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"Like most local Chambers, the Concord Chamber of Commerce has no affiliation with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Our revenue is derived entirely from membership dues and fees from membership events, and we receive no government or external funding. We do not pay dues or contribute in any way to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and are an independent Chamber of Commerce serving Concord and the surrounding communities in Massachusetts."
"The U.S. Chamber is in panic mode for two reasons. One, the FCIC [Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission] details in its 576 page report who the real job killers are, reckless Wall Street financial firms and negligent government officials who took a series of specific actions that resulted in 30 million unemployed and underemployed Americans. They are also panicked because the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law is kicking in to high gear…Unbelievably, the Chamber is fighting hard to protect the lucrative shadow banking industry from being dragged into the sunlight, rigorously protesting the new transparency, capital and margin requirements for all over the counter derivatives traders."
"The board didn't say ‘just for this year,'...We're not renewing our membership...We heard
so many complaints this year because of the advertising that the U.S. Chamber may have done in other parts of the country that was so partisan, that we felt that at this particular time when our membership comes up for renewal that we will not renew our membership.”
"The U.S. Chamber sometimes deploys the talking point that it's a membership group of local businesses, but that it draws the bulk of its money from larger companies, often with very specific agendas. The local membership may be a kind of strength on the optical margins, but [Jeanne] Cummings' [Politico] story suggests that it's actually a political weakness."
…But as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at the national level becomes more of a hardball political operation, focused heavily on being a partisan ally to the Republican Party, that creates a problem for local folks who organize under a similar name. The national entity actually finds itself in something of a bind -- if the U.S. Chamber of Commerce remains a GOP attack dog, it'll keep losing local members. If it moderates, it's likely to lose large, deep-pocketed members that ultimately keep the Chamber flush with cash."
"If they want to end this argument, open their books. This isn't just the Chamber. American Crossroads. American Groups for Blue Skies, Mom and Apple Pie. There are all these great groups out there, that we now know they're doubling down on even more money in this election to influence its outcome."
"Chamber representatives do have the benefit of appearing on Fox "News" to give their side of the story, as they have been doing. Fox is owned of course by the News Corporation. What is the News Corporation? A $1 million donor to that same Chamber of Commerce attack campaign."
"I challenge the Chamber of Commerce to tell us how much of the money they're investing is from foreign sources...I challenge them."
"The U.S. Chamber has adopted all the goals of their foreign contributors, all of which will hurt American small businesses. Yet the U.S. Chamber still tries to convince the public that they only want what is best for our country. The reality is that the U.S. Chamber only wants two things—power and money. And the latter gives them the former."
Commenting on the Chamber's opposition to cracking down on outsourcing: "If the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is not working for a U.S. company to hire U.S. workers so that we can have a growing economy right here at home, who are they working for?...many people, many senators, Republican senators, hid behind the U.S. Chamber of Commerce position."