurer by the
FEC. Contact your Account Manager today if you need assistance
using PACbuilder to ease your compliance requirements.
101 PACbuilder features to enhance your PAC productivity
Continuing
from our last eNewsletter, here are highlights of the next 10 features
of PACbuilder that will help boost your PAC productivity and ease
compliance with the Federal Election Campaign Act. Send us an e-mail (PACbuilder@capitoladvantage.com) and let us know what you like to see in this section, or contact your Account Manager if you have questions or need assistance with any of these features.
81: Manage PAC Events
Hosting
a fundraiser? Having a member recognition/appreciation day? Simply
manage these events through PACbuilder. With the PACbuilder event
manager, you can create events with details, expected attendance,
contribution goal, and expenditure limits. If your account is
setup with the CPW Package, you can have your members RSVP directly
online and capture their registration information. This feature
also allows you to set attendance limits on the registration
page. Find out more by clicking File -> Edit Events...
80: Automatically Build Event RSVP Lists
After
registration is closed for your event, log on to PACbuilder, click on
File -> Export -> Nametags to export the contact, table, guest,
and additional registration information provided by registered guests
for your event. This export can be used as your registration
check-in list, or to generate Name Tags for registered attendees. It's
recess season, so start planning your events.
79: Monitor PAC/In-Kind Chattel
Your
PAC might not own vehicles that must be tracked, but in-kind
contributions and non-currency properties that belong to the PAC should
be monitored and tracked for accountability. PACbuilder eases
this task by allowing you to track all your assets/chattel in the
database. This feature gives you the benefit to calculate the
actual value of the PAC in assets and properties in one database.
Click on File -> Assets... today and start adding your assets
to PACbuilder.
78: Generate Demographic Reports for Targeted Communications
The
searchable “Additional Contact Information” field allows you to store
demographic information on your members including, but not limited to,
age, party, ethnicity, gender, and biography. Start importing/entering this
information today.
77: Connect Your Members to Legislators
Do
you have members with personal, professional, or social relationships
with legislators? Linking these members with legislators
gives you the ability to “drop familiar constituent names” when
speaking with these legislators, potentially the most effective
way to influence the outcome. The link feature is located in the
sub-navigation toolbar of every record.
76: Run Comparative Analysis Contribution Searches
With
the comparative analysis search in PACbuilder, you can dive into your
member's contribution history and compare contributions over two
separate periods using separate amounts. To compare
contribution based on Cycle, Cycle-Period, or for any Date Range, go to
Search -> Other Financial Searches -> Comparative Analysis today.
75: Automate FEC Report Deadline Reminders
Using
the Calendar feature, you can import the FEC reporting schedule and
have the system send you an email to remind you of upcoming
deadlines. You never have to wake up at 2AM again wondering if
the FEC report deadline is past due. Click on Tools ->
Calendar today and start importing.
74: Automate Data Integrity Reports
Data
Integrity Reports (11 different types) inform you of contributions and
disbursements that could potentially raise a “red flag” on your FEC
Report. To prevent these red flags from showing up, log on today
and create Recurring Data Integrity Reports that will be delivered to
you via e-mail. These reports can be scheduled daily, weekly,
biweekly, monthly, e.t.c. Set it up today by clicking on Reports ->
Data Integrity Report...
73: Track Member Pledges
The
end of the year is rolling around. This is the time when
businesses start strategizing their revenue goals for the next
year. As a PAC, your revenue depends on contributions from your
members. PACbuilder allows you to encourage contribution
commitments from these members with the pledge feature. Record
their annual pledges in the system and match it to contributions that
they make over the course of the year. The pledge feature is
located in the sub-navigation toolbar of every record.
72: Generate Outstanding Pledge Reports
It's
June 30, 2009, and your PAC contributions are far below 50 percent of
your goal for the year. It's time to raise the contribution
level, and the best place to start is with members with outstanding
pledges. In PACbuilder, go to Reports -> Pledge Reports... and
select the Unfulfilled Pledge Report to see a list of your members with
outstanding pledges, the amount of the pledge, contribution so far, and
outstanding pledge amount.
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP)
Challenge:
In order
to more effectively advocate its issues, the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) decided to start up
its first PAC, FamMedPAC. Once this decision was made, the organization needed the program to be up and running effectively in a short
period of time.
Solution: The AAFP turned to PACbuilder to manage its PAC in June 2005.
Read
the complete case study to find out how
PACbuilder
continues to help
the AAFP manage and grow their PAC. |
|
An individual or a political committee who receives and forwards an earmarked contribution to a candidate committee.
E-mail the correct question to mkordestani@capitoladvantage.com. The first three people with the correct question will receive a Starbucks gift card.
Question to last edition's PAC Jeopardy Answer: Who is the Custodian of Record?
The Winner of last edition’s PAC Jeopardy: Carla Lochiatto of ASAE, and B.J. Fullenkamp of Southwest Bell
|
|
