Understanding the Relationship between Health PACs and Health Lobbying in the American States

Abstract

We examine how health PAC activity in the states is connected to lobbying. Is the political money that health interest organizations bring to the policy process a powerful, independent means of influence or is it better understood narrowly as a tactic used to support lobbying? We examine the relationship between campaign contributions and lobby activity and the limited work that has been conducted on them and raise a number of questions about the process by which they are connected. We utilize 1998 data on state lobbying and PAC activity, allowing us to answer causal research questions generated from existing studies at the national level. We conclude that PAC activity is best viewed as an adjunct of lobbying rather than an independent form of political activity.