U.S. Chamber losing local member groups

The very high profile, far-right, and expensive campaign efforts of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 2010 has created a major headache for local chambers, which are breaking ties with the national group.

“We were getting pounded. We felt here, in Central Pennsylvania, that the ads they were running were not professional ads,” said David Wise, president of the Chamber of Business and Industry of Centre County, which is considering dropping its national membership. “This was not a unifying event. It was divisive.”

More than 40 local chambers issued statements during the midterms distancing themselves from the U.S. Chamber’s campaign — including nearly every major local Chamber in Iowa and New Hampshire, key states in the presidential campaign.

Other chambers plan to take the extraordinary step of ending their affiliation with the U.S. Chamber, including The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce. Its leaders reported being inundated with angry — and sometimes profanity-laced — telephone calls from people objecting to the U.S. Chamber-backed ads.

At the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce in Washington, officials hope to avoid a similar discussion about nonrenewal of its membership. “What we’d prefer to do at this point is have conversations with the U.S. Chamber representatives, so we can be more respectful of each other’s constituencies,” said George Allen, senior vice president of government relations with the Seattle Chamber.

Local chambers in blue America heard an earful from their individual members over this election, who wanted no association whatsoever with the scorched earth, far-right onslaught from the U.S. Chamber. These organizations actually have to work with the members of Congress they have, both Republicans and Democrats, and thus choose to stay out of partisan politics. Rather than representing the interests of these local and state groups--its ostensible purpose--the U.S. Chamber is representing several dozen mega-corporations.

Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/wBjKOTKLudk/-U.S.-Chamber-losing-local-member-groups

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