Chamber of Commerce Denies Foreign Money Funding Campaign Ads

www.cbsnews.com...

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the conservative business lobbying group that has vowed to spend $75 million to influence the midterm elections, is denying a report from a liberal group that it is using money from foreign corporations on campaign ads.

"These accusations are completely erroneous," Tita Freeman, vice president of communications for the Chamber, said in a statement. "... No foreign money is used to fund political activities."

The website Think Progress today said its investigation showed that the Chamber "funds its political attack campaign out of its general account, which solicits foreign funding." It suggested that "the Chamber is likely skirting longstanding campaign finance law that bans the involvement of foreign corporations in American elections."

According to an investigation the results from the Citizens United case are beginning to appear. According to ThinkProgress the Chamber of Commerce is using money from foreign companies to show ads which endorse their Republicans of choice.

thinkprogress.org...

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.

– Like the Chamber’s involvement in Bahrain, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce operates in India through a group called “U.S.-India Business Council” (USIBC), which has offices around the world but is headquartered in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Dozens of Indian businesses, including some of India’s largest corporations like the State Bank of India (state-run) and ICICI Bank, are members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce through the USIBC. Annual membership dues range from $7,500 to $15,000 or more, and the money is given directly into the Chamber’s 501(c)(6) bank account. Like the USBBC, the USIBC generates well over $200,000 a year in dues for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from foreign businesses. On the USIBC website, many of the groups lobbying goals advocate changing American policy to help businesses in India. Under the manufacturing policy goal, USIBC boasts that it “can play a helpful role in guiding U.S. companies to India, while supporting various policy initiatives that will enhance India’s reputation as a major manufacturing and investment hub.”

– Many foreign “AmChams” or Business Councils operate outside the direct sphere of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce but nonetheless send dues money back to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. For instance, the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt is a separate entity based in Cairo that raises hundreds of thousands of dollars from both Egyptian firms and American businesses. However, the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt calls itself “the most active affiliates of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in the” Middle East. Another foreign chamber, like the Abu Dhabi AmCham, which includes American firms and Esnaad, a subsidiary of the state-run Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, claims that it is a a “dues paying member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and part of the global network of American Chambers of Commerce.” In Russia, the relationship between the American Chamber of Commerce there and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce here is opaque. This might be because many of the dues-paying members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia are Russian state-run companies, like VTB Bank, and controlled by the Russian government. Asked by ThinkProgress if the Russian Chambers pay dues back to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Ksenia Forsheneva, the membership development manager at the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia, replied, “Unfortunately the information that you require is closed for the public.”

That was the report released by ThinkProgress in regards to the Chamber of Commerce collecting foreign money for funding campaign ads.

And here's something I found very interesting; "But for specific advocacy or advertising campaigns, corporations can hide behind the label of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and give additional money."

So the US Chamber of Commerce collects funds from its international branches which it then uses to push its political agenda here in the United States. They recieve money from India to push for sending more manufacturing jobs there from here in the states. So this means that the Chamber of Commerce is funneling in outside foreign money into US politics and has created a blanket to protect companies here within the United States who pay service to the Chamber from having to reveal what money they spend on politics and where the money is spent.

By using the Chamber of Commerce unlimited funds from anonymous places will be unleashed upon our country this October and November as they fight for their candidates and their policies to be enacted.

BUMP

I still do not see the direct link that the money raised in foreign operations is being used directly to fund political ads.

I see they are raising and collecting a lot of money, this much is evident from the investigation. What the U.S. Chamber of Commerce should do to counter this, if their claims are to be true, would to release any and all pertinent data relating to how it funds political ads.

With such a move, even then there is no way of knowing exactly where the money has come from. Maybe from an American business overseas? Maybe a Russian business that is hoping for support from the U.S. CoC because of poor conditions in Russia on starting and running a business.

There are still so many variables to be accounted for here. No way to pinpoint exactly the charges levied.

Now, I am not picking on thinkprogress.org here, but this is the new format of reporting. Throw out the accusation before you have all the facts and all the details to back up your claims. Its a gamble that has huge payoffs if they win and absolutely no losses if they fail to prove their initial claims.

The Chamber of Commerce is totally corrupt and shouldn't be allowed to organize political forums.
Only their candidates ever get elected. They pose pathetic questions and have all kinds of plants asking questions.
They control local governments.

I have been hunting them since 93