ABSTRACT
Common Cause found that in nine contested 1986 Senate races, there were 494 examples of Political action committees (PAC) double giving—contributions to both the Democratic and Republican candidates in the same race. The enormous escalation in the role played by PACs in financing congressional elections is undermining public confidence in our system of electing Members of Congress and in the congressional decision-making process. Some defenders of PACs suggest that the massive influx of PAC dollars into congressional campaigns is a healthy form of citizen participation in the political process; after all, they argue, a PAC is simply a group of people joining together to express a collective political opinion. PACs assess candidates based on a much more narrow agenda—generally closely related to their specific legislative goals. The growing number of PACs has enabled those PACs which share the same legislative interest to align together to exert even greater influence in the legislative process.
