The U.S. Chamber in the News - October 8

U.S. Chamber of Commerce - Doing bidding for big business
Outside the reach of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the public, corporations are spending money through trade associations, like the U.S. Chamber, to sway our elections. Rather than give to super PACs, which must disclose their donors, corporations with a distaste for disclosure have found nonprofits and trade associations to be the perfect conduit for escaping accountability while influencing elections.  [The Hill]

The Threat of Dark Money in Our Elections
“The Chamber’s voice on this is not really representative of a broad array of businesses across the country,” says David Levine, the co-founder and CEO of the American Sustainable Business Council. Levine is one of a new wave of organizations of common sense business leaders. “What we’re seeing,” he says, “is a tremendous growth in main street business organizations, in small business organizations, in sustainable business organizations…recognizing that there is a different way of doing business that can bring greater value to the economy and to their community.” Levine says the Chamber’s support for “an all-out rampage against government and all regulations and rules” is costing it business support. Unfortunately, it’s still got heavy hitters in its corner.  [The Nation]

Chamber wields influence in House races
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce stepped up an ad blitz Friday that focuses on House races in solidly Democratic states, betting that control of the chamber rests in places like California, New York and Illinois.  [The Wall Street Journal]

Ohio's US Senate race draws millions in outside money; will it work?
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce the same month launched a campaign with more than $1 million worth of ads in six states, including Ohio. One of the ads said that Brown "voted to block American energy production and increase energy taxes." (PolitiFact Ohio said it was mostly false.) The chamber followed with a Thanksgiving message: Brown was "hiding from his tax-raising, job killing record." [Plain Dealer]

Some in GOP Choose to Return to Akin's Corner in Missouri’s US Senate Race
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which spent nearly $350,000 opposing Ms. McCaskill before Mr. Akin won the nomination, has not spent anything in Missouri since. Rob Engstrom, the chamber’s political director, responded to inquiries about the Missouri contest with a terse e-mail saying only that the group had “no plans to engage” in the general election race. [The New York Times]

Minnesota business cash fuels Congress races
Election spending by Minnesota businesses is likely much higher than what must be publicly revealed. The state's businesses give millions of dollars to national groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that funnel tens of millions of dollars into politics.  [Star Tribune]

King's independent bent roils Maine Senate race
Republicans and outside groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have poured more than $1.7 million into commercials to boost Summers, Maine's secretary of state. A Chamber ad hammered the former governor as "the king of spending." King fired back with an ad that accused "folks from away" _out-of-state groups like the Chamber – of painting him a Godzilla. Footage of a monster stomping through a town played over the candidate's voice.  [Huffington Post]

Out-of-state donors loom large in Florida's U.S. Senate race
Mack has proved the biggest beneficiary, with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Freedom PAC and the Karl Rove-founded American Crossroads committee airing millions of dollars of ads backing him.  [Palm Beach Post]

Chamber bets that control of the rests in Democratic-friendly states
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce stepped up an ad blitz Friday that focuses on House races in solidly Democratic states, betting that control of the chamber rests in places like California, New York and Illinois. [The Washington Post]

Fact-checking the latest in upstate NY political advertising
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce released ads last week attacking U.S. Reps. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, and Kathy Hochul, D-Amherst, Erie County. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce attacked Slaughter as someone who votes against small businesses. This ad made a bunch of very vague claims. This ad was too vague to come up with a rating. • The chamber also made a similar attack against Hochul. Hochul, running is in a tough reelection bid against former Erie County Executive Chris Collins, R-Clarence, Erie County. The ad focused on health care. While Hochul was not in office for the initial health care vote, she did vote against attempts to repeal it. We gave it a “half-true” rating. [Rochester Democrat and Chronicle]

Judge weighs whether to strike CFTC investment fund rule
The U.S. commodity regulator went to court on Friday to try to fend off an industry challenge to its rule requiring that certain investment funds register with the agency.  U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell gave little indication which way she might rule, but had tough questions for both sides, the Investment Company Institute and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on one side, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission on the other.  [Reuters]

A Factory’s Closing Focuses Attention on Tort Reform

dark money, congressional races, CFTC, tort reform.
Crusading against what it considers frivolous lawsuits, the United States Chamber of Commerce has had no shortage of cases to highlight, like the man suing a cruise line after burning his feet on a sunny deck or the mother claiming hearing loss from the screaming at a Justin Bieber concert. Now, the lobbying group’s Institute for Legal Reform is showing a 30-second commercial that uses Blitz USA, a bankrupt Oklahoma gasoline can manufacturer, to illustrate the consequences of abusive lawsuits. The ad shows tearful workers losing their jobs and the lights going out at the 46-year-old company as a result of steep legal costs from lawsuits targeting the red plastic containers, according to the company and the institute.  [The New York Times]