AMPAC: more BS in the elections

[Marcoose]

So my AMA subscription earned me an invitation to contribute to the American Motorcyclist Political Action Committee. :wtf Our democracy is already totally rigged thanks to Citizens United and PACs, so let's add one more to perpetuate the fuckup.

 

[Chill]

Care to elaborate? Are you getting calls from OH? I know I have been receiving a lot of calls form Ohio lately, I just haven't picked up the phone. I think of PACs as the Facebook of politics right now...

From the little I have found on the intertubes, the American Motorcyclist Political Action Committee has been "donating to Republicans over Democrats in Congress by a ratio of 7 to 1." But other than that, I there wasn't much about what they are doing. Do you think it is too far removed from actual lobbying efforts or just straight up politico jockeying?

 

[Marcoose]

It was a mailer. Our numbers are on the nat'l DNC.

The number of politicians being bought by the amount of money entering politics via PACs is killing the democratic process. Why do motorcyclists need to add to this mess?

 

[Marcoose]

I was thinking about the Facebook analogy, Christian, and for me PACs are more akin to the Pyramid, Make Money Fast and Ponzi schemes. The first fat cats on top that get in early on make a heck of a return, the rest of us get the shaft. IMO.

 

[Chill]

I was thinking about the Facebook analogy, Christian, and for me PACs are more akin to the Pyramid, Make Money Fast and Ponzi schemes. The first fat cats on top that get in early on make a heck of a return, the rest of us get the shaft. IMO.

Thank you for brining this up. I would really like to better understand how PACs work, especially one that is “working on your behalf.”

Very true, Facebook is a poor analogy and wanted to edit but... I was thinking more in terms of the awareness of PACs which seems to have ramped up over the last few elections. But in terms of how they operate, I am still a little hazy. I know that they were originally set up as a workaround to the Taft-Hartley Act (which was to prevent corporations and unions from spending money to influence federal elections), and of course they have been abused (look up John Doolittle), but I am not sure how the AMA has this one set up. Will have to dig a little more.

 

[Chill]

Marc, I just received the letter too. Here is an update from this thread:
http://bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=405385

I work in the nonprofit world, so bear with me for a bit...

The AMA is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit. As such, they can only engage in very specific political activities or statements. (And BTW membership fees and donations to any c4 are not tax deductible.)

Because of this limitation, they doubtless established a "sister" PAC (Politicial Action Committee) organization, which is not limited as to what types of politically-oriented issue ads/statements they can run, and the PAC can directly endorse and support specific candidates.

It is standard operating procedure for 501(c)(4) organizations to share member/donor information with their PAC affiliates. It is also SOP for them to not share that information with other organizations.

I would bet that if asked the AMA folks to remove you from their PAC-sharing mailings/emails they'd be happy to do so.

In any case, you don't have to worry that they're sharing your info with the world at large. AMA has been around long enough to realize that shopping their members to every Tom, Dick and Harry would most likely alienate the members, which they certainly do not want to do.

 

[Marcoose]

Thx, Chris. The piece that bugs me is yet another org influencing the democratic process. Like we don't have enough of them. Motorcyclists too? That's sad. How about one person one vote? IMO.

 

[sidehiller]

But you got a nice sticker that says you VOTE! right?

 

[Marcoose]

Yes, and I do vote in every election. I get informed without the influence of negative ads and vote in a way that benefits the underpriveleged. My vote is not for sale (yet). But that's just me.