This, on top of their big radio buy:
The nation's biggest business lobbies are putting big bucks into a TV campaign to re-elect GOP Rep. Dave Reichert and fend off his formidable Democratic challenger, former Microsoft manager Darcy Burner.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce goes up Monday with a $156,000 TV buy -- anticipate ads that will smear Burner as a tax raiser -- on top of a previous $40,000 radio campaign against the Democratic challenger.
Next week, the National Federation of Independent Business begins a $219,000 television buy to boost Reichert....
The chamber's $40,000 radio buy was used to argue, falsely, that Burner would raise taxes on families with children.
A more basic question can be asked: After the Wall Street meltdown -- caused by deregulation measures that it supported -- what business does the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have telling us how to vote?
The U.S. Chamber has been given millions to fight against transparency, accountability and oversight of America's largest financial firms according to a report yesterday by the American Association for Accountability, a trial lawyers group.
In its brief, the association reports that the insurance giant American International Group (AIG) paid $23 million to the U.S. Chamber between 2001 and 2005. As it was going under last month, AIG was balied out by the Treasury Department -- e.g. the country's taxpayers.
The report Connelly is referring to is here (pdf), and details how AIG funded the Chamber's anti-oversight, anti-regulation efforts, getting us into this mess. These are the same people who bear direct responsiblity for the current economic meltdown -- they took $23 million directly from AIG to lobby for deregulation and reduced oversight and then lobbied hard in favor of the $700 billion bailout.
And now they're trying to scare Washington voters, lying to them telling them that Darcy Burner is going to raise their taxes. I think that pretty much defines despicable, considering that the bailout they lobbied for will actually cost every taxpaying household in America $5,300, by Paulson's estimate (and that was before the Senate's "enhancements"). Hell, even Reichert (a man not known for his mental acuity) was smart enough to know this could look pretty bad, and voted against final passage. But he's not going to refuse their help.
It'll be hard for Darcy to respond against this kind of money. Now might be a good time for the DCCC to consider going into debt (and twisting some arms to get that $14 million in unpaid dues) to help Darcy out. Obviously, protecting Reichert is a a huge priority for the Republicans. The DCCC should put an exclamation point on what is shaping up to be a real rout by Democrats by ensuring that the Chamber, the NFIB, the NRCC, and their poster boy Reichert are crushed in November.
On the Web:
Darcy Burner for Congress
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