Talk:BIPAC

The text of the deleted article changed substantially and I feel that this represents a much more encyclopedic feel than the previous version cached below.Yudanashi (talk) 21:34, 22 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Don't Write Below this Line: CACHED VERSION

BIPAC (Business Industry Political Action Committee) was founded in 1963 as the first Business oriented political action committee (PAC).[1] Since then it has grown into more than just a PAC and is now a preeminent force in making the political and policy process more effective by providing a one-stop, full-service, political information and grassroots activities resource for advancing the public policy aims of American business.[2] Contents [hide]

   * 1 History
         o 1.1 Early Years
         o 1.2 1980's
         o 1.3 1990's
         o 1.4 2000's - Present
   * 2 See also
   * 3 References
   * 4 External links

[edit] History

The Business Industry Political Action Committee (BIPAC) was founded on August 5, 1963 as an independent, bipartisan group to serve as a political action arm for American business and industry and to encourage greater business participation in congressional elections. It was the first business political action committee. In 1964, it opened its headquarters in New York City with its first chairman, Kenton R. Cravens of the Mercantile Trust Company, St. Louis Missouri. Robert L. Humphrey, who was instrumental in putting the BIPAC concept together while at the National Association of Manufacturers, was chosen to lead BIPAC as its first president in 1964.[3] The first candidate to receive a BIPAC check was Mark Andrews, a candidate for the House of Representatives who was elected and went on to serve in the U.S. Senate. United States

In the 1970s, BIPAC gained plenty of companies after the official authorization of corporate PACs by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in its Sun Oil Company decision of 1975.[4] BIPAC had earlier moved its offices from New York City to Washington, D.C. to be at the seat of political power. Bernadette Budde, now one of the most respected political analysts in American politics, began her long career at BIPAC in 1970.[5] [edit] 1980's

As the popularity of corporate PACs grew, BIPAC expanded its services to help broaden the base of politically effective American businesses. In the 1980s, a monthly report on politics and political races, known today as 'Election Insights', and a now-popular series of Washington Briefings became available to BIPAC supporters. Formal briefings across the country expanded the organization’s visibility. [edit] 1990's

The 1990s were a time of tremendous growth for BIPAC. Revitalized and financially strengthened, the organization assumed its role as full partner with its corporate and association supporters in moving the public policy agenda. With business leaders like Owsley Frazier of Brown-Forman, Earle Williams of BDM, Don Meiners of Entergy and Stephen Frank of Southern California Edison at its helm, BIPAC elevated its scope and quality of service. It stepped into the technology era with the launch of its website and its unprecedented, race-by-race candidate database. [edit] 2000's - Present

Competitive elections, the rise of independents, and the rapid change within legislatures convinced BIPAC that victory on issues required new strategies and tactics. Project 2000 (now known as the Prosperity Project) was born of discussions among major corporations and trade associations. It represented an unprecedented effort to unify the business community around common policy goals and serve as its political operations team.

The Prosperity Project provides a focus for the development of an integrated national issue advocacy strategy for American business. Several years before campaign finance reform became reality, BIPAC began to lead the business community out of the era of huge “soft money” donations and into a new way of doing political business – working at the grassroots to marshal the vast army of American workers in support of the people and policies that advance their jobs, their investments, and their industries. By election 2008, half of the Fortune 50 were engaged in the Prosperity Project.[6]

How notable is this group?

I tried to find some evidence of independent third-party interest in this group but found very little.

linked to indicted lobbyist

This is a different organization based in Alabama called BIPAC Open Secrets Data has a nice layout of all of Business Industry PAC's spending in campaigns and Terri Collins isn't listed. Bob Geddie is not and has never been treasurer of this BIPAC. BIPAC's PAC only spends money in Congressional races, NOT the Alabama 8th House seat which is a state legislative race.[1]Yudanashi (talk) 16:35, 25 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

CorpWatch mentions it: "Another energy-backed group is the Business Industry Political Action Committee (BIPAC), which receives funding from the American Petroleum Institute, ExxonMobil, and other oil, mining, and gas interests. BIPAC is expected to spend $6 million this year, and aims primarily to influence how the employees of its 400 member companies vote."
SourceWatch has a brief article but with no news mentions since 2004.

My feeling is that having a lengthy article here about the group's "history" based on its own statements about itself gives it a lot more apparent "notability" than is appropriate. betsythedevine (talk) 01:27, 23 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

More about BIPAC:

again linked to the indicted Robert Geddie: "BIPAC - One of several PACs run by lobbyists Joe Fine and Bob Geddie. It received money from Colonial Bancgroup, Alfa, Vulcan Materials and other sources." The same article lists a number of other PACs run by Fine and Geddie: CANPAC, EDPAC, FGAPAC, IMPAC, MAXPAC, and SAVE PAC, none of which currently have Wikipedia articles of their own.
3 Fine-Geddie PACs one of them BI PAC (sic. in the article) combined to make 4 separate donations of $5000 each to a legislator on June 21, 2010.

*Note that it is BI PAC not BIPAC. It is not sic in the article, but a differentiation from BIPAC (Business Industries PAC)Yudanashi (talk) 16:52, 25 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Geddie's indictment, which talks about PACs he controls without naming any of them. It describes in detail how lobbyists including Geddie promised large campaign donations to candidates in return for pro-gambling votes, and backed up those promises by handing over large campaign contributions as a number of separate checks drawn on different PACs; the money for those donations came from a few very large donors who got the lobbyists' help to funnel their money through a large number of PACs. According to the indictment, Geddie ordered an employee to alter one PAC's books to change the name of the donor from the person who actually gave lots of money to the name of someone else, who did not know his name was being used. Of course, that group may not have been BIPAC. betsythedevine (talk) 13:21, 23 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Notability

Here are listings of articles from 2008 that discuss or quote BIPAC. These articles, along with others not listed here, establish notability

[2] Archived version, excuse the poor formatiing
[3] National Journal article about BIPAC in the '06 races
[4] 2008 article quoting BIPAC
[5] 2008 Kiplinger article that compares BIPAC with the US Chamber of Commerce
[6] 2008 WSJ article quoting BIPAC discussing the building of coalitions
[7] 2008 USA Today article quoting BIPAC
[8] 2009 National Journal article referencing BIPAC's growth
[9] Bloomberg article discussing BIPAC's bipartisan nature. Yudanashi (talk) 18:42, 25 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Neutral POV

This article has been substantially rewritten to avoid sounding like an advertisement. If any part remains that still looks like an advertisement instead of a encyclopedic, please comment on it here: Yudanashi (talk) 18:48, 25 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]