My Perspective: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is Neither Left nor Right Wing

The left wing Democratic Party group, MoveOn.org recently sent an email out telling its supporters and those that receive their emails the following message:

“Less than 48 hours ago, the biggest corporations in the country declared war on President Obama's agenda. The scale of the attack is mind-boggling. The right-wing lobbyists at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will spend $100 million to defeat Obama's plans for health care and a clean energy economy. They call it their "most important project" in nearly 100 years…Your local Chamber of Commerce represents small businesses, but the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is different—it represents the interests of mega-corporations, especially Big Oil and Coal. In the next ten days, we'll pull out all the stops to block the Chamber and strengthen the energy bill. And after the big vote, we'll keep going just as strong—demanding a public health insurance option in the health care bill, fighting for tough new rules to rein in the financial industry, and making sure Obama's progressive agenda gets enough grassroots support to succeed.”

However what MoveOn.org and other people don’t understand is that U.S. Chamber of Commerce is neither left nor right, they are business and for those who think that business is right, they are wrong. All you have to is go to Opensecrets.org (www.opensecrets.org) to find out how business has contributed to literally both sides of the aisle. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is a powerful business lobbying group in the United States. They used to be a trade association that advocated in a bipartisan manner for narrowly tailored policies to benefit its members. However in recent years they have leaned more right than left because more right candidates have taken on the pro-business stance but the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has managed throughout the last decade to make sure the coffers of both the Republican and Democratic Party is filled so that they vote in favor of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and those involved with them.

Now the Chamber claims on its website that its mission is to "advance human progress through an economic, political and social system based on individual freedom, incentive, initiative, opportunity, and responsibility." It describes itself as "the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector, and region." However, the Chamber is "dominated by oil companies, pharmaceutical giants, automakers and other polluting industries," according to James Carter, executive director of the Green Chamber of Commerce. Nonetheless the Chamber is about making sure that the interests of business are involved in government and that those who are members of the Chamber obtain its share of policies in local, state and federal governments. It doesn’t matter to the Chamber who is the President of the United States or who is the party in control of Congress because the Chamber has businesses putting into the coffers of both sides of the aisle.

No matter what state you are from, you can find a chapter of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in your city or state that is well represented in local and state government but most of all in federal government. It is not a piece a legislation that the Chamber doesn’t have its paw in. No matter if it deals with the economy, the banking system, immigration, education, foreign policy, foreign aid, trade, etc. the Chamber has a role in how the legislation is decided. In fact the Chamber makes sure it plays both sides of the aisle so that it can have key figures in both political parties. Therefore for MoveOn.org and others to think the Chamber is simply a right wing group, is all a part of the Chambers plan over the years. The Chamber has made it clear it is all about making sure its members get richer and that businesses get the best outcome of policies that can be given. The Chamber doesn’t care which political party walks their legislation through or which politicians are siding with them as long as the outcome as in favor of what the Chamber sees fit for business in America.

In 2009, the Chamber has been at the forefront of the debate over the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a bill that would make it easier for workers to join a union. However the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO are squaring off over this piece of legislation so the focus has been on grassroots outreach on both sides of the aisle and so far the piece of legislation is stalling for now. However before the bill was introduced, "the Chamber launched the Workforce Freedom Airlift program, a series of events that fly in local small business owners to Washington," to lobby against the bill. The first "airlift," on March 10, 2009, "brought in small business owners from Pennsylvania, Virginia, Nebraska, and Louisiana." Since July 2008, the Chamber has worked with Adfero Group on an anti-EFCA "social media effort," expanding "a virtual march on Washington that was created the last time the bill went to Congress in 2007." It "allows users to register for the march as avatars and send an automatic letter to their elected officials through a Facebook application."

In April 2009, the Chamber launched a "$1 million television advertising campaign that takes a new line of attack against the Employee Free Choice Act, highlighting a provision that would allow federal arbitrators to set the rules for unionization if management and employees fail to negotiate their own deal." The ads "will hit the airwaves in Nebraska, Virginia, Louisiana, North Dakota and Colorado -- states whose senators could be swing votes." Previous attacks on the bill, from the Chamber and corporate front groups like the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace and Employee Freedom Action Committee, claimed it would get rid of secret ballot elections. The bill would actually allow employees to form unions either by holding elections or signing cards. Although the "no secret ballot" claims are inaccurate, they've been effective, according to the Wall Street Journal. The "more than $30 million on TV ads [spent by business groups] in the past few years portraying the secret-ballot provision as antidemocratic ... pressured several key senators to reverse their prior support, leaving the bill several senators short of 60 votes."

However for 2008, Chamber President Tom Donohue intended to get very involved in elections. The Los Angeles Times wrote on January 8, 2008, 'Alarmed at the increasingly populist tone of the 2008 political campaign, the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is set to issue a fiery promise to spend millions of dollars to defeat candidates deemed to be anti-business. "We plan to build a grass-roots business organization so strong that when it bites you in the butt, you bleed," chamber President Tom Donohue said.' It is clear from the Chamber President’s tone that the Chamber is about making sure that politicians are pro-business or at least are neutral in certain cases regarding business. Thus the U.S. Chamber of Commerce can’t allow anti-business to rule local, state and federal government because anti-business policies will send a major blow to the Chambers agenda for getting rich.

Therefore we the American people cannot be fouled by rhetoric but instead we need to look at the fact sheet and do our own research and see which corporations and businesses are members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and whose members have given what to whose political campaigns. I guarantee anyone that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is like Wal-Mart where they have played both sides of the aisle and have found victory in doing so. Wal-Mart had its real teeth in the Democratic Party during the Clinton years as President but slowly switched to the Republican Party during the Bush years only for in 2008 to play both sides of the aisle to ensure it has a voice at the political table come 2009. That’s exactly what the U.S. Chamber of Commerce did in 2008 and has done in previous years.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is all about business and is even against those who bring up lawsuits against business that force businesses to spend millions if not billions in the judicial system in order to avoid paying out thousands or millions to plaintiffs. That’s why the Chamber sponsored The November Fund, a 527 committee that opposes what it describes as frivolous lawsuits and trial lawyers and ran negative campaign advertisements against trial lawyer John Edwards, John Kerry's running mate during the 2004 presidential race & a 2008 Democratic Presidential candidate. Nonetheless, under Tom Donohue’s leadership, the Chamber has also emerged as a major player in election politics, helping elect congressional pro-business candidates through financial support and voter activism and turnout generated through the Chamber’s grassroots organization," VoteForBusiness, billed as "Your One-Stop Political Action, Education, and Involvement Tool--Websites: http://www.voteforbusiness.net/ and http://www.voteforbusiness.com.”

Still the U.S. Chamber of Commerce main focus is for business by any means necessary. It advocates and lobbyists both Democrats and Republicans to get its way in local, state and federal government so that policies and bills that are passed in favor of business. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is neither left nor right despite what accusations that the some of the left may think. Until the Democratic Party and its candidates stop taking money from businesses and corporations who are members of the Chamber, than how can the U.S. Chamber of Commerce be right wing? Until Democratic politicians stop deciding with business on key pieces of legislation than it is no way that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is simply right wing? The Chamber is about business and both the Democratic & Republican Parties have sided with business for far too long. That’s why the Chamber is so powerful in government and politics and we the people continue to get shut out. We the people deserve better and that’s why we must not allow the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to continue to buy governments (local, state and federal).

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the largest lobbyist in America and that is why they have been effective over the years because they have played both the left and the right to get what is best for business. The Chamber is simply about business and will always be about business which makes it neither left nor right wing because both have pro-business within their party and have sided with business the for the last few decades.