Great article on US Chamber Show him the money

[Guest guest]

_http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2010/1007.verini.html_

(http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2010/1007.verini.html)

a large part of what the Chamber sells is political cover. For

multibillion-dollar insurers, drug makers, and medical device manufacturers who

are

too smart and image conscious to make public attacks of their own, the

Chamber of Commerce is a friend who will do the dirty work. “I want to give

them

all the deniability they need,†says Donohue. That deniability is evidently

worth a lot. According to a January article in the National Journal, six

insurers alone—Aetna, Cigna, Humana, Kaiser Foundation Health Plans,

UnitedHealth Group, and Wellpoint—pumped up to $20 million into the Chamber

last

year.....

....Above all, Donohue sought out fund-raising opportunities. “Donohue was

much more hands-on than Lesher in terms of pursuing issues he thought were

important—important to making money,†a former Chamber lobbyist told me.

Inside the Chamber, this strategy was known colloquially as “views for

dues.â€