PAC Questions from the Road
by Michael Dunn
Every year, I get to train lots of employees about how to solicit their peers on behalf of their companies’ PACs. At a recent training session, attendees were grilling me with questions they anticipated having to answer when they go out in the field. One employee posed this question:
“How does my company’s PAC contribution to a candidate’s campaign make a difference, if that candidate also receives PAC contributions from our competitors’ PACs?"
This was a very astute question, and it deserved a direct, credible response.
Here was my answer:
When your company’s PAC makes a contribution to a candidate who also receives contributions from your competitors’ PACs, you are leveling the political playing field. This means that your company has removed or minimized the political factors that can influence a lawmaker’s perceptions on issues.
Your company’s government affairs professionals have an equal opportunity to build a solid working relationship with the lawmaker and to convey the company’s positions on public policy matters.
By removing the political factors, the quality of your company’s arguments in support of or in opposition to a particular issue become much more important.
How would you respond to this question?
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