Chamber of Horrors

"U.S. Chamber of Commerce Institute for Legal Reform President Lisa Rickard complained bitterly about lobbying on Capitol Hill. The objects of Ms. Rickard’s ire were attorneys who had dared to meet their congressional representatives (letter to the editor, 'Trial lawyers storm Capitol,' Oct. 3).
The irony is, of course, that no one invests more in lobbying than Ms. Rickard’s group. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, over the last decade the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its fake 'think tank,' the Institute for Legal Reform, have plowed more than $338 million into lobbying Congress. Its largess has been double that of any corporation, association or trade group in the country.
In fact, this lobbying is a moneymaker for Ms. Rickard. The chamber has made a fortune shilling for corporations in return for massive contributions and board seats for President Tom Donohue. In 2001, The Wall Street Journal noted that Mr. Donohue’s most effective coffer-filling innovation had been 'to offer individual companies and industries the chance to use the chamber as a means of anonymously pursuing their own political ends.'
Whether it was pharmaceutical manufacturers paying $1 million each to undermine the Medicare prescription drug bill, or auto manufacturers trying to avoid liability for defective products, Ms. Rickard and Mr. Donohue have offered a front for everyone and anyone with a suitcase of money. It doesn’t even have to be an American company, as Boeing found out when the chamber went to work for Airbus. If your money’s good, it’s good enough for the chamber."
Chamber outspending everyone on lobbying From Jon Haber, CEO, American Association for Justice