How Do I Verify Who Is Behind a Political Action Committee?

Sarah Palin uses SarahPAC to raise money to help candidates she agrees with.

Political Action Committees (PAC) are fundraising organizations used to influence government or politicians on a range of issues. The first PACs were created by organized labor in the 1940s and have been used by both politicians and ordinary citizens to influence policy decisions or help particular candidates get elected. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is the federal agency responsible for ensuring that politicians and interest groups follow federal law with regard to campaign donations and spending. PACs are required to submit reports to the FEC at regular intervals throughout the year.

Things You'll Need

• Computer
• Internet connection

Instructions

Access the Federal Election Commission Database

1. Open your internet browser and type in www.opensecrets.org in your address bar.

2. Find the menu bar under the website title at the top of the page and move your cursor over the option titled "Influence & Lobbying." Then scroll down to "PACs" and click on it.

3. Find "Search for a PAC" across from the heading in the small gray box on the right hand side of the page.

4. Type the name of the PAC you are looking for in the search box and click search.

5. Click on the results in the middle of the page that most closely match your PAC in the search results.

6. Scroll down the page to the gray box titled 2010 PAC Summary Data and look for the last sentence that says "Contributions to this PAC from individual donors of $200 or more.(list of donors)" Click on "list of donors."

Tips & Warnings

• If you have difficulty accessing the opensecrets.org website by typing it into the address bar, use a search engine such as www.google.com to search for it.

References

• Money in Politics-- See Who's Giving & Who's Getting