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Meanwhile

While everyone was atwitter about the House video ban and attempted ethics oversight evasion, Ryan and McConnell both are sharpening their knives to slay Obama environmental and labor regulations, and can do it under existing laws. Yes, rules advanced legally, under existing statutory authority granted by Congress. Just cuz.

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The submissive gorilla

Since the election of Donald Trump, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been almost as quiet as I have, stunned into...what? The Washington business lobbies have to now confront a putative friend who won election by gleefully abusing the political establishment forces in his path and has all the more reason to keep going now that he needs to keep Congress pliant. In Trumpland, domain of only one king, the Chamber is just another Washington beast the new president will clobber into submission and chain to his will, whatever affinities of interest they may share. Put it this way: The Chamber spent $32 million on the 2016 election to hold Republican control of the Senate, and CEO Tom Donohue hasn't even taken a trip up the Trump Tower elevator. Maybe he got the invitation; maybe he didn't — either way, the atmosphere feels deep-frosty. On the one very big hand (not the president-elect's), the cabinet-in-waiting looks to be a deregulatory dream team, including an EPA nominee, Scott Pruitt, who worked intimately with the Chamber as Oklahoma attorney general on its court combat against President Obama's Clean Power Plan. Trump promises to work with a friendly Republican-held Congress to enact long-sought corporate tax cuts. Massive infrastructure spending, above and beyond a pointless Mexico border wall, would fulfill another big item on the Chamber's wish list. But the raw meat of the Trump economic agenda, the rantings about erecting tariffs and demolishing trade deals and Buy American that won him so much appeal in the job-deprived American heartland, promises to heap profound costs onto U.S. commerce and the earnings of the companies that fund the Chamber — and moreover come as ideologically offensive to a group dedicated to expanding trade and opening global markets. In a sign of how fast the Washington weather has changed, former Chamber congressional lobbyist Rolf Lundberg, who once lobbied to advance trade-opening agreements, is now on board the Trump team that will enforce a "Buy American/Hire American" agenda. Trump's already established habit of calling out companies like Carrier for shutting down U.S. factories and opening operations elsewhere, and demanding re-commitment to American plants even at higher cost, means (as intended) that businesses will think twice and ten times before fleeing. Their undesired choice: pile on costs or suffer brand-crushing bad publicity. Oh, and forget about expanding immigration now, an employer's dream dead. Like all of us, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been thrown into semi-paralysis in processing how to navigate a new order where in place of extended policy deliberations between interested parties behind the scrim, vital decisions about the American economy rest with the whims of one very strange man who flings out his decrees, praises and punishments to millions instantaneously on Twitter. Once at work, his business-world cabinet members may be the ballast that brings Trump down to the same terra firma on which the U.S. Chamber built its significant political power in a past political era. But that's not the same thing as the Chamber actually possessing that might. Forever ago, in 1998, Donohue wrote to woo a tobacco industry donor with big plans to rule Washington: "My goal is simple — to build the biggest gorilla in this town." Enter King Kong. Who doesn't stand for competition.

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‘Corporate Citizen?’ — the conversation

Prof. Ciara Torres-Spellicsy has written an excellent book, "Corporate Citizen? An Argument for the Separation of Corporation and State," about the ascendant power of corporations as citizens in American law, including but hardly limited to the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling allowing unlimited spending on elections founded on the long-held finding that companies have the same First Amendment rights as individuals. On Thursday, October 27, at 6 p.m. I'll have the privilege of interviewing Torres-Spellicsy about "Corporate Citizen?" at a Manhattan event hosted by the Brennan Center for Justice, where she's a fellow. Come join us at Civic Hall, 156 5th Avenue (between 20th and 21st streets), 2nd Floor. More information and RSVP here.

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The sharks that ate City Hall

In June I wrote a column for the NY Daily News pondering why real estate developers have so often come out ahead of city government deal-making with the de Blasio administration — which, sure, could represent the fruits of corruption (we'll leave that to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara to determine) but can be more immediately explained by the vast asymmetry in firepower between bureaucrats and the sharks who swim the same infested NYC real estate waters that gave the world Donald Trump (sorry, world). Today — while hardly ruling out the possibility of influence by a mayoral donor or deliberate acts by City Hall — an investigative report from NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer on the sorry conversion of a Lower East Side AIDS hospice into luxury condo site with the city's blessings bolsters the shark theory. Surfaced here is much new detail about the games "nursing home operator" Joel Landau played with the mayor's office and the city agency in charge of guarding city property, including valuable deed restrictions on private real estate once owned by the city, insisting on full lifting of the deed restriction as necessary when it was well within the city's power to merely modify it while leaving in place the proviso that the property remain a health facility. Landau made the request, secured his price (a bargain, thanks to the city's absurdly lowball appraisal of the property's value), and officials at two city agencies obliged — one affirming on behalf of the mayor, with a rubber stamp, that the action is in "the best interests of the city." This is no way to run that city.

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On businesses, boycotts and a rising political force

I couldn't have known when I wrote on the rise of corporate political activism for the excellent journal Democracy that North Carolina's odious ban on LGBT civil rights protections and transgender restroom access would spark the most stirring showing yet, with an extraordinary range of firms boycotting the state, including U.S. Chamber of Commerce stalwarts Pepsi, GE and Dow. As I say in the article, corporate LGBT advocacy is just part of a wave that also includes tech companies like Uber and Apple enlisting users as political allies, amid plenty of evidence that customers look favorably on corporate activism when it aligns with their values. It does seem only a matter of time before companies openly sponsor candidates for political office as part of building brand identity and loyalty, putting to work their full Citizens United powers until now notably underutilized for fear of consumer or shareholder backlash.

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Washington, D.C., March 22

Hello Washington, D.C.: On Tuesday, March 22 from 6 to 8 p.m., I'll be giving a talk hosted by the American Sustainable Business Council and friends on how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce came to claim to represent all business in American politics while advancing the pernicious demands of a mere few.

Andy Shallal, CEO of Busboys and Poets, moderates.

Free. Come one, come all; just make sure to register.

At the Impact Hub, 419 7th St. NW. Twelve blocks from U.S. Chamber of Commerce HQ. I counted.

Full details here.

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Ryan Grim in ‘Democracy’

I'm very fortunate to have The Influence Machine reviewed by the well-informed and thoughtful Ryan Grim in the stellar journal Democracy. "Katz builds what is a very strong case brick by brick, and it’s remarkable to watch the Chamber’s power rise chapter by chapter," he writes. "It is a gun for hire, a façade that corporations can use, for a price, to do work in Washington that they would rather not have associated with their consumer brand. All of this, Katz argues convincingly, has often flown brazenly in the face of tax law, but power in Washington trumps both the spirit and letter of the law." Read Grim's full review.

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NYPL via BookTV

C-SPAN, don't ever change. OK, please just change one thing: Make all of your videos web-embeddable, including BookTV, including the recent broadcast of this author giving a talk in October 2015 at the New York Public Library, because frankly speaking it was excellent. 

In the meantime, you'll just have to settle for watching the proceedings on C-SPAN's website. Enjoy.

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An Unorthodox take

Partisan politics was, for most of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's history, "against its own internal rules, against its founding mandate, against everyt this group stood for. It was about building consensus in Washington, which meant that it was pretty ineffective for most of its history." And then.... I explain on the wonderfully unorthodox podcast Unorthodox.

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Conversation with Sasha Lilley

Some thoughtful questions here from host Sasha Lilley (and some decent enough answers from me) on KPFA's "Against the Grain."

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San Francisco, Nov. 12

Bay Area! American Sustainable Business Council co-founders David Brodwin and Richard Eidlin are generously hosting a conversation with me about business, politics and the power of organizing and advocacy for a better environment. "The Influence Machine" and the story of U.S. Chamber of Commerce will serve as our case study of sorts — showing the tactics and power of businesses banding together for political success, whatever the end goals. Thursday, November 12, 5:30-7:30 at New Resource Bank, 255 California Street, #600, San Francisco. Free and open to all.

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Seattle, Nov. 11

The American Sustainable Business Council will be hosting me and Seventh Generation founder Jeffrey Hollender for a dialogue about business, politics and the power of organizing and advocacy to drive (or smother) government action on the environment. Wednesday, November 11, 5:30-7:30 at the Impact Hub, 220 Second Avenue South., Seattle. Free and open to all. See you there, Seattle.

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Thom Hartmann has some questions for me

Here for your edification, an interview with me by sharpie Thom Hartmann about how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce fronts for poisonous industries.

And for your entertainment, my id, Tina Fey.

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Wednesday @NYPL

The New York Public Library's Mid-Manhattan Library, across the street from those bodacious stone lions, kindly invited me in to give an "Influence Machine" talk. Wednesday, October 7, 6:30 p.m., 455 Fifth Avenue, 6th floor. Free. Fun. Informative. See you there.

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Questions for the Chamber

A number of readers have asked me to fill in the blanks on this passage in the preface to The Influence Machine:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce declined to make staff members available for interview. It invited me to send them questions by e-mail instead; they refused to answer my inquiries. In response to factual questions about their activities, I received only a scolding response, informing me that I had an unacceptable agenda: 

“The nature and tone of these questions reveal an obvious slant — one that seeks to paint the Chamber in a solely negative way. Based on these questions, it seems that you have already reached your conclusion about the Chamber, so we see no reason to respond.”

What were those questions so wildly biased, so without merit that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce concluded it had no choice but to refuse to address them? Here, for your edification and reactions, is my first and only round of submitted inquiries, met with a wall of silence:

 • What is the unique value to industry of the Chamber when so many trade groups exist in Washington advocating for industry sectors. Why is it important to have one group to represent all business? 

 • What is the reason the U.S. Chamber is able to obtain traction in Congress on many priority issues? How does the power to influence elections play a role? How is a message different coming from the Chamber than from a single industry group? 

• My book discusses a number of instances in which companies known to have made significant contributions to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are also beneficiaries of lobbying and political campaigns. Examples discussed include Philip Morris, Union Pacific and Aetna. Can you speak to the extent to which such donations do or do not influence the selection of issues and measures on which the Chamber advocates legislatively? 

• Could you please describe, in as much detail as possible, the internal review procedure for deciding on specific advocacy positions? Does the Policymaking Process booklet posted on the U.S. Chamber’s website at http://www.uschamber.com/sites/default/files/about/09uscc_policy_booklet.pdf remain in effect? 

• An often-repeated observation about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is that it it takes the heat on controversial issues where member companies may not want to be public about their positions or activities. Is there merit to this view, and if not, why not? 

• What is the role of U.S. Chamber fellows, including R. James Nicholson and Brandon Sweitzer? Are their responsibilities limited to fundraising, or if they are more numerous, what do these efforts consist of? 

• The Coalition organized by Bruce Josten in the 1996 and 1998 congressional campaign seasons became the subject of a Federal Election Commission investigation and case, which ultimately resulted in no action. Does Mr. Josten have any comments to share about why the FEC launched the case in the first place or what the failure of the probe demonstrates? 

 • The book examines examples of litigation by the U.S. Chamber over federal rulemaking. Among these are efforts to keep Hours of Service rules for trucking at their prior levels. Advocates for expanding the reach of Hours of Service rules say that the present rule has deadly consequences, and the book includes the example of the Slattery family of Maryland, whose surviving parent Ed has become a spokesperson for the safety advocacy group CRASH and for expanded rules. Does the Chamber have a response to contentions that hours of service in place prior to 2012 led to fatal highway accidents? 

• The book also discusses Chamber President and CEO Tom Donohue’s past professional life, beginning with his employment at the U.S. Postal Service. Mr. Donohue has described Ted Klassen, the Postmaster General for whom he worked, as a mentor. Mr. Klassen was also previously an executive at the American Can Company, where Mr. Donohue’s father worked as a supervisor. Did Tom Donohue Jr. initially come into contact with Mr. Klassen via the American Can Company? In any event, what prompted Mr. Donohue Jr. to decide to work with Mr. Klassen and leave the New York region for Washington, D.C.? 

• Also in Mr. Donohue’s biography, the book discusses his past work as an executive with Fairfield University, and his role as a trustee in the legal fund for the defense in the Tilton lawsuit challenging government funds for religiously affiliated higher education institutions. Did this experience of collaborating with other institutions inform Mr. Donohue’s later work, and if so how? 

• At the formation of the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, the U.S. Chamber let it be known that the Institute would neither solicit nor accept tobacco industry money (see “A Lesson Learned,” ABA Journal, May 1998). Yet the Chamber itself was highly active on federal tobacco-related lobbying in 1998, documents from the tobacco industry indicate, and received $180,000 that year from Philip Morris. According to Bloomberg News (6/23/98), Mr. Donohue appropriated $330,000 for a television ad airing in Washington, D.C., and attacking proposed federal anti-tobacco legislation. Was Philip Morris funding involved in this ad’s production or TV buy? What other sources of funding were used on the campaign? 

 • Tobacco industry documents released in the industry settlement discuss the development and funding of a 1999 Roper poll surveying public attitudes on litigation targeting the tobacco industry, in which Bruce Josten was the point of contact for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and correspondence indicates discussions of funds to be transferred Philip Morris to the U.S. Chamber. How much funding in total did Philip Morris provide in connection with the 1999 poll and any lobbying or advertising in connection with the issue in 1999? And given the tobacco company’s role in developing and sponsoring the survey, why was the company’s involvement not disclosed by the U.S. Chamber or U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform in public communications about the survey or federal tobacco litigation? 

• In regard to the U.S. Chamber’s opposition to cap-and-trade legislation in Congress, PG&E CEO Peter Darbee wrote to inform Mr. Donohue on September 18, 2009, that his company would not renew its membership in the U.S. Chamber for the following year, and explained the reasons behind that decision. Can Mr. Donohue or anyone else from the U.S. Chamber comment on Mr. Darbee’s contention that the U.S. Chamber failed in formulating its own public positions on climate change to adequately consider the views of U.S. Chamber member companies that have sought to take meaningful action to address climate change? 

• In 2013, the construction firm Skanska publicly resigned U.S. Chamber membership, objecting to the Chamber’s participation in the American High-Performance Building Coalition and the coalition’s efforts to block certain enhancements to LEED standards. In a statement, Skanska said the initiative “threatens to halt years of progress in energy-efficient and environmentally responsible construction.” Does the U.S. Chamber concur with that view, and if not, why not? 

 • Why did the U.S. Chamber elect to sue Jacques Servin and Igor Vamos (Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno) of the satire duo the Yes Men for trademark infringement, only to drop the case? 

• Sources have alleged that advertising by the group Law Enforcement Association of America in judicial races in Pennsylvania in 2001 and Mississippi in 2002 and an attorney general election in Texas in 2002 were in part paid for by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce or affiliates. Is this indeed the case, and if so what was the dollar amount of the support in each instance? 

• A labor-backed group has filed an Internal Revenue Service complaint alleging that the U.S. Chamber owes unpaid taxes on funds contributed to the National Chamber Foundation, following transfers of funds from the Foundation to the U.S. Chamber. New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has subsequently subpoenaed documents from the Foundation. Is there any merit to the allegation that the funds were improperly handled, and if not, why not? 

• The group Public Citizen filed a 2006 complaint with the IRS alleging that the U.S. Chamber and U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform failed to report taxable political expenditures between 2000 and 2004. Does the U.S. Chamber concur with this allegation, and if not, why not? 

• The IRS filing for the U.S. Chamber showing 2004 activities shows less than $4 million spent on “direct or indirect political expenditures” while the Institute for Legal Reform reported expending $14 million. Mr. Donohue informed the U.S. Chamber Board of Directors following the election that the organizations had spent “up to $30 million.” How do you account for the discrepancy? 

• Mr. Donohue served on the Sunrise Senior Living board, and its audit and compensation committees, at a time when the company restated income by about $173 million, according to one calculation. Settlements with the SEC and in a private lawsuit admitted no wrongdoing. Is this account accurate, and does Mr. Donohue have anything further to add? 

• In 2011, the Chamber paid Cyber Security Research Associates $85,000 for lobbying on the appropriations bill for financial services. On what specific matters did the firm lobby? Did these matters include funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission? 

• The U.S. Chamber provided financial and legal support to an effort in Arizona to fight the Legal Arizona Workers Act, which would require e-Verify screening of workers. However, the U.S. and Arizona chambers elected not to participate in subsequent efforts to derail a farther-reaching law that permits law enforcement officers to stop and question individuals suspected of being undocumented immigrants. Todd Landfried of the group Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform alleges that the business community, including the Arizona Chamber, was “bought” by a legislative leader who cut a deal to remove a provision objectionable to business in exchange for their tacit support for the immigration crackdown bill, SB 1070. Is this an accurate account? Why did the U.S. Chamber stay out of the SB 1070 fight after heavy involvement in resisting the e-Verify law? 

• Has the Chamber discontinued the Access America diversity and inclusion program, and if so when was it ended? What did the Access America program accomplish? 

• Recently a Bloomberg View editorial (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-08/sec-should-make-companies-disclose-political-spending.html) offered strong words directed explicitly at the U.S. Chamber, as well as other IRS 501c4–certified organizations that are involved in the electoral arena. The editorial board asserted: "If corporations want to play in the political arena, they should have the fortitude to do so openly and be held accountable for it." Can you respond?

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Poisoned politics

Over at The Jewish Channel, Steven I. Weiss invited me in for an excellent chat on the Chamber’s campaigning on behalf of businesses, like the tobacco industry, too poisoned to win politically under their own brand names. Here’s an excerpt.

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'A carcinogenic organization’

My phone rang not long ago and a vaguely familiar voice greeted me with a question I've never been asked before: "Is this the mighty Alyssa Katz?" The caller was Ralph Nader, a steady presence in the background of The Influence Machine. We chatted for a bit, first on the phone (about, among other things, his soon-to-open American Museum of Tort Law and his view of the Chamber of Commerce as what he called "a carcinogenic organization"), and then a few weeks later on the air on his Ralph Nader Radio Hour. Listen in.