Is an Alternative Needed to the Chamber of Commerce?

Court reinstates lawsuit over corporate campaign donations
Associated Press

ST. PAUL - A federal appeals court reinstated a lawsuit Monday seeking to overturn a Minnesota law prohibiting corporate campaign contributions to federal candidates.

The lawsuit was filed in 2004 by chambers of commerce representing businesses in St. Paul, Burnsville and Mankato. They sought a court ruling that would block county attorneys from prosecuting them or other corporate donors to U.S. House and U.S. Senate campaigns.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has become a blatantly political organization. And many of the state Chambers have followed. Now they want even more political influence than they already have.

This would be fine if in fact there were a free market for business advocacy groups. But there is not. The Chamber has a virtual monopoly on what it does. Only in a few markets does it face competition from other business advocacy groups, such as the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce, the National Black Chamber of Commerce, and some state-based Businesses for Social Responsibility, such as in Maine and Vermont.

In Mankato, Minnesota, where I live, our local Chamber of Commerce does an excellent job in promoting both business and community issues, and it remains steadfastly politically neutral. I was once a member and would still be a member today except that some of my dues went to the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, which has lobbied for issues that I vehemently oppose.

Much of the largesse of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has gone to one political party. And many of the issues it espouses promote only short-term ends that help businesses -- primarily big businesses -- at the expense of other facets of society. This is unfortunate because Chamber members nationwide represent a variety of poltical ideologies.

The various entities of the Chamber of Commerce need to become less political. If not, then businesses that currently affiliate with the Chamber but object to its one-sided political activities, as well as those businesses that choose not to affiliate at all, need to create a new national business advocacy group that takes into account a broader societal perspective.

For more on the lobbying and political activities of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, see:

• "Court reinstates lawsuit over corporate campaign donations" from the Grand Forks Herald
  
• "A Quiet Revolution In Business Lobbying" from the Washington Post
• "What's Happened to the Chamber of Commerce?" from the Center for Justice and Democracy
• The New Stealth PACs
• SourceWatch
• LobbyWatch

LP