BIPAC

BIPAC

Founded	1963
Focus	Business in politics
Location	Washington D.C.
Area served	United States
Key people	Timothy Riordan (President & CEO)
Website	bipac.org

BIPAC (Business-Industry Political Action Committee) is a political organization that was founded in 1963, ^[1] with the stated goal of electing "business-friendly" candidates. It was one of the first political action committees in America.

It primarily but not endorses Republican candidates, but also endorses some Democratic candidates. ^[2]

History

BIPAC was founded in 1963 as “a political action arm for American business and industry”. ^[3]

In August 1963, members of the business community provided seed funding to establish BIPAC with the goal of electing "business-friendly" candidates. ^[4] The group is not officially affiliated with either political party. ^{[4] [5] [6] [7] [8]}

Operations

Several distinct legal entities operate within the framework of BIPAC:

• The Business Institute for Political Analysis is the operations and administrative core of BIPAC. The Institute is a membership organization that does not lobby Congress on issues. ^[9]
• The Action Fund is the non-connected political action committee of BIPAC, as recognized by the Federal Election Commission. Contributions to the Action Fund can come from individuals and other PACs, but not from corporations. ^[9]
• BIPAC's Prosperity Project (P2) promotes pro-business politicians to their employees. ^[10] BIPAC's affiliated state deployment partners (those who officially host the Prosperity Project grassroots initiative in each state) include state Chambers of Commerce. ^[10]
• The Friends of Adam Smith was established in November 2000 by the Board of Directors of BIPAC along with many of its members. It is charged to research and promote the link between politics, public policy, and economic freedom. ^[11]

Initiatives

Employees Vote is a get out the vote initiative to encourage private-sector U.S. employees to vote. Employees Vote provides businesses and trade groups. ^[12]

References

1. "BIPAC.org - Who Are We"
2. "2024 Endorsements".
3. "Harvard Business Review - Study: Employees Want Employers to Talk Politics" November 2, 2012
4. Political brokers: money, organizations, power, and people by Judith G Smith, publisher Liveright, New York, 1972. Chapter 5 "Business-Industry Political Action Committee" by Jonathan Cottin, discusses the origins of the group and its activities through 1970.
5. "GOP Angers Big Business on Key Issues" (June 21, 1998) Washington Post
6. "Business, GOP Chiefs Reconcile on Agenda" (July 8, 1998) Washington Post
7. Business Communications in a Post-Partisan Era
8. List of BIPAC's Candidate endorsements for 2010
9. Source Watch page on BIPAC
10. ""Business Lobby: We Will Outgun Unions By 2010"". Archived from the original on 2010-11-21. Retrieved 2010-10-22.
11. "Friends of Adam Smith Foundation"
12. "Bloomberg Businessweek, "Businesses Turn Out Workers’ Votes to Stomp Tea Party"

External links

• Official public website of BIPAC
• "BIPAC taps former Pennsylvania congressman to be CEO". Pennsylvania Business Daily. June 12, 2015. Archived from the original on June 25, 2015. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
• Woodman, Spencer (October 15, 2014). "Office Politics: Inside the PAC teaching corporate America how to make its employees vote for the right candidates and causes". Slate.