aving been intimately involved in the ASA Political Action Committee (ASAPAC) for more than five years now, I can testify to the fact that organized anesthesiology is doing a lot of things right when it comes to involvement in the political process. ASAPAC raised more than $1.5 million for distribution to federal and state candidates during the 2003-04 election cycle! ASAPAC is the largest, and arguably the most sophisticated, medical specialty political action committee in the United States.

At the close of ASAPAC’s 2004 fiscal year, contributions totaling more than $776,000 had been received from 3,451 ASA members. These funds, combined with more than $750,000 raised last year, provided ASAPAC with more than $1.5 million to distribute for the election this year. In 2004, total contributions, percentage of ASA members contributing and average contribution levels continued slight upward trends.

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On a state-by-state basis, anesthesiologists in Alabama continue to set the standard when it comes to political involvement. Alabama raised the most money of any state, more than $49,000 for ASAPAC in 2004 alone. The doctors in Alabama accomplished the improbable task of raising even more money than states with almost 10 times more members. More than 30 percent of their 387 members made contributions to the PAC, the second highest of any state. As if that were not enough, the average contribution of Alabama physicians was $410, also the second highest in the country.

While Alabama anesthesiologists represent just over 1 percent of ASA members, the contributions of these dedicated physicians represent more than 6 percent of ASAPAC’s 2004 budget! The ASAPAC Executive Board wishes to extend its congratulations and deep gratitude to the Alabama State Society of Anesthesiologists and to their outstanding leadership team: Michael C. Gosney, M.D., Jeffrey S. Plagenhoef, M.D, Arthur M. Boudreaux, M.D., Ann C. Still, M.D., Benjamin H. Walker, M.D., and Mr. Richard Carson.

While Alabama raised the most of any state, second place goes to Illinois. Doctors in that state raised almost $44,000 in 2004. Third place goes to California, which raised more than $42,000.

With regard to percentage of component society members contributing to ASAPAC, top honors go to South Dakota, where 22 of their 44 members (50 percent) made contributions to ASAPAC. As mentioned previously, Alabama took second place with 31 percent. Iowa and New Hampshire tied for third place with 27 percent of members contributing. In Iowa, 88 of their 329 members made contributions. In New Hampshire, 41 of their 152 members supported ASAPAC.

Also in terms of percentage of members contributing, several states showed dramatic improvement over their performance last year. Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island made significant improvements in 2004.

Fortunately the number of component societies in which participation in ASAPAC is extremely low continues a downward trend. Only Arkansas, the District of Columbia and Vermont had participation rates below 5 percent.

When it comes to total average contribution to ASAPAC, anesthesiologists across the nation made an average contribution of $225 in 2004, slightly up from last year. The state in which members made the highest average contributions was North Dakota, where the average was $440. As noted above, Alabama took second with $410. Third place goes to Louisiana with an average contribution of $359. It also should be pointed out that, in addition to these three, four other component societies had average contributions in excess of $300, including Alaska, the District of Columbia, Nevada and Wyoming.

There is little question that ASAPAC is increasing both its visibility and political influence at the federal and also state levels. Because thousands of anesthesiologists over the last several years have contributed literally millions of dollars to ASAPAC, ASA’s leadership and staff have been able to develop extremely important relationships with some of the most powerful elected officials in Washington, D.C.

Regrettably, however, year after year, the money comes from the same 10 percent of ASA members who continue to shoulder for everybody else the professional responsibility of every doctor to be politically involved.

ASA President Eugene P. Sinclair, M.D., and the rest of ASA’s leaders have accomplished some remarkable political victories in the last several years. While much remains to be done, these leaders can only do so much with only 10 percent of anesthesiologists backing them up. Imagine for a moment what ASA could achieve if, rather than 10 percent of members giving, we had 90 percent giving. Imagine for a moment that instead of $1.5 million to spend each election cycle, we had $15 million to spend each election. Politically our stature would be immense!

My hope and prayer is that every anesthesiologist in this country will stand up and do the right thing — support our leaders, support our profession and, most important, support high-quality anesthesia care for our patients by recognizing the importance of political involvement.

Danial O. Laird, M.D., is a partner in Summit Anesthesia Consultants, Inc., Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center and Summerlin Hospital, Las Vegas, Nevada.