Nailed It.

Posted by Samantha James on May 29, 2012

Today, the New York Times reported on something the Chamber most surely wishes it hadn't: the Chamber's change-up in its political ad-buying strategy to avoid disclosing its donors. The Chamber clearly was hoping to bury this story when it quietly released it to BNA right before a holiday weekend. 

But a story this big won't go away. The Times aptly says the Chamber's "charade" of nonpartisanship is over. The Daily Agenda agrees, and notes that the Chamber's political prowress doesn't end on the campaign trail; back in Washington, it's the country's largest and most influential lobbyist:

...the U.S. Chamber of Commerce does not represent the interests of American business. It is a lobbying group for a few elite, super-wealthy, multi-national corporations.

Of the $140 million total contributions the Chamber received in 2008, 45 multinational corporations funded half. The Chamber is the largest lobbying organization in America by a factor of 3, spending $132 million in 2010. Between 1998 and 2011, the Chamber spent $785 million, three times more than the next biggest spender (the American Medical Association at $259 million)....

The US Chamber does not stand for business. It is a lobbying front for a small number of tremendously powerful, tremendously wealthy multi-national corporations, who have purchased the Republican party, and who every election cycle work to advance their own self-interest (as they will in the upcoming election).

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