Talk:Political party committee

Merger Discussion

Request received to merge articles: Hill Committee into Political party committee; dated: May 2024.

I believe merging the pages would allow for greater clarity and context to how political parties operate in the United States, as there is significant overlap in how they are regulated, how they function, and how they are studied.

The FEC and campaign finance law categorize the "Hill Committees" (DCCC, DSCC, NRCC, and NRSC) as "party committees" in the same category as the DNC, RNC, and state parties. All of the organizations are subject to the same contribution limits and regulations with regard to candidate support and independent expenditures, as well in how funds are raised. Furthermore, the groups are frequently combined for the purposes of academic studies of party committees.

Each individual committee has its own wikipedia page to outline more specific functions and history. The history of the four Hill committees as a group is not substantially different from the other political party committees so as to require its own page. Eventhisacronym (talk) 15:55, 9 May 2024 (UTC)

I disagree. Firstly, the membership of the committees is quite different. The Hill committees are led by sitting members of their respective chambers, and leadership of these committees directly affects the leadership ranking in the chambers. Sitting members of Congress each are expected to pay dues to a corresponding Hill committee. The DNC and RNC members consist of more nebulously defined party leaders, including some sitting elected officials, but many other individual campaign operatives.

Secondly, the Hill committees are not treated the same under FEC and campaign finance law, as you had suggested. The Hill committees run independent expenditures that are classified by the FEC as unique IEs that are too "coordinated" to be on the true IE side of the campaign firewall, but too independent to coordinate with the coordinated side of the firewall. It is true that the NRSC is subject to the same FEC contribution limits as the RNC, surely, but the permitted uses of those funds differ. FEC reporting shows dozens of independent expenditure reports by the Hill committees, unlike the party committees.

Thirdly, and crucially, the party committees (DNC/RNC) are seen as representing the parties nationally in addition to their campaign work on Presidential campaigns. They are the "party." The Hill committees have the sole purpose of gaining or expanding a governing majority in the corresponding chamber on the Hill. I recognize these two topics and types of committees are linked, but they are not functionally the same. Furthermore, while each Hill committee does have its own page with details, the specific functions and history of the bodies is substantively different than the party committees. LemonadeAndIcedTea (talk) 17:42, 6 August 2024 (UTC)

Proposed merge of Committeemen and committeewomen into Political party committee

I haven't been able to find any sources that would indicate that committeemen and committeewomen is a notable topic in its own right, or that that article could ever be more than a WP:dictionary definition. – Arms & Hearts (talk) 13:45, 3 October 2020 (UTC)

No objections, so I've gone ahead and done this. – Arms & Hearts (talk) 16:58, 14 November 2020 (UTC)