TestPAC (formerly known as "TestPAC, Please Ignore") is a

crowdfunded Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

, non-connected political action committee in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. Its Chairman is Jeromie Whalen. It is best known for its 2012 campaign to defeat incumbent U.S. Representative

Lamar Smith Lamar Seeligson Smith (born November 19, 1947) is an American politician and lobbyist who served in the United States House of Representatives for for 16 terms, a district including most of the wealthier sections of San Antonio and Austin, as ...

(R-TX) in response to the Congressman's introduction of the

Stop Online Piracy Act The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was a controversial proposed United States congressional bill to expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement to combat online copyright infringement and online trafficking in counterfeit goods. Introduced on O ...

and H.R.1981

History

TestPAC was registered with the

Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency of the United States whose purpose is to enforce campaign finance law in United States federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Cam ...

on January 31, 2012. TestPAC started when several members of the

Reddit Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, imag ...

community initiated a

netroots Netroots is a term coined in 2002 by Jerome Armstrong to describe political activism organized through blogs and other online media, including wikis and social network services. The word is a portmanteau of Internet and grassroots, reflecting t ...

boycott of

GoDaddy.com GoDaddy Inc. is an American publicly traded Internet domain registrar and web hosting company headquartered in Tempe, Arizona, and incorporated in Delaware. , GoDaddy has more than 21 million customers and over 6,600 employees worldwide. The co ...

and "Operation Pull Ryan", where Reddit members helped Paul Ryan's opponent,

Rob Zerban Rob Zerban is an entrepreneur, former Kenosha County Supervisor, and Congressional candidate. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Zerban's campaign for the United States House of Representatives in 2012 and 2014 largely focused on protecting ...

raise $15,000 in 48 hours. When Ryan eventually came out in opposition of SOPA, activists Andy Posterick and Jeromie Whalen formed a political action committee for potential future campaigns. TestPAC was originally registered as "TestPAC, Please Ignore." The name is a play on an inside joke on Reddit; the site's most popular post ever was titled "Test Post, Please Ignore."

Overview

TestPAC

crowdsource Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digita ...

s 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.

Current campaigns

In February 2012, TestPAC members voted between removing 13-term incumbent Lamar Smith from office or Campaign Finance Reform for the PAC's first target issue. With 63% of the vote, members elected to start a campaign against Lamar Smith. The campaign was officially titled "Mr. Smith Comes Back From Washington". TestPAC had chosen this campaign primarily because of Rep. Smith's support of the controversial

and introduction of H.R. 1981. The primary strategy for accomplishing this is encouraging registered Republicans and Democrats to vote in the May 29th semi-open Republican Primary against Smith. On April 4, 2012, TestPAC released its first television commercial

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.

References

External links

TestPAC
official website
TestPAC Twitter
official Twitter
Sub-Reddit TestPAC
official sub-Reddit {{authority control Political advocacy groups in the United States 527 organizations Internet privacy organizations Internet-related activism Political organizations based in the United States Organizations established in 2012 Politics and technology 2012 establishments in the United States