National Conservative Political Action Committee
Encyclopedia
The National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC; pronounced "nick-pack") was a New Right
political action committee
in the United States
that was a major contributor to the ascendancy of conservative Republican
s in the early 1980s, including the election of Ronald Reagan
as President
, and that innovated the use of independent expenditure
s to circumvent campaign finance
restrictions.
In 1979 Time
magazine characterized NCPAC, the Conservative Caucus and the Committee for the Survival of a Free Congress (headed by Paul Weyrich
) as the three most important ultraconservative organizations making up the New Right
.
, Charles Black
and Roger Stone
, with help from Richard Viguerie
and Thomas F. Ellis
. The group got its start through direct mail
solicitations. "The shriller you are, the better it is to raise money," explained co-founder Terry Dolan.
NCPAC became one of the first groups to circumvent the contribution limits of the Federal Election Campaign Act
(FECA) by exploiting the "independent expenditure" loophole permitted under a 1976 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Although federal law restricted political action committees' expenditures to $10,000 per candidate, an organization could spend unlimited amounts of money supporting or opposing a particular candidate as long as their campaign activity was not coordinated with a candidate. NCPAC pooled independent contributions in order to make independent expenditures on campaign attack ad
s. Not only did this circumvent campaign finance restrictions, but it prevented candidates from being associated with advertising created on their behalf. NCPAC Chairman Terry Dolan was quoted as saying, "A group like ours could lie through its teeth, and the candidate it helps stays clean." Dolan later said he was describing a hypothetical situation, not NCPAC's actual tactics.
Dick Clark
of Iowa in the election of 1978. Three weeks before the November 1978 election, incumbent Clark had a 30 percentage-point lead in campaign polls, but he lost to Republican Roger Jepsen
, 52 to 48 percent. Clark's defeat was attributed to intense anti-Clark campaigning conducted by direct mail
, mailgram
s, and leaflet distribution during the final weeks of the campaign, attacking Clark for his positions on abortion
, gun control
, and the Panama Canal Treaty. NCPAC took credit for Clark's defeat and was encouraged to expand its efforts in the 1980 election.
(Iowa), George McGovern
(South Dakota), Frank Church
(Idaho), and Birch Bayh
(Indiana), were defeated. Senators Alan Cranston
of California and Thomas Eagleton
of Missouri were also targeted, but achieved re-election.
of Massachusetts, Paul Sarbanes
of Maryland, and John Melcher
of Montana. The organization later trimmed its target list to five incumbents, and spent $4.5 million in the 1982 elections. However, only one of its targets, Democrat Howard Cannon
of Nevada, failed to win re-election. Sarbanes was charged with being "too liberal for Maryland," but voters did not respond to the NCPAC message. Sarbanes made NCPAC's tactics a major issue in his campaign. Democratic Senator John Melcher, a veterinarian
, countered a commercial that claimed he was "too liberal for Montana" by running a TV commercial of his own featuring cows. After a shot of "out-of-staters" carrying a briefcase full of money off an airplane, one cow remarked, "Did ya hear about those city slickers bad-mouthing Doc Melcher? One of 'em was stepping in what they've been trying to sell."
The organization is based in Alexandria, Virginia
.
New Right
New Right is used in several countries as a descriptive term for various policies or groups that are right-wing. It has also been used to describe the emergence of Eastern European parties after the collapse of communism.-Australia:...
political action committee
Political action committee
In the United States, a political action committee, or PAC, is the name commonly given to a private group, regardless of size, organized to elect political candidates or to advance the outcome of a political issue or legislation. Legally, what constitutes a "PAC" for purposes of regulation is a...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
that was a major contributor to the ascendancy of conservative Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
s in the early 1980s, including the election of Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
as President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
, and that innovated the use of independent expenditure
Independent expenditure
-Definition:In elections in the United States, an independent expenditure is a political campaign communication which expressly advocates the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate that is not made in cooperation, consultation or concert with or at the request or suggestion of a...
s to circumvent campaign finance
Campaign finance
Campaign finance refers to all funds that are raised and spent in order to promote candidates, parties or policies in some sort of electoral contest. In modern democracies such funds are not necessarily devoted to election campaigns. Issue campaigns in referendums, party activities and party...
restrictions.
In 1979 Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine characterized NCPAC, the Conservative Caucus and the Committee for the Survival of a Free Congress (headed by Paul Weyrich
Paul Weyrich
Paul M. Weyrich was an American conservativepolitical activist and commentator, most notable as a figurehead of the New Right. He co-founded the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank and the Free Congress Foundation, another conservative think tank...
) as the three most important ultraconservative organizations making up the New Right
New Right
New Right is used in several countries as a descriptive term for various policies or groups that are right-wing. It has also been used to describe the emergence of Eastern European parties after the collapse of communism.-Australia:...
.
Founding
NCPAC was founded in 1975 by conservative activists John Terry DolanTerry Dolan (US political figure)
John Terrence "Terry" Dolan was an American New Right political operative who was co-founder and chairman of the National Conservative Political Action Committee ....
, Charles Black
Charles R. Black, Jr.
Charles R. Black, Jr. , is a former chief lobbyist for BKSH & Associates, a lobbying firm associated with Burson-Marsteller. Black also worked for Ronald Reagan's two Presidential campaigns in 1976 and 1980 and he was a senior political adviser to the 1992 re-election campaign of George H.W. Bush...
and Roger Stone
Roger Stone
Roger J. Stone, Jr. is an American political consultant and lobbyist who specializes in opposition research for the Republican National Committee in the United States....
, with help from Richard Viguerie
Richard Viguerie
Richard Art Viguerie is a conservative figure, pioneer of political direct mail and writer on American politics...
and Thomas F. Ellis
Thomas F. Ellis
Thomas F. Ellis is an American lawyer and political activist involved in numerous conservative causes. His network of interests were described as "a multimillion dollar political empire of corporations, foundations, political action committees and ad hoc groups" active in the 1980s and developed by...
. The group got its start through direct mail
Direct mail
Advertising mail, also known as direct mail, junk mail, or admail, is the delivery of advertising material to recipients of postal mail. The delivery of advertising mail forms a large and growing service for many postal services, and direct-mail marketing forms a significant portion of the direct...
solicitations. "The shriller you are, the better it is to raise money," explained co-founder Terry Dolan.
NCPAC became one of the first groups to circumvent the contribution limits of the Federal Election Campaign Act
Federal Election Campaign Act
The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 is a United States federal law which increased disclosure of contributions for federal campaigns. It was amended in 1974 to place legal limits on the campaign contributions...
(FECA) by exploiting the "independent expenditure" loophole permitted under a 1976 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Although federal law restricted political action committees' expenditures to $10,000 per candidate, an organization could spend unlimited amounts of money supporting or opposing a particular candidate as long as their campaign activity was not coordinated with a candidate. NCPAC pooled independent contributions in order to make independent expenditures on campaign attack ad
Attack ad
In political campaigns, an attack ad is an advertisement whose message is meant as a personal attack against another candidate or political party...
s. Not only did this circumvent campaign finance restrictions, but it prevented candidates from being associated with advertising created on their behalf. NCPAC Chairman Terry Dolan was quoted as saying, "A group like ours could lie through its teeth, and the candidate it helps stays clean." Dolan later said he was describing a hypothetical situation, not NCPAC's actual tactics.
1978 election
NCPAC's first major target was Democratic SenatorUnited States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
Dick Clark
Dick Clark (senator)
Richard Clarence "Dick" Clark represented the state of Iowa in the United States Senate from 1973 to 1979.Clark, a Democrat, was only successful in his first election for the Senate when he defeated Republican incumbent, Jack R. Miller in 1972. Clark received 662,637 votes to Miller's 530,525...
of Iowa in the election of 1978. Three weeks before the November 1978 election, incumbent Clark had a 30 percentage-point lead in campaign polls, but he lost to Republican Roger Jepsen
Roger Jepsen
Roger William Jepsen is an American politician from the state of Iowa. A Republican, he served in the United States Senate.-Biography :...
, 52 to 48 percent. Clark's defeat was attributed to intense anti-Clark campaigning conducted by direct mail
Direct mail
Advertising mail, also known as direct mail, junk mail, or admail, is the delivery of advertising material to recipients of postal mail. The delivery of advertising mail forms a large and growing service for many postal services, and direct-mail marketing forms a significant portion of the direct...
, mailgram
Mailgram
A mailgram is a type of telegraphic message which is transmitted electronically from the sender to a post office and then printed and delivered to the recipient via postal means.In the United States, the Western Union Company started mailgram service in 1970...
s, and leaflet distribution during the final weeks of the campaign, attacking Clark for his positions on abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, gun control
Gun control
Gun control is any law, policy, practice, or proposal designed to restrict or limit the possession, production, importation, shipment, sale, and/or use of guns or other firearms by private citizens...
, and the Panama Canal Treaty. NCPAC took credit for Clark's defeat and was encouraged to expand its efforts in the 1980 election.
1980 election
Clark's defeat, for which NCPAC took credit, encouraged NCPAC and other allied organizations to expand their efforts in the 1980 election, when NCPAC spent at least $1.2 million. Four of the six incumbent Democratic Senators targeted by NCPAC in 1980, John CulverJohn Culver
John Chester Culver is an American politician of the Democratic Party who represented Iowa in both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate....
(Iowa), George McGovern
George McGovern
George Stanley McGovern is an historian, author, and former U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, and the Democratic Party nominee in the 1972 presidential election....
(South Dakota), Frank Church
Frank Church
Frank Forrester Church III was an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States Senator from Idaho from 1957 to 1981....
(Idaho), and Birch Bayh
Birch Bayh
Birch Evans Bayh II is a former United States Senator from Indiana, having served from 1963 to 1981. He was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in the 1976 election, but lost to Jimmy Carter. He is the father of former Indiana Governor and former U.S. Senator Evan Bayh.-Life...
(Indiana), were defeated. Senators Alan Cranston
Alan Cranston
Alan MacGregor Cranston was an American journalist and Democratic Senator from California.-Education:Cranston earned his high school diploma from the old Mountain View High School, where among other things, he was a track star...
of California and Thomas Eagleton
Thomas Eagleton
Thomas Francis Eagleton was a United States Senator from Missouri, serving from 1968–1987. He is best remembered for briefly being the Democratic vice presidential nominee under George McGovern in 1972...
of Missouri were also targeted, but achieved re-election.
1982 election
NCPAC hoped to repeat its success in the 1982 election. Initially the group targeted a list of 20 Senators for defeat, including Pat Moynihan of New York, Ted KennedyTed Kennedy
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
of Massachusetts, Paul Sarbanes
Paul Sarbanes
Paul Spyros Sarbanes , a Democrat, is a former United States Senator who represented the state of Maryland. Sarbanes was the longest-serving senator in Maryland history, having served from 1977 until 2007. He did not seek re-election in 2006, when he was succeeded by fellow Democrat Ben Cardin...
of Maryland, and John Melcher
John Melcher
John Melcher is an American politician of the Democratic Party who represented Montana as a member of the United States House of Representatives, and as a United States Senator from 1977 until 1989.-Early life:...
of Montana. The organization later trimmed its target list to five incumbents, and spent $4.5 million in the 1982 elections. However, only one of its targets, Democrat Howard Cannon
Howard Cannon
Howard Walter Cannon was an American politician. He served as a United States Senator from Nevada from 1959 until 1983 as a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life:...
of Nevada, failed to win re-election. Sarbanes was charged with being "too liberal for Maryland," but voters did not respond to the NCPAC message. Sarbanes made NCPAC's tactics a major issue in his campaign. Democratic Senator John Melcher, a veterinarian
Veterinarian
A veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian or veterinary surgeon , is a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals....
, countered a commercial that claimed he was "too liberal for Montana" by running a TV commercial of his own featuring cows. After a shot of "out-of-staters" carrying a briefcase full of money off an airplane, one cow remarked, "Did ya hear about those city slickers bad-mouthing Doc Melcher? One of 'em was stepping in what they've been trying to sell."
Later years
L. Brent Bozell succeeded Dolan as the group's head after Dolan's death in 1986.The organization is based in Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
.