ABSTRACT
The National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC) became so visible for its negative advertising campaigns against liberal Democrats that some candidates and political committees purchased advertising to make NCPAC’s spending the issue and succeeded. The clearest cases are connected Political action committees (PAC), the political committees sponsored by corporations, labor unions, trade associations, and other institutions. Accountability may occur because of patterns of behavior followed by donors, members, and leaders of political organizations. With the development of the publicity movement, proponents also argued that the electorate should “know before the election who gave how much to which candidates and could judge for itself the political indebtedness of the various candidates.” Treasury subsidies for PACs are in reality a “pass through” of institutional funds to candidates, for without treasury subsidies the administrative costs of PACs would be paid from contributed receipts and those moneys would no longer be available to make gifts to candidates.
