High Court Sweeps Aside Ban on Corporate, Union Campaign Money

In a ruling that dramatically changes core elements of existing campaign finance rules, the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to loosen spending restrictions on corporations, associations and unions in federal elections.
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Member Vote Not Needed to Form PAC, FEC Says

The Federal Election Commission has concluded that a membership organization considering forming a political action committee does not have to hold a vote of its members on whether to start a PAC.
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Council Releases New 2009 Association PAC Benchmarking Survey

The Public Affairs Council has just released the 2009 Association PAC Benchmarking Survey, a new resource for association PAC managers to compare the performance of their political action committees with those of other trade, professional and business associations. This study is a companion piece to the Council's 2009 Corporate PAC Benchmarking Survey, released earlier in the year. It profiles the staffing, budgeting and key activities of 56 association PACs during the 2008 election cycle, and also contains fundraising and participation data.

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FEC Decision May Open New Avenue for Donors

In a decision involving a consulting firm that wanted to work with individually financed LLCs to influence elections, the FEC may have opened up a new avenue for campaign donors.
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Council Critical of Banning Lobbyists From Federal Advisory Boards

Many on K Street were critical of the White House's decision this week to keep federally registered lobbyists off federal government advisory boards and committees. One was Doug Pinkham, president of the Public Affairs Council.
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Public Affairs Council Launches New Blog

Public affairs is the most important corporate function that nobody understands. We try to make some sense of it in our new blog, "Public Affairs Perspective," written by Council President Doug Pinkham. Click here for our latest post.
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Newly Released-2009 Corporate PAC Benchmarking Report

The Council's 2009 Corporate PAC Benchmarking Report, the latest in a series of benchmarking studies produced after each election cycle, has just been released. Featuring data from 135 partipating companies, the study is an essential resource for PAC mangers planning for the 2009-2010 campaign.

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How Will New FEC Commissioner Approach Regulation?

Skeptics question how President Obama's new appointee to the Federal Election Commission will approach the often-controversial issues raised by campaign finance regulations. One campaign reform group, the Campaign Legal Center, objected that the nominee, labor attorney John Sullivan, has in the past called for lenient regulation.
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It's a Good Year to Watch the FEC

This year is a good one to pay close attention to the Federal Election Commission. Not only have the six commissioners rendered some startling decisions and deadlocked on key issues, the terms of two Democrats and a Republican will expire this May. "There's no way to know yet whether another fresh set of commissioners will adjust course yet again," reports Campaigns & Elections' Politics Magazine.
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FEC Web Page Helps With Bundling Compliance

The Federal Election Commission has a new Web page to help lobbyists comply with the bundling disclosure requirements of the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act of 2007. The page includes revised forms, answers to oft-asked questions and a list of those who have identified themselves as lobbyist/registrant PACs.
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