The US Chamber of Commerce has done battle with the Obama administration over the course of the past two years on some significant issues, and has been described by one observer as “one of the most determined and well-funded foes of Obama’s agenda.” So the news that Obama may be tapping a Chamber insider as his …
Tag: Chamber of Commerce
Don Blankenship, the Chamber, and the murky nexus of money and judicial influence
By Dennis J. Seese aka sundin Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy — the company that owned the mine where disaster struck last week — notoriously commented to Forbes in 2003 that “we don’t pay much attention to the violation count” even though the same article went on to note that the company’s three biggest …
Obama insiders teamed up with Chamber of Commerce to fight financial reform
The Chamber of Commerce has led the fight against the financial reform bill making its way through Congress. The business lobby opposes the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, enhanced oversight of derivatives, and other key parts of the reform package, and it won many concessions on the bill recently passed by the House …
Following the Chamber money trail, part 2
Now for some eye candy: visualizations of the tabular data I shared in my last post on the US Chamber of Commerce board’s political networks and giving patterns. I’m going to start with the strongest ties — the edges on the below graph mean that the donors they link have 14 or more recipients in …
Project: who will be the next to leave the Chamber?
The Chamber of Commerce has had a challenging couple of weeks. The group has been under fire from all sides for its stance on climate change and other major policy issues. Change to Win, Eliot Spitzer, and Valerie Jarrett have all gotten in on the act. Mother Jones’ investigative team has been cranking on all …