TestPAC

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TestPAC
Formation2012
Purposenet neutrality, civil liberties
HeadquartersPhoenix, AZ
Treasurer
Mitch Manzella
Websitehttp://www.testpac.org

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TestPAC (formerly known as "TestPAC, Please Ignore") is a crowdfunded, non-connected political action committee in the United States. Its Chairman is Jeromie Whalen. It is best known for its 2012 campaign to defeat incumbent U.S. Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) in response to the Congressman's introduction of the Stop Online Piracy Act and H.R.1981 [1]

History

TestPAC was registered with the Federal Election Commission on January 31, 2012.[2] TestPAC started when several members of the Reddit community initiated a netroots boycott of GoDaddy.com and "Operation Pull Ryan", where Reddit members helped Paul Ryan's opponent, Rob Zerban raise $15,000 in 48 hours.[3] When Ryan eventually came out in opposition of SOPA, activists Andy Posterick and Jeromie Whalen formed a political action committee for potential future campaigns.[4]

TestPAC was originally registered as "TestPAC, Please Ignore." The name is a play on an inside joke on Reddit;[5] the site's most popular post ever was titled "Test Post, Please Ignore."[6]

Overview

TestPAC crowdsources its mission, goals and campaigns from its member-base on the PAC's discussion forum on Reddit. Although most decisions are made among PAC members, major decisions are put to an official vote on the PAC's website. So far, the organization has held two official votes: one asking members whether to campaign against Lamar Smith and one to decide on a concept for a billboard advertisement.

TestPAC primarily relies on crowdfunding as a means of fundraising and solicits donations on social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit.[7]

Campaigns

In February 2012, TestPAC members voted between removing 13-term incumbent Lamar Smith from office or campaign finance reform as the PAC's first target issue. With 63% of the vote, members elected to start a campaign against Smith.[8] The campaign was officially titled "Mr. Smith Comes Back From Washington".[9] TestPAC chose the campaign primarily because of Smith's support of the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act and his introduction of H.R. 1981.[9] Its strategy was to encourage registered Republicans and Democrats to vote against Smith in the 29 May 2012 semi-open Republican primary.[10][11] On 4 April 2012, TestPAC released its first television commercial.[12] Federal Election Commission records show that TEST PAC (committee ID C00511055) made $18,737.22 in independent expenditures in 2012.[13] In the 29 May 2012 Republican primary for Texas's 21st congressional district, Smith won 52,383 votes (76.64%), ahead of Richard Mack with 10,104 votes (14.78%) and Richard Morgan with 5,866 votes (8.58%).[14] The committee is now listed by the Federal Election Commission as an administratively terminated, nonqualified, unauthorised PAC.[15]

Leadership

Test PAC's leadership structure is volunteer-based and open to anyone. The PAC lists several officers on its website who organize operational elements of the PAC's campaigns and manage day-to-day operations of the organization. According to the Federal Election Commission, Andrew J Posterick is registered as the PAC Treasurer.[16]

References

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  1. ^ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:h.r.1981[permanent dead link]:
  2. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Committee Details for Committee Id C00511055". Archived from the original on 2015-06-22. Retrieved 2012-04-03.
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Reddit Forces Paul Ryan to Play Defense on SOPA – The Atlantic Wire". The Atlantic Wire. 29 December 2011. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Meet TestPAC: An upstart political action committee that calls Reddit home – The Next Web". The Next Web. 30 March 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  5. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Say Hello to TestPAC". 30 March 2012.
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Test post please ignore". 18 July 2009.
  7. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Internet PAC Goes After Lamar Smith – RollCall". Roll Call. 22 March 2012. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."What Should TestPAC's First Target Issue Be?". TestPAC. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
  9. ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."TestPAC Aims To Unseat Lamar Smith Washington". The Daily Texan. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."How To Defeat Smith". TestPAC. Retrieved 1 April 2012.
  11. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Mad about SOPA, grassroots group tries to defeat Rep. Lamar Smith". Houston Chronicle. 12 March 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
  12. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Dear Mr. Smith". TestPAC. 4 April 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  13. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Independent Expenditure Table 2: Committees/Persons Reporting Independent Expenditures from January 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012 (PDF) (Report). Federal Election Commission. Retrieved 18 April 2026.
  14. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.2012 Republican Party Primary Election May 29, 2012: Race Summary Report (PDF) (Report). Texas Secretary of State. Retrieved 18 April 2026.
  15. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."TEST PAC - committee overview". Federal Election Commission. Retrieved 18 April 2026.
  16. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."FEC Disclosure Report Search Results". Archived from the original on 2015-06-23. Retrieved 2012-04-03.

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