The Federal Election Commission unanimously voted on Oct. 11, 2007, to give the American Kennel Club (AKC) the right to form a political action committee (PAC) that can solicit money from its members.
"We are very pleased with this outcome as it … will allow us to draw support from those with a vested interest in canine legislation," said Ron Menaker, AKC’s chairman of the board.
The AKC filed a request with the commission in August but indicated its interest even earlier. Menaker said the AKC PAC will launch in the “very near future” with a formal unveiling for its members this December at the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship in Long Beach, Calif. The board of directors will approve a final structure for the fund’s management at its November meeting, it reported.
The type of PAC the AKC will form, also called a separate segregated fund, allows it take in contributions for political campaigns from its members only, not the general public.
In its decision, the FEC commission wrote: “The Commission concludes that AKC and its voting clubs and accredited clubs are membership organizations and that both the voting clubs and the accredited clubs are affiliated with AKC. Therefore, any SSF [separate segregated fund] established by AKC may solicit contributions from the individual members of AKC’s affiliated voting clubs and accredited clubs.”