Kiss Your PACs Goodbye

Time to pack up the bar stools and the tikki torches.

Following the removal of lobbyists from the fundraising process by new campaign finance rules, the political committees that used to hold big-money events to back candidates or campaigns are closing down.

According to an early count by the State Elections and Enforcement Commission, 79 political action committees filed their termination papers for the Jan. 10 deadline, the first since the new rules went into effect.

Not only that, but among the roughly 630 PACs that are still technically in operation, it’s a good bet that a lot of them, like the Connecticut Bar Association PAC, have ceased fundraising and are thinking about what to do next. Only about 220 PACs sent in a form by the deadline indicating that they will continue operations. While the state doesn’t require the committees to send a form in every filing deadline (at least not yet) it’s not a great sign that so few sent theirs in.

The drop-outs come from all corners of society, as businesses, associations, non-profit groups and advocates alike are all facing the dilemma of how to raise and donate money without the help of registered lobbyists.

Wide And Deep
There are committees of associations, like the American Council of Engineering Companies, American Insurance Association and Connecticut Construction Industries Association. There are energy industry committees, like the Connecticut Power PAC and United Illuminating’s PAC.

And of course there are lobbying firms and law firms and those that do both, making for a long list of ampersands: Levin, Powers, Brennan & Shea; Updike, Kelly & Spellacy; Halloran & Sage; Blum Shapiro; and Tobin, Carberry, O’Malley, Riley & Selinger have all closed their PACs.

But perhaps most telling of all is the health insurers. Even as they weigh in on their biggest issue in decades, the debate over dramatically expanding access to health care, Aetna and Connecticare have closed their PACs, unable to find a use for them under the new rules. Connecticare did so even as its CEO, Mickey Herbert, opted to personally register as a lobbyist so he could put more time in talking to legislators himself. Aetna closed its PAC on Dec. 31, even as it continues to operates PACs in other states around the country.

“We felt that we wanted to be compliant with the new law and that it was prudent to discontinue the PAC until we had a clear understanding of the new law’s implications,” said Deborah Hoyt, at Aetna. What she means is the company isn’t sure what to do yet.

Aetna isn’t alone, of course. The old adage that money finds a way into politics may be true, but to this point, a lot of companies that have been willing to spend to get on the good side of legislators are still figuring out how best to spend that money down the road. Until then, packages of those little cocktail umbrellas can probably go into storage.