The national backlash against the United States Chamber of Commerce's ongoing campaign finance scandal is coming from a new direction: from the local Chambers themselves. Apparently, the hardworking small business owners of this country are a good sight smarter and more decent that the people running the political front group in the Washington that shares their organizations' name, and increasing numbers of them are quitting the national group,out of disgust with their growing politicization.
And it couldn't be coming at a better time.
In this encouraging story from the Nashua Telegraph, we find that the Chamber of Commerce in Hudson, New Hampshire is the latest local organization to disaffiliate from the U.S. Chamber. Their blatant partisan shilling is offending a lot of voters, including members of their own organization.
It's also encouraging to see this happening now, as it has implications for the election. Coverage of the local Chamber of Commerce makes the Local News sections of the newspaper, where it is read by people who might not follow political process stories as closely as, say, the typical Daily Kos reader, but who sure turn out to vote in elections, and who might have heard something about the Democrats' message about the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The anti-Chamber message is resonating across the country, and coverage of these local chambers' actions ties in with that message, helping the further the narrative against the Republican Party in this year's elections, as well as the longer-term one about corporate money in our politics in the post-Citizens United world.
What's your local Chamber of Commerce doing? Are they affiliated with the U.S. Chamber? Don't you think it would be fascinating to have that question hashed out in the Local News and Letters to the Editor section of your town's newspaper for a couple of weeks before election day?