Tell the DOJ: Investigate the Chamber of Commerce's Campaign Spending

Tell the DOJ: Investigate the Chamber of Commerce's Campaign Spending

The Issue

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the poster child for corporate corruption of our electoral system.

This year alone the Chamber has pledged to spend $75 million on ads attacking candidates who don't meekly bow down to the biggest and wealthiest corporate interests.

However, an explosive new report by the Center for American Progress reveals that some of that corporate cash might be coming from foreign entities, which would be a federal crime.

There is already entirely too much corporate cash spent on our elections. It's intolerable that our democracy would be further undermined by illegal donations from foreign interests.

That is why we are asking Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice to open an investigation immediately.

The Chamber of Commerce denies that it uses foreign money in any way that's illegal, but the Center for American Progress has documented how the Chamber aggressively raises money outside the United State from foreign entities--including state-run companies in Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, India and Russia--and deposits that money into the same general fund used to fund the Chamber's political program.

Because of the Chamber's tax status as a trade organization, it is able to shield most of its financial information from the public. So without a government investigation, all we have is the Chamber's woefully insufficient word that it is abiding by the law.

Given the stakes of this election, we cannot settle for nothing more than "Trust us" from an organization with such a huge credibility problem. And we cannot wait as this issue winds its way through a Federal Elections Commission rendered slow and toothless by its Republican members.

That is why we are calling on the Department of Justice to immediately move to investigate this explosive charge.

Tell the DOJ: Investigate the U.S. Chamber of Commerce immediately.

avatar of the starter
CREDO ActionPetition StarterAt <a href="http://Change.org" rel="nofollow">Change.org</a> I am Senior Director of Client Services. Before joining the team at <a href="http://Change.org" rel="nofollow">Change.org</a>, I worked as Senior Campaigner at Care2 and for two years I worked as Senior Consultant at M+R Strategic Services. My foray into online organizing began in 2004, when I co-founded Equality Ohio, an LGBT rights organization and a member organization of the national Equality Federation. In my spare time I tend a small flock of chickens in my Oakland backyard.
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The Issue

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the poster child for corporate corruption of our electoral system.

This year alone the Chamber has pledged to spend $75 million on ads attacking candidates who don't meekly bow down to the biggest and wealthiest corporate interests.

However, an explosive new report by the Center for American Progress reveals that some of that corporate cash might be coming from foreign entities, which would be a federal crime.

There is already entirely too much corporate cash spent on our elections. It's intolerable that our democracy would be further undermined by illegal donations from foreign interests.

That is why we are asking Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice to open an investigation immediately.

The Chamber of Commerce denies that it uses foreign money in any way that's illegal, but the Center for American Progress has documented how the Chamber aggressively raises money outside the United State from foreign entities--including state-run companies in Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, India and Russia--and deposits that money into the same general fund used to fund the Chamber's political program.

Because of the Chamber's tax status as a trade organization, it is able to shield most of its financial information from the public. So without a government investigation, all we have is the Chamber's woefully insufficient word that it is abiding by the law.

Given the stakes of this election, we cannot settle for nothing more than "Trust us" from an organization with such a huge credibility problem. And we cannot wait as this issue winds its way through a Federal Elections Commission rendered slow and toothless by its Republican members.

That is why we are calling on the Department of Justice to immediately move to investigate this explosive charge.

Tell the DOJ: Investigate the U.S. Chamber of Commerce immediately.

avatar of the starter
CREDO ActionPetition StarterAt <a href="http://Change.org" rel="nofollow">Change.org</a> I am Senior Director of Client Services. Before joining the team at <a href="http://Change.org" rel="nofollow">Change.org</a>, I worked as Senior Campaigner at Care2 and for two years I worked as Senior Consultant at M+R Strategic Services. My foray into online organizing began in 2004, when I co-founded Equality Ohio, an LGBT rights organization and a member organization of the national Equality Federation. In my spare time I tend a small flock of chickens in my Oakland backyard.

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