INFO - PACS

If a company or firm tries to disclaim responsibility for which candidates receive donations from its PAC, that would be misleading.  

Here are the facts:

1.  A PAC is a political committee in the United States "organized for the purpose of raising and spending money to elect and defeat candidates" [“What Is a PAC?” OpenSecrets].  Each company PAC, firm PAC and trade association PAC decides to which candidates it will donate.

2.  “A PAC is somewhat different from other entities associated with a corporation. It is a separate entity, but still managed by, and part of, the corporation....Establishing the PAC: ...First, a corporation’s Board should approve the creation of the PAC...As part of this step, the corporation should select PAC officers and adopt bylaws for the PAC’s administration.” [“Forming a Corporate Political Action Committee," Venable LLP law firm.]

3.  In the case of a foreign-headquartered company or firm, their U.S. subsidiary or member firm selects the PAC’s members/board, who are usually senior executives/professionals of the subsidiary or member firm; often the subsidiary’s or member firm's lobbyists and/or government affairs staff also serve on the PAC. The PAC members/board decide which candidates the company PAC or firm PAC will donate to. 

4.  By law, a company or firm cannot donate to its PAC from their central funds. Most of the larger donations to the PAC tend to be made by the subsidiary’s executives, or member firm's senior professionals, and their families; donations can also be made by other employees and their families, and by shareholders.  Donations by the PAC are made only to candidates selected/approved by the company-appointed or firm-appointed members/board of the PAC.

5.  The U.S. subsidiary or member firm may pay all of the PAC’s administrative and solicitation costs. “For example, a corporation may pay all legal fees for the PAC, postage for mailings, staff time to compose solicitations, credit card processing fees, and virtually any other cost associated with the PAC.” [“Forming a Corporate Political Action Committee," Venable LLP law firm.]

6.  Some companies reportedly pressure and/or induce their employees to contribute to their PACs. [Michelle Conlin and Lucas Iberico Lozada, Reuters, “The new U.S. office politics: funding your boss's political causes,” May 11, 2015.]

See also:

• “Why corporate PACs have an advantage," Karl Evers-Hillstrom, OpenSecrets, 14 February 2020.

• "Political action committee," Wikipedia.

• “Corporate PAC FAQs," End Citizens United.

• “Corporations Should Reconsider the Value of Their Political Action Committees," Douglas Chia of Soundboard Governance, Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, 8 February 2021.

• "CORPORATE PACS SAVE FACE BY CLAIMING WORKER POWER: The groups often lobby against pro-worker interests — but that doesn’t stop them from rebranding as 'employee PACs'," Rachel M. Cohen, The Intercept, 23 March 2022.