Engineering Inc - March/April 2018 - 28

Another record-breaking year for ACEC/PAC with
$1,069,204 in contributions from 2,998 participants nationwide. Disbursements in 2017 totaled $541,100, which is likely
to exceed $2 million at the end of 2018, a congressional election
year.
As the nation's only political organization representing the legislative interests of engineering firms, ACEC/PAC has an essential role
in the success of ACEC's advocacy program, by supporting federal
candidates on a bipartisan basis who support the engineering industry's agenda in Congress.
That essential role was never more evident than last year.
In 2017, ACEC/PAC made its voice heard on several key issues
including: killing the Department of Labor's blacklisting and
overtime pay rules; reducing A/E liability in the FERC cybersecurity rule; achieving go-ahead on pipeline projects and permitting
reforms; and expanding QBS in pending FAA and water bills.
None, however, was as important as the year-end tax reform law
where ACEC achieved a lowered corporate tax rate from 35 percent
to 21 percent and a new 20 percent tax deduction for passthrough
firms, including S corporations, partnerships and LLCs.
"These wins were made possible by an aggressive advocacy effort
fueled by generous contributions to ACEC/PAC," says ACEC
President/CEO Dave Raymond.
ACEC/PAC is currently the largest PAC in the design industry
and ranks in the top 3 percent among all association PACs.
ACEC/PAC National Chairman Charles Gozdziewski attributes
the PAC's steady rise in contributions to expanded leadership,
longer terms for PAC champions, increased communications with
Member Firms and more face-to-face meetings to share the benefits
of PAC participation. The changing political landscape provides
unique opportunities for ACEC to continue influencing upcoming
elections and future legislation.
"There are a lot of elected officials who are retiring. These open
seats are generally more expensive elections, but they're also the
most important because you have a chance to help elect a new
person whom you could establish a long-term relationship with,"
says Gozdziewski, who is also executive chairman of Hardesty &
Hanover. "Early support is never forgotten by a candidate."
While the repeat comes as little surprise to the largest states that
consecutively meet their annual goals, the movement is spreading to states of all sizes and those new to the PAC fundraising. In
2017, 42 states met their annual PAC goals, compared to 41 in
the previous year.
"We wanted to focus in on the states that did not meet goal
last year, nine states in all," Gozdziewski says. In those states,
the national PAC chair and two PAC vice chairs served as extra
resources to help bring those states across the goal line.
One of those states, Missouri, reached its fundraising goal for the
first time since individual state fundraising goals were established
in 2003, raising more than $25,700 in personal contributions. Last
year ACEC/Missouri raised less than half that amount.
"In the past few years, our chairman and other leadership in
ACEC/Missouri realized the importance in promotion of the PAC,
embracing strategies to increase our performance," says Marc Alper,
principal at Alper Audi, Inc., and ACEC/Missouri co-PAC Champion along with Robert Goodwillie, senior vice president and COO
at Hg Consult, Inc. "They took note and said, 'to be an officer,
28

ENGINEERING INC.

MARCH / APRIL 2018

"Part of our success
is holding on to the
contributors that
we have. But we are
being more aggressive
about the outreach to
individual firms."
JOHN O'NEILL
ACEC/ILLINOIS CO-PAC CHAMPION

committee chair or industry liaison, you really should contribute to
the national PAC.' It wasn't mandatory, but there were guidelines
for levels of leadership."
As Missouri's PAC fundraising started gaining momentum, it
attracted Member Firms to an October Ryder Cup-type golf tournament against Illinois PAC Member Firms. With just hundreds
of dollars to go to reach its goal, ACEC/Missouri held a raffle at its
November meeting, which helped put Missouri over the top.
"Hitting that goal is amazing," says Alper. "I'm hoping that now
it will be engrained in our ACEC/Missouri culture going forward.
The message is being heard and our voices are much stronger as a
group than they are individually."
Other states are sure to follow in the coming year, according
to Gozdziewski. "You can't do it overnight. If we can chip away
and get one or two states every year to reach their goal, that
would be great."
One example is ACEC/California, which made great progress in
2017 reaching 62 percent of its goal for the first time, and raising
nearly $53,000, well over the $43,000 in PAC funds the state raised
in 2016.
Another example of this is ACEC/Maine, which made its goal for
the very first time in 2017 due to a strong final month push by its
leadership.
ROOKIE STATE MAKES FIRST-YEAR GOAL

Rhode Island became an official PAC affiliate in October 2016 and
participated in PAC fundraising for the first time in 2017. Under
the leadership of Executive Director, ACEC/Rhode Island, Marcel
Valois, the state made its goal with one event uniquely suited for its
members.
"We wanted to do a social event that focused on PAC objectives
but also that would attract a lot of younger members of firms,"
Valois says. The state PAC leadership created a team bowling competition called Pins for PAC.
"We took over a bowling alley and invited all of our firms to
sponsor a lane and to bring teams of their employees," Valois says.
Twenty-two firms sponsored lanes of five to six bowlers each, and
each bowler contributed $25 to ACEC/PAC. "They had a great
time. It provided everyone with a great networking opportunity.
Most importantly, everyone contributed a modest amount to the
PAC." The Rhode Island PAC reached its first-year goal, by raising
$4,300 in one evening.
Valois believes next year's fundraising will be easier now that participants have the event on their social calendars, but PAC Cham-

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