U.S. Chamber Builds Political Operations
Thinkprogress.org writes:
The LA Times reports today on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s growing “large-scale grass-roots political operation” that is being “funded by record-setting amounts of money raised from corporations and wealthy individuals.” In 2009, the Chamber spent $144 million on lobbying and grassroots organizing, “well beyond the spending of individual labor unions or the Democratic or Republican national committees.”
About the U.S. Chamber
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a powerful business lobbying group in the United States, "used to be a trade association that advocated in a bipartisan manner for narrowly tailored policies to benefit its members. Since 1997 or so, it has become a fully functional part of the partisan Republican machine," with CEO and president Thomas J. Donohue "raising its budget to $150M a year from corporate chiefs satisfied with his ability to move policy through a Republican Congress," Matt Stoller wrote December 13, 2006, at MyDD. (Sourcewatch)
Backgrounders
- U.S._Chamber_of_Commerce
- About Tom Donohue — Chairman of the Board, US Chamber of Commerce
Political Agendas
- U.S. Chamber of Commerce sets sights on Democrats ahead of midterm elections
- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Assault on Justice (Huffington Post)