The U.S. Chamber in the news - September 19

What Citizens United (et al) Wrought: The Shadow Money Explosion

The second court decision, in Van Hollen v. FEC earlier this year, requires nonprofits that make electioneering communications to disclose donors of $1,000 or more. In response to that decision from the U.S. District Court, many groups that otherwise might have made electioneering communications chose to make independent expenditures instead. A notable example: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Before this year, the Chamber had never made an independent expenditure, despite spending tens of millions on ads in 2010. After Van Hollen, the organization's president, Thomas Donohue, said the Chamber would "have a vigorous, unchanged election program."  Since then, the Chamber has made only independent expenditures, totaling nearly $8 million. (Note: Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the lower court's decision in the Van Hollen case; the implication for spending on electioneering communications for the rest of this cycle is uncertain).  [Open Secrets]

Appeals court overturns political donor disclosure ruling

Conservative groups pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the 2012 campaign won a reprieve Tuesday when the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington overturned a decision requiring organizations that run election-related television ads to reveal their donors…Practically, the ruling changes little in the short term: Nonprofit organizations such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Americans for Prosperity and Crossroads GPS changed the type of ads they were running this summer in order to sidestep the lower-court ruling and keep their donors secret. But the appellate court decision was hailed by conservative groups as a major victory in their broader battle against the push for donor disclosure — a fight that took on new stakes after recent federal court rulings unshackled corporations and groups of wealthy individuals to spend freely on campaigns. [Los Angeles Times]

How Money in Politics is Shaping the Fracking Debate

In February, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce launched a $2.5 million ad campaign in Ohio charging that Senator Brown “voted to block American energy production and increase energy taxes.” And in June a newly formed political group called American Commitment—whose donors do not by law have to be disclosed—launched a $1.2 million ad campaign against Brown for his votes to maintain mercury emissions regulations on coal-fired power plants. The ad claimed that Brown’s vote would “raise our electricity costs.”  [EcoWatch]

New regulations seek to expose Congo conflict minerals

New United States rules will soon require publicly traded companies that use minerals such as tin, tungsten and gold to disclose whether the minerals they buy to make cellphones, laptops and other goods may have helped bankroll conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or neighboring countries…The U.S. Chamber of Commerce said the goal of stopping the violence was laudable but questioned how costly and onerous the rules would be for businesses. “You’re not going to get militias to stop fighting because you cut off one source of revenue,” said Laura Seay, assistant professor of political science at Morehouse College. “We need to stop pretending that will curb the violence. It won’t.” Seay called the final version of the rules “a reasonable compromise” on a flawed law. “And as with most compromises, nobody is completely happy with it,” she said. Global Witness, one of the watchdog groups that pushed for the law, said the SEC had “caved in to industry pressure.” Los Angeles Times ‎

US Chamber launches new ad slamming King on spending

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has returned to the fray of Maine’s U.S. Senate race with a second commercial attacking Angus King that accuses the independent former governor of being out of touch with middle-class Maine voters. The national business group’s latest ad repeats many of the accusations it used in its first television spot in July, when the outside group spent $400,000 to attack King, the front-runner in the contest to replace Olympia Snowe in the U.S. Senate. Bangor Daily News