A swelling tide of money: U.S. Chamber of Commerce Grows into a Political Force

[Emit]

U.S. Chamber of Commerce grows into a political force
A swelling tide of money could put the business group in a better position to sway elections.
By Tom Hamburger

7:42 PM PST, March 8, 2010

Reporting from Washington

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is building a large-scale grass-roots political operation that has begun to rival those of the major political parties, funded by record-setting amounts of money raised from corporations and wealthy individuals.

The chamber has signed up some 6 million individuals who are not chamber members and has begun asking them to help with lobbying and, soon, with get-out-the-vote efforts in upcoming congressional campaigns.

The chamber's expansion into grass-roots organizing -- coupled with a large and growing fundraising apparatus that got a lift from Supreme Court rulings -- is part of a trend in which the traditional parties are losing ground to well-financed and increasingly assertive outside groups. The chamber is certainly better positioned than ever to be a major force on the issues and elections it focuses on each year, analysts think.

The new grass-roots program, the brainchild of chamber political director Bill Miller, is concentrating on 22 states. Among them are Colorado, where incumbent Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet is vulnerable; Arkansas, where Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln faces an uphill reelection battle; and Ohio, where the chamber sees opportunities in numerous House races and an open Senate seat.

The network, called Friends of the U.S. Chamber, has been used to generate more than a million letters and e-mails to members of Congress, 700,000 of them in opposition to the Democratic healthcare plan. That is an increase from 40,000 congressional contacts generated in 2008.

What makes the initiative possible is a swelling tide of money. The chamber spent more than $144 million on lobbying and grass-roots organizing last year, a 60% increase over 2008, and well beyond the spending of individual labor unions or the Democratic or Republican national committees.

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http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-chamber9-2010mar09,0,4230154,full.story

Edited to add, too funny ... or sadly ... found in the comments section in response to this article:

Dear America,

As of January 21, 2010 (Activist Supreme Court rules that corporations are human beings), the Pledge of Allegiance has been modified as follows. Please memorize these words and forget any hope of ever having a voice in this country again.

"I pledge allegiance to the boards of the Corporations of America, and to the Republicans with which we stand, one nation under siege, and misinformed, with liberty and justice for none."

Your rulers,

The Chamber of Commerce

Posted by: TheLastOfTheMiddleClass

[depakid]

1. Nothing but a bunch of far right racketeers

[Bozita]

2. Who didn't see this coming? ... Thank you, SCOTUS!

:sarcasm:

[glinda]

3. They just noticed now????? Their members are also ignorant to all that they do with their money.