U.S. Chamber of Commerce: The Right Wing's Right Hand in D.C.

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http://www.alternet.org/story/45493/

U.S. Chamber of Commerce: The Right Wing's Right Hand in D.C.

By Matt Stoller, AlterNet. Posted December 14, 2006.

The Chamber of Commerce, run by corrupt lobbyist Tom Donahue, has turned into a pay-to-play vehicle for right-wing causes and corporate dishonesty.

It's hard to precisely define the political establishment, the fixed group of financiers, political operatives, journalists, and politicians who make up the swirl of right-wing power in Washington D.C. But if it's not always simple to define in its totality, one man stands out as an innovative and particularly venal power broker: Thomas Donahue, President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

In a lot of ways, the new challenge after the 2006 elections for the progressive movement boils down to finding the unethical and unaccountable purveyors of systemic corruption and rooting them out. It is these forces that put Bush in the White House and reelected him. It is these forces that corrupt both parties. It is these forces that are going to fight tooth and nail to defeat the Democratic majority, while attempting to also corrupt it from within.

Fortunately, in this case, we can put a face to the force. Tom Donahue is possibly the most powerful business lobbyist in D.C. Most recently, he has been pushing aggressively to weaken the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which was passed in the wake of the Enron scandal to ensure corporate accountability and protect investors. And right now, he's reeling, because he's been caught in an unethical stock scandal of his own. What happens to Donahue, whether he's able to maintain his stewardship of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, will go a long way towards answering the question of whether progressives can be confident in our ability to begin repairing some of the damage Bush and his ilk have done.

Here's the short story. Donahue is on the board of directors of Sunrise Senior Living, a company that offers assisted living facilities to the elderly, and according to Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times, he sold stock in advance of an accounting problem which later became public and shaved $342 million from the company's market value. Shareholders are demanding answers, including an independent probe. This isn't the first time Donahue has had problems with corporate scandals. As Public Citizen has documented, this seems to be a behavior trait. Donahue sat on the board of Qwest as it defrauded investors, and on Union Pacific as the company was caught for massive safety violations. All of the companies on whose board he sits are members of the Chamber of Commerce, and he has often dedicated the brand and prestige of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to serving the interests of specific corporate donors instead of the general interests of the business community.

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