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U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Posted on 10-29-2004 2:59 PM EDT

The Chamber has followed through on its promise to be an active participant in this fall's elections, but the absense of disclosure requirements and the group’s practice of operating through other groups have made it difficult to nail down all of the details.
This summer, the Chamber established a 527 group, the November Fund, to attack trial lawyers, with a focus on vice presidential candidate John Edwards. So far, all but $53,000 of the group’s revenue has come from the Chamber itself, the Center for Public Integrity reports. The November Fund’s reliance on corporate money appears to have kept it off television airwaves, but the group is running Internet commercials.
A commentary on the November Fund’s fundraising woes appeared in the Wall Street Journal. (No subscription is necessary to view it on this blogger’s site. Search on “Murray). "Big business has been more constrained than any other group" by campaign-finance reforms, said U.S. Chamber President Tom Donohue.
The Chamber also has been active in state judicial contests. It has contributed at least $2 million to the Illinois Republican Party and at least $200,000 to the political action committee of the Illinois Civil Justice League. The state party, in turn, has spent at least $1.8 million and the Illinois Civil Justice League at least $1 million on behalf of state Supreme Court candidate Lloyd Karmeier (R), according to the Illinois Campaign for Legal Reform.
The Chamber also has contributed at least $500,000 to Citizens for Strong Ohio, an offshoot of the Ohio Chamber, that is running ads advocating for state supreme court candidates Terrence O’Donnell and Judith Lanzinger, according to the Toledo Blade.
Meanwhile, the Chamber itself is sending foot soldiers all over the country. The Journal commentary said that the Chamber is  "also working aggressively in as many as 30 congressional races."