Exclusive: Foreign-Funded ‘U.S.’ Chamber Of Commerce Running Partisan Attack Ads

[sabra]

Source: think progress

The largest attack campaign against Democrats this fall is being waged by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a trade association organized as a 501(c)(6) that can raise and spend unlimited funds without ever disclosing any of its donors. The Chamber has promised to spend an unprecedented $75 million to defeat candidates like Jack Conway, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Jerry Brown, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA), and Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA). As of Sept. 15th, the Chamber had aired more than 8,000 ads on behalf of GOP Senate candidates alone, according to a study from the Wesleyan Media Project. The Chamber’s spending has dwarfed every other issue group and most political party candidate committee spending. A ThinkProgress investigation has found that the Chamber funds its political attack campaign out of its general account, which solicits foreign funding. And while the Chamber will likely assert it has internal controls, foreign money is fungible, permitting the Chamber to run its unprecedented attack campaign. According to legal experts consulted by ThinkProgress, the Chamber is likely skirting longstanding campaign finance law that bans the involvement of foreign corporations in American elections.

In recent years, the Chamber has become very aggressive with its fundraising, opening offices abroad and helping to found foreign chapters (known as Business Councils or “AmChams”). While many of these foreign operations include American businesses with interests overseas, the Chamber has also spearheaded an effort to raise money from foreign corporations, including ones controlled by foreign governments. These foreign members of the Chamber send money either directly to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, or the foreign members fund their local Chamber, which in turn, transfers dues payments back to the Chamber’s H Street office in Washington DC. These funds are commingled to the Chamber’s 501(c)(6) account which is the vehicle for the attack ads:

– The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has created a large presence in the small, oil-rich country of Bahrain. In 2006, the Chamber created a local affiliate called the “U.S.-Bahrain Business Council” (USBBC), an organization to help businesses in Bahrain take advantage of the Chamber’s “network of government and business relationships in the US and worldwide.” As the USBBC’s bylaws state, it is not an actual separate entity, rather it is simply an office of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s 501(c)(6) trade association. Many of the USBBC’s board members are Bahrainian, including Aluminum Bahrain, Gulf Air, Midal Cables, the Nass Group, Bahrain Maritime & Mercantile International, the Bahrain Petroleum Company (state-owned), Gulf Petrochemical Industries Company, and First Leasing Bank. With each of these foreign board members to the USBBC contributing at least $10,000 annually, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce raises well over $100,000 a year in money from foreign businesses through its operation in Bahrain. Notably, the membership form provided by the USBBC directs applicants to send or wire their money directly to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The membership form also explicitly states that the foreign-owned firms are welcomed.


Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/2010/10/05/foreign-chamber-commerce/

[blm]

1. Poppy Bush's New World Order. Global Fascism. On fast track thanks to a Fascist Supreme Court

who has a bunch of duped citizenry believing their fascism is 'conservatism' - a real conservative like Barry Goldwater would kick BushInc's fascist asses from here to eternity.

[No Elephants]

14. Barry Goldwater was a racisti "states righter" and one of Joe Mc Carthy's very last supporters

And a war monger. He simply was not a fundie.

[blm]

19. and in the 80s and 90s he adjusted his views to a much truer conservatism that

had an integrity not present in the Republican party today and certainly wasn't just the mask for fascism that it has been the last few decades.

[fascisthunter]

2. Now we can almost exclusively Blame the Wealthy Class

we've have known about their influence on our government but this is offcial proof.

[SpiralHawk]

3. Why does the Chamber of Commerce (R) hate America?

Why do Republicon Cronies always have their hands out for foreign payola?

[blm]

9. Chamber of Commerce is just a front for Fascism. US-China Chamber of Commerce under Prescott Bush

oversaw the undermining of US manufacturing and its workforce as more and more US corporations turned to China to enrich only their executives.

Teabaggers are so dumb, they have no clue they SUPPORT the watercarriers of BushInc's NWO - the same NWO they claim to fight. Dumbbaggers.

[AlabamaLibrul]

22. They don't hate America. They love what the collective "we" do for them regularly. n/t

[elehhhhna]

4. Bahrain exercizes it's rights as an American citizen. We've jumped the shark, through the

looking glass.

[blm]

11. well...Bahrain has been partners with BushInc for decades like WalMart and Chinese industrialists

just as Poppy Bush and Jackson Stephens engineered back in the 70s. NWO fascism and the Dumbbaggers and Freepers are part of its front line.

[elehhhhna]

13. you forgot the Bin Laden Group and its many subsidiaries...

not to mention the Bush's close friends the Hinkley family.

Wow. The Bushes have conveniently connections, huh?

[No Elephants]

15. But we'll block a mosque,, so we win.

:sarcasm:

[Gerhard Shnobble]

21. Bahrain exercises its rights AGAINST American citizens

[Democrats_win]

5. They'be been running ads in CO's senater race too. Get out of my state USCOC!

F*** the COC and the foreign horse they rode in on!

[Blue State Bandit]

6. Can someone please fund a national ad campaign...

using clips from the USCOC ads with a stamp stating "FOREIGN FUNDED" across it? And maybe with a byline underneath "* by Scarrry Muslims"?

No disrespect to the Muslim community, but it should be made clear that the party that stoaks fear of Muslims, is being funded by Muslin foreign nationals, and their state owned companies.

[Nancy Waterman]

7. What about a lawsuit

demanding an immediate freeze on any money spent by these alleged foreign sources until the matter is resolved in a court. It cannot be legal to allow foreign money in our elections. This was a big loophole left by the Roberts SC.

[blm]

8. absolutely... Public Citizen and People for American Way should be leading the way on this.

And so should our WH and Dems in congress.

[Stuart G]

10. K and R

[Stuart G]

12. Isn't this kinda illegal???

When I donate..don't I have to say this is not foreign money???

___________________________________________________________________________
I heard this on the Thom Hartmann. radio show..
He had a great piece on this this afternoon.
I hope that his take will be posted later..

[No Elephants]

16. Isn't this exact;ly what Obama predicted during the SOU, and Alito said "not true?"

Obama's response to Alito should have been "You lie!"

[saigon68]

18. Alito is a Bush Butt Boy

Along with this POS

[Stuart G]

17. This story could become an issue in the campaign..and,

if this money that happens, the Americn Public may not like it.
Guess who will gain?

[gratuitous]

20. Gee, foreign money is sort of illegal

I wonder if the popular media will be as on this seemingly legitimate claim as they were on the bogus claims against Al Gore? Probably not. I suspect this is another instance where 9/11 changed everything.

[DavidSegal]

23. New Hampshire Chamber of Commerce Disaffiliates from National: Let's Make it the First of Many

Cross-posted at HuffPo-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-segal/new-hampshire-chamber-of-_b_773226.html


The Greater Hudson Chamber of Commerce has had enough: It's so fed up with the shameless politicking that's being done in its name that it disaffiliated from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce earlier this month.

Will you help make sure it's the first of many by signing on to Demand Progress's letter urging local chambers of commerce to disaffiliate?

http://demandprogress.org/chamber/

The so-called United States Chamber of Commerce -- flush with donations from foreign lands -- has spent countless millions lobbying Washington against progressive policies. That includes more than $81 million so far this year to work against health care, workers' rights, social security, environmental initiatives and more. Combined with its anti-consumer rights Institute for Legal Reform, it spent $144 million on lobbying in 2009 alone.

Now the Chamber's being used as a laundromat, through which corporations like Chevron, Dow Chemical, and Goldman Sachs are washing millions of dirty dollars as they try to throw next week's elections. The Chamber is taking advantage of the Citizens United decision by spending more than $75 million this cycle, with over 90% of its money going to support Republicans.

But the Chamber is also spending your money: It's supported by a network of dues-paying local affiliates -- some representing small towns, and others whole states. You can look for affiliates over here.

The Chamber is controlled by the big boys -- Wall Street, Big Oil, Big Pharma, and the rest of the gang. But the hometown affiliates help pay for its bureaucracy and give it a good name -- one that's steadily being sullied as the Chamber pushes a radical agenda that hurts most Americans.

The national chamber's egregious political spending is already the object of consternation in many local chapters: they include plenty of all small businesses, and even non-profits and social service agencies, that sure as hell aren't happy about the dirty politicking that's being done on their behalf or the potential that their plight will be made even worse by a Republican-controlled Congress. Even some bigger companies, like Apple, have already severed their ties.

Combating corporate control of the government is the fight of our lifetime: If we don't fix the way people get elected, we will never be able to address any of the other issues that we all care about. We need to figure out ways to fight back, and fast: This session's Congress -- elected in a pre-Citizens United world -- failed even to pass the pathetic Disclose Act this summer. As congressmembers get elected based on the new rules they'll have even less incentive to change them.

It's a daunting undertaking. But you can help us hit them where it hurts: Please join us as we call on more local chapters to disaffiliate.

We'll make sure the chapters hear your calls -- and we'll keep you informed as our effort proceeds, so you can choose where to spend your money without worrying that you're forwarding the radical right's attempt to usurp our democracy.