I’m finding it difficult to shed a tear for a guy with a huge office overlooking the White House who compares having to disclose political giving to Libyan military oppression. Chamber of Commerce top lobbyist R. Bruce Josten is hope that I will, though. He went after the White House Tuesday for a possible executive order requiring federal contractors to disclose political spending more than $5,000–including to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
As outlined in New York Times article, the executive order was designed in response to tens of millions of dollars in anonymous spending during the 2010 elections after the Supreme Court took the limits off corporate giving. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent $32 million themselves. From his perch atop the U.S. Chamber, Josten complains that disclosing political giving would open up businesses to protest and “harassment” because of their gifts. That, he is correct about.
But what are we talking about exactly? This rule would only apply to people looking for government contracts. Do you own a hardware store or car repair shop? This doesn’t apply to you.
According to the article, it only discloses political spending over $5,000. Are you a building contractor looking for federal work and give $200, $500, or $2,500 to a political candidate? This doesn’t apply to you.
So who does it apply to? If you’re a major corporate contractor looking to throw down $10,000, $100,000, or, say, $32,000,000 to get a friendly politician elected who will help you get contracts, it would apply to you.
And should it not? The danger of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is that they spend huge amounts claiming to represent the American businessman, but get most of their money from 16 mega-corporations, including dirty energy interests. And if you think that
This is exactly what “The U.S. Chamber Doesn’t Speak for Me” campaign is working to do. We need to pull back the curtain to show that the wizard pulling the strings at the U.S. Chamber is not American small business. We’ve been honored to have some great businesses join in this effort, from one of Aspen, CO’s biggest employers to the thousands of small businesses across the United States.
The U.S. Chamber can’t continue to front for Dirty Coal and Big Oil and keep who they really represent a secret any longer. Whether it’s through an executive order or local organizing, we will make it happen.
