| 释义 |
PAC, n.2 U.S. Pol.|pæk|
Also P.A.C., pac.
[Acronym f. the initial letters of political action committee.]
a. The Political Action Committee of the U.S. Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). Now Hist.
The CIO was founded in 1938, and in April 1955 merged with the American Federation of Labor. The Congress's PAC, established on 8 July 1943, was still in existence at the time of the merger and later merged with a similar AFL committee to become the AFL-CIO's Committee on Political Education (COPE).
1944Birmingham (Alabama) News 8 Aug. 1/1 He..asked an enquiry to determine whether some government officials active in PAC work had violated the Hatch ‘no politics’ act. 1944Life 11 Sept. 91/3 At a C.I.O. executive meeting July 7, 1943 they set up a P.A.C. as a committee to support labor's interest within the established two-party system. 1945Britannica Bk. of Year 236 The complete slate of Democratic candidates endorsed by the P.A.C...were elected to the state legislature. 1945Sat. Rev. Lit. (U.S.) 13 Jan. 8/1 From coast to coast there were hysterical cries that the PAC had seized the Democrats' political machinery.
b. A committee formed within a corporation or other organization to collect voluntary contributions towards electoral funds, thereby circumventing regulations limiting the size of contributions or prohibiting such organizations from contributing directly to political candidates.
1975Business Week 2 Dec. 56/1 The ruling that permits business to form political action committees (PACs) presents a tougher problem. Businessmen have long envied labor's right to maintain the Committee for Political Education of the AFL-CIO. 1978In Common Spring 5/2 Corporations, banks and unions are forbidden to contribute directly to candidates for federal office, but they may collect voluntary contributions for their political action committees (PACs), and these in turn may contribute to candidates. 1982Times 3 Nov. 17 It was the Federal Election Reform Act of 1974 which spawned the political phenomena known as pacs... With the rise of the pacs has come the creation of a new kind of power-broker on the American scene—the dispenser or controller of pac funds. 1986Sci. Amer. Nov. 54/3, 19 leading SDI contractors, mostly aerospace and electronics companies..have contributed almost $6 million to various political-action committees (PAC's). |