Cut-Off Date for Contributions
The cut-off date of August 31, 1998 for contributions to candidates was necessary to produce this study in a timely and useful fashion.  According to Federal Election Commission guidelines, contributions from PACs for the month ending August 31 have to be reported by September 20.  Likewise, contributions through September 30, are not be uniformly available until October 20 which was too close to election day for this study to be produced and still be relevant.  Note that the American Federation of Teachers and United Auto Workers report to the FEC quarterly, and not monthly like most other union PACs.  In the interest of consistency, AFT and UAW's contributions for July and August that were reported on their respective third quarter FEC reports were included in this report, but their September contributions were not included.
 

Selection of Top Union PACs
There are numerous ways to gauge the size and power of Top Union PACs.  Different criteria may have yielded different lists of the Top 20 Union PACs.  For this study, the Top 20 selected led in Total Political Disbursements through August 31 of this election cycle (except for AFT and UAW which were through September 30 due to their quarterly filing practices).

• Total Political Disbursements: this criterion was used because it demonstrates the overall power of the PAC.  Included in this figure are contributions to local unions for political purposes, contributions to other PACs and party committees, such as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Republican National Senatorial Committee, and non-federal contributions to state level candidates.  Each PAC's total disbursements is listed under their name and address in the Top 20 list.  However, the focus, of this study was federal candidates; thus after the Top 20 were selected, the study analyzed contributions to federal candidates (line 23 of FEC Form 3X), independent expenditures to federal candidates (line 24) and other disbursements made to federal candidates for such items as debt reduction.  The study also took into account all refunds and returned contributions by deducting these amounts from recipients' totals.

 
• Cut-Off Date of August 31 for Selection of Top 20 Union PACs: a date was necessary to begin analysis.  August 31 was recent enough to give an accurate picture of this cycle's trends, yet it provided enough time to complete the research.

Selection of Federal Candidates
This study focused on current federal candidates, U.S. House and U.S. Senate.  Thus, candidates who may have made a Top 20 list but lost a primary election, such as Michael Forbes (NY-01), Jerry Janezich (MN-Sen.) and Susan Bitter Smith (AZ-01), were not included because, although they received large amounts from the Top 20 Union PACs, they are no longer running for office. However, the late Mel Carahan (MO-Sen.), who died in a plane crash on October 16, 2000, was included in this report because his name will still appear on the November 7 ballot.

Somewhat of an exception to the criterion are Senators seeking reelection in 2002 or 2004.  Since they are still running for office, this study took account at their contributions.  Although several Senators from both parties did accept contributions this cycle for future cycle campaigns, only Senator Robert Torricelli (NJ) made the list of Top 20 Senate Recipients.

Contributions directed to political committees with narrow focuses (so narrow that they could almost be considered a contribution to a federal candidate) were not included because they are not technically contributions to federal candidates.  Examples of such committees include: New York Democratic Victory 2000, Illinois 17th District Democratic Committee, and Democratic Leader's Victory Fund 2000.

This study focused on federal as opposed to state candidates in order to obtain an accurate indication of activity.  Some, but not all, federal union and labor organization PACs give money to state candidates, but all give to federal candidates.  Some employ other mechanisms to contribute to state candidates.  Thus, to compare state level giving of these federal PACs would be arbitrary and inaccurate without additional extensive research.

To return to the index of The Top 20 from the Top 20 study click here.