The Washington Spectator, Letters to the Editor E-Mail to on the Opening Night
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September 1, 2016 The WA S H I N G T O N LOUwashingtonspectator.org DUBOSE, Editor PERIODICALS CLASS SEPTEMBER 1, 2016 Postage Paid at New York, NY vol. 42, no. 9 issn 0887-428x © 2016 The Public Concern Foundation SPECTATOR washingtonspectator.org associations and chambers of com- Corporate Lobby: merce throughout the country” was wasting its time and treasure. the Third Chamber A truly valuable trade associa- tion, according to this small group of Congress of Republican politicians and their corporate sponsors, would transform by Mark Dowie itself from a high-minded affinity hy do we criticize people for group (described by a tobacco execu- doing what they were hired to do? Take tive as a “weak sister”) into a fighting W Thomas J. Donohue, for example. Day force for a few troubled American after day the poor guy gets pummeled by Washing- industries and products—tobacco for ton non-profits and mainstream media for doing one, but also banking, health insur- his job. He’s out there challenging health care ance, pharmaceuticals, firearms, coal, reform; suing the SEC to stifle the regulation of financial mar- and other fossil fuels. All were threatened by progressive idealists kets; lobbying Congress to reduce punitive damages in prod- and the excesses of federal regulation, according to a warning uct liability litigation; attempting to gut the Foreign Corrupt from corporate lawyer Lewis Powell. It was time, members of Practices and False Claims Acts; undermining carbon pollution Continued on page 6, COMMERCE standards; questioning the causes of climate change; opposing a federal minimum wage; defending high-salt processed foods; attacking “net metering” of solar Diverse and Perverse: the Coalition ALSO INSIDE: energy panels; interfering in the that Trump Built Editorial: election of state supreme court jus- 2 by Rick Perlstein The Chamber’s Bagful tices; shilling for American tobacco Exelon, and PNM Resources, who pulled out last fall, citing the of Cash overseas; opposing environmental chamber’s pro-fossil-fuel climate policy as their reason for leav- legislation; fighting paid maternity Cleveland ing. CVS Health Corporation, with its 7,800 retail drug stores, leave; persuading American businesses to fight campaign-finance he convention began with a prayer for God to followed, revolted by the chamber’s overseas promotion for disclosure; opposing net neutrality; defending high pharmaceu- Tbless his chosen political party, from a black preacher who another hazardous product, tobacco. tical prices; and laundering large “anonymous” donations from announced it was fitting and proper to do so “because we are More recently, the staffs of about half a dozen U.S. Senators the Koch Brothers’ Freedom Partners and Karl Rove’s American electing a man in Donald Trump who believes in the name of who were curious about the chamber’s selecting targets and tak- Crossroads Super PAC. Jesus Christ.” And because “our enemy is not other Republicans, ing positions contrary to the interests of many of its members, in Why should Mr. Donohue be rebuked for this very abbrevi- but is Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party.” particular regarding tobacco, surveyed the 108 corporations with ated list if those tasks were handed to him in 1997, when he Rev. Mark Burns is a devotee of the “prosperity gospel.” At executive representatives on the U.S. Chamber Board of Direc- began serving as CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a Trump rally in March, he had said: “There is no black person, tors. The Senate investigators found that approximately half the whose core mission was then, and still is, “to advance human there is no yellow person, there is no red person, there’s only corporate board members have anti-tobacco and/or pro-climate progress through an economic, political, and social system based green, people! Green is money!” positions. And not one of their CEOs explicitly supported the on individual freedom, incentive, initiative, opportunity, and The game Trump and Burns are playing is an old one. A chamber’s lobbying actions on tobacco or climate change. responsibility”? candidate, party, or movement can’t be racially divisive if black If the chamber’s board and funders don’t mind the slow but This would be a fair question were Donohue committed to people are out front spouting its praises. Early in the 1960s, steady exodus of state and local chambers, and the departure of that mission and doing what he does for all American enterprise, the John Birch Society toured a black former Communist Party some of the most distinguished corporations in American business, or even for the 150 members of the U.S. Chamber Board of member who affirmed that, yes, Moscowdid really intend to turn they will keep their consummate Washington fixer at the helm. Directors, or the 3 million small businesses, 7,000 state and local America’s Southern states into a black-run colony of the Soviet Yet only a handful the nation’s business and political leaders chambers, and 116 overseas American chambers he claims to Union—and that this whole civil rights thing was all a communist brought Tom Donohue to Washington. What can be done can represent in 103 countries. plot. In the 1970s, Ronald Reagan had a black loyalist on the be undone. But he’s not. He is, in fact, doing the bidding of a few Republican National Committee, Dr. Gloria Toote, to help him national politicians and their mostly anonymous corporate spon- make his case that the “Negro has delivered himself to those Mark Dowie is an author and investigative reporter. An sors who believed in 1996, and evidently still do, that a pragmatic, who have no other intention than to create a Federal plantation.” extended version of this report can be found at http://washing- staid national chamber, founded to be “in touch with business Continued on page 3, COALITION tonspectator.org. 8 1 Illustrations by Edel Rodriguez Spectator_layout_1.indd 1 8/8/16 4:19 PM September 1, 2016 washingtonspectator.org Editorial effort to hold off Russ Feingold, $375,150 sup- The COALITION, continued from page 1 The Chamber’s Bagful of Cash porting Johnson and the same amount in opposi- WASHINGTON tion to Feingold, suggests that chamber check SPECTATOR Even George Wallace kept a pet Negro for the s the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, like writers have already concluded the race is a loss same purpose: Clay Smothers, a state legislator Editor Lou Dubose Ithe NRA, an ancillary to the Republican Party? for them and a win for Democrats.) National Correspondent from Texas who once introduced a bill to ban homo- Consider. In Alabama, the chamber has contributed to Rick Perlstein sexuals from public university campuses. In 1977, Digital Editor James White At this point in the 2016 election cycle, the Republican Rep. Martha Roby’s defense of her safe Associate Digital Editor when the federal government sponsored a historic nation’s most powerful corporate lobby has Republican seat against Tea Party challenger Becky Hannah Gais national women’s convention in Houston, chock spent $9,013,702 in support of Republicans Gerritson. Copy Editor Dave Denison full of feminist and gay rights activists, Smoth- Arts & Culture Editor and $7,639,325 in opposition to Democratic Chamber of Commerce spending in 2014 was Ava Kofman ers spoke at the massive counter-rally candidates. also aimed at electing Republicans, with, for exam- Contributing Editor Phyllis Schlafly organized across town. The largest recipient of chamber cash has been ple, $5,637,144 invested in Thom Tillis’s successful Alison Fairbrother “I have enough civil rights to choke a Circulation Management Senator Pat Toomey, the Pennsylvania Republican campaign against Democratic Senator Kay Hagan Four Corners Media hungry goat. I ask for public rights. in a dead heat with his Democratic challenger Katie and $3,701,491 to defeat progressive Democratic Design Point Five, NY . Let’s do something about these Illustration Edel Rodriguez McGinty. The chamber has contributed $1,908,300 Senator Mark Udall in Colorado. misfits and perverts over in the Sam to Toomey, and put $1,797,950 into a campaign The chamber provided Senate Majority Leader Publisher and Editorial Houston Coliseum. I want to segregate my family Director Hamilton Fish attacking McGinty. Mitch McConnell $1,569,620 in 2014, and in the from them!” Subscription inquiries E-mail us at In New Hampshire, the chamber has spent money-to-burn category dumped $2,054,549 into subscriptions@washingtonspectator. In Cleveland, Pastor Burns had competition. Sher- $1,560,150 in an effort to thwart Democratic Scott Brown’s risible (and losing) Senate campaign org, call toll-free (866) 949-5290 iff David Clarke Jr. of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, M - F 9-5:30 EST, or write to P.O. Box Governor Maggie Hassan’s challenge to Republi- in New Hampshire. 241, Oregon, IL 61061. a black version of Arizona’s Joe Arpaio, took the stage can Senator Kelly Ayotte, who is running slightly In this issue of The Washington Spectator, Letters to the editor E-mail to on the opening night. Dressed in full formal cop rega- behind her Democratic challenger in the polls. Mark Dowie documents the transformation of comments@washingtonspectator. lia, Clarke bellowed, “Ladies and Gentleman, I would org. Please include your full name In an effort to save the seat of Arizona Sena- the U.S Chamber of Commerce from a defender and postal address and whether like to make something very clear. Blue! Lives! Mat- tor John McCain, the chamber has contributed of Main Street business values into a muscu- the letter is intended for publication. ter!”—predictably dragging in Rev. Martin Luther Letters, if published, may be edited $1,050,150 to his campaign.