YOUR EASY POLITICAL ACTION QUIZ

Here's an after-primary quiz on a little-known part of Nevada
politics. I tried to make it easy because, well, politics makes my
head hurt.

Try to match up the Political Action Committee with my
description:

1) The best acronym for a PAC in Nevada.

2) The only committee to name two residents of Idaho and one from
Oregon as its sole contributors.

3) The most accurate name for a PAC.

4) Committee with the least accurate name.

5) A committee of procrastinators, perhaps?

6) The PAC with $2.5 million

7) The committee making the best point on its expense
report.

8) PAC with the least descriptive name.

9) PAC with the longest name.

10) Most intriguing name for a PAC.

The committees:

a) White Rabbit Political Action Committee

b) Crown Political Action Committee

c) International Union of Painters and Allied Trades Political Action
Together Legislative and Educational Committee

d) Carriers Allied for Responsible Government Officials

e) Nevada Victory 2000

f) Nevada Faculty Alliance

g) Keep Our Doctors in Nevada

h) Coalition to Keep Brothels Out of Churchill County

i) We the People

j) Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana

The answers:

1-d. The best acronym is CARGO, for the committee of trucking
companies. Nobody else even tried.

2-b. The Crown PAC filed a report for Nevada, even though its
contributions came from Idaho and Oregon, and the only expenses it
reported were contributions to a candidate in Washington. Maybe they
filed in Nevada for the tax breaks.

3-h. How refreshing when a PAC calls itself the Coalition to Keep
Brothels Out of Churchill County. No guessing, no ambiguity. We know
exactly what this committee is trying to accomplish, and where it's
trying to accomplish it. Not like PACs who call themselves something
like Patriots for the Best Darn America Ever. Or committees like the
next one ...

4-j. The Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana, which is the PAC
trying to legalize marijuana in Nevada. I know, I know. Their point is
that legalized marijuana is better than criminal marijuana, as far as
trying to keep it out of the hands of young people. I think they
should have called their committee "Free Pot."

By the way, the Committee to Regulate and Control Marijuana, with some
$516,000 in contributions, listed most of its donors and expenses as
"MPP." I'm guessing that's the Marijuana Policy Project, but c'mon
guys. Put a little effort into it.

5-e. Nevada Victory 2000 filed a report this year with no
contributions and no expenses. I think that's admirable, although it
doesn't exactly tell me if they were victorious four years ago or not.
Maybe they're keeping the hope alive, or maybe they just didn't get
around to updating the name. I suggest Nevada Victory 3000, which they
won't have to change for quite awhile.

6-g. The doctors reported they have amassed a campaign war chest of
$2.5 million. That's not in Harry Reid's league, of course, but it's
pretty impressive. The doctors are going up against the lawyers on a
couple of ballot issues, so this ought to be fun. They're already
sniping at each other. The lawyers, by the way, haven't raised nearly
that much - yet.

7-h. The best point made on a campaign report has to be from the
Nevada Faculty Alliance, which I congratulate for being sticklers on
the details. In essence, the professors gave the Secretary of State's
Office a grade of D- on its forms.

"As usual," the organization's agent writes, "I cannot make any sense
out of the reporting forms. They were not designed for PACS! You
should have a separate form for PAC reporting, so things are more
clear. There is no place that I can find for direct money
contributions to a candidate."

Sure enough, there is no such designation on the form, even though
giving donations to candidates is a major function of PACs. Most
people just list them as "other miscellaneous expenses," without the
scolding and a rap on the knuckles with a ruler.

8-i. The least descriptive name for a PAC: We the People. That clears
that up. The opposition, I suppose, would be Them Animals.

9-c. The longest name, as you probably figured out, is the
International Union of Painters and Allied Trades Political Action
Together Legislative and Educational Committee. Maybe the painters
don't get a lot of opportunity talk about politics, so they thought
they would summarize in the title.

10-a. White Rabbit PAC. The report wasn't available, so I have no idea
what the White Rabbit PAC is supporting, opposing or doing. I can only
speculate. But you have to agree the name is more intriguing than,
say, We the People.

Rate your score: 9-10 correct. You work for one of these groups. 7-8
correct. You enjoy puzzles, and this one was pretty easy to solve. 5-6
correct. You stopped reading halfway through the column. 3-4 correct.
You only read the headline. Less than 3 correct. Why are you still
reading this?

By the way, all this information - and much more, like who is getting
money from whom - is available to you and anybody else from the Nevada
Secretary of State's Office. And it's right at your fingertips, on the
Web site at sos.state.nv.us.