US Chamber's Influence and Credibility on the Decline

The US Chamber's Credibility Crisis deepened Monday as the federation's extremist position on climate change further eroded its credibility and influence, made it the object of a prank news event and highlighted the US Chamber's hypocrisy on the climate issue.

The day started with an in-depth Politico report discussing White House plans to:

[G]o around the group and [deal] directly with the CEOs of major U.S. corporations,

because:

"We prefer the approach - particularly in this climate - where the actual people who are on the front lines, running businesses, trying to create jobs, come and advise us on policy," senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett told POLITICO in a not-so-subtle effort to portray the Chamber as out of touch with business reality.

What effect is this having on the Chamber's influence? As Politico continues,

And even some lobbyists are distancing themselves from the business group, opting not to sign on to letters put out by the Chamber or participate in joint advocacy efforts.

"They've taken a real hit this year," said a prominent Democratic lobbyist who spoke on background because he has associates at the group. "In the White House and on the Hill, among the people who run things, they are radioactive."

And it's not just businesses. We've raised the question about the US Chamber's representation of local Chambers before. Looks like we're not the only ones. As Politico reported,

"They are totally disconnected from the local chambers in my district," said California Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman. "They're blissfully unaware of any position taken by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce."

Even one of the Chamber's top lobbyists, Bruce Josten, told the Washington Post that "he has less real access to Obama's chief aides than he had during any previous administration."

One reason for the Chamber's decline may be the result of what the Chamber's positioning communicates to businesses and lawmakers alike. As Patrick Griffin, a former lobbyist and current director for the Public Affairs and Advocacy Institute in the School of Government at American University told NPR this morning: 

"What the chamber represents and  how they do business in Washington [represents] a kind of status quo old style."

In contrast, the identities of the corporations leaving the Chamber and criticizing its position on climate change identities are:

"[I]nextricably linked to what's possible through American enterprise as opposed to let's just kind of protect our own."

The Chamber's recalcitrant attitude on climate policy hasn't made it a target only for forward-looking companies, lawmakers and the executive branch. Yesterday an activist group known for staging theatrical stunts to highlight corporate conduct issues staged a fake news conference, pretending to be the US Chamber issuing a mea culpa on climate and stating that it would henceforth support the Boxer-Kerry bill starting to work its way through the Senate. TPM, Watthead, GetEnergySmartNow, ThinkProgress HuffPost has the story and some video, including the clash between the fake and real Chamber.

The Chamber's widely-reported statement about the incident sniffed, "Public relations hoaxes undermine the genuine effort to find solutions on the challenge of climate change."

That's an odd complaint for the US Chamber to make, since it has a rich history of using misinformation to undermine genuine efforts to find solutions. You don't have to take my word for it - just read the letter PG&E sent to the Chamber decrying its "obstructionist tactics", "extreme rhetoric" and "disingenuous attempts to diminish or distort the reality of these challenges."

PG&E isn't making anything up. For example the US Chamber is guilty of:

• Science denial: ThinkProgress posted an excellent run-down of the US Chamber's and local Chamber's efforts to keep the science denial industry alive and well. Hey US Chamber, how does presenting clowns like Glenn Beck and Steven Milloy (who vouched for tobacco before he vouched for climate polluters) and Steven Hayward (who offered $10,000 to IPCC scientists if they would criticize the IPCC's findings) support genuine efforts to find solutions?
• Misinforming local Chambers and members about the impacts of climate policy: In mid-September, members of local Chambers of Commerce were treated to a missive packing just about every piece of misinformation about climate policy into one email. The lead "fact" was the totally fabricated claim that climate legislation will cost American families $1,761 in new taxes, a figure first touted by blogger Declan McCullough. But that claim was subsequently shown to be false by Politifact among others. Nevertheless, the Chamber email asked recipients to "become involved and to voice your opinion on this issue."
  
  Which prompts me to ask of the Chamber, how is spreading misinformation - a hoax, if you will - that contributes to finding solutions?
• Misinforming local businesses and elected officials about the science and implications of climate policy: As I mentioned in an earlier post, the US Chamber has sponsored a lengthy series of "Climate Dialogues" orchestrated through the Chamber front-group Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth. In more than a dozen climate "dialogues" the Chamber events presented questionable presentations on the science as well as on the costs, relying on presenters from NAM and the Heritage Foundation. But these studies tend to be heavily skewed to show poor results - for example, the Heritage Foundation laughable analyses don't even model the legislation that it claims to represent. EDF caved up NAM's most recent economic exaggeration too.

Hey, if the Chamber is saying it is ready to stop using hoaxes, misinformation and deception to wage its war against clean energy for the US, well that would be a big turnaround. One that we'd all like to see. And that's no joke.

US Chamber's Climate Credibilty Crisis Counter:

Quit US Chamber over climate:  Apple, Exelon, PNM Resources, PG&E, PSEG, Levi Strauss & Co, San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.

Quit US Chamber Board over climate: Nike.

Companies that say the US Chamber doesn't represent their views on climate: Johnson&Johnson, General Electric, Alcoa, Duke, Entergy, Microsoft, Toyota(?), Royal Dutch Shell,.Seventh Generation

Editorials and columns noting that the US Chamber is damaging its reputation and credibility: BusinessWeek, PRWeek, Fortune Magazine's Marc Gunther, Newsweek, LA Times, Washington Post.   

Local Chambers distancing themselves from the US Chamber: San Jose Chamber of Commerce, Greater New York Chamber of Commerce.

This post originally appeared on NRDC's Switchboard blog.

Comments

[realpolitic]

Fact:

The world's most respected scientific bodies have stated unequivocally that global warming is occurring, and people are causing it by burning fossil fuels (like coal, oil, and natural gas) and cutting down forests. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences, which in 2005 the White House called "the gold standard of objective scientific assessment," issued a joint statement with 10 other National Academies of Science saying:

"The scientiifc understanding of climate change is now sufficiently clear to justify nations taking prompt action. it is vital that all nations identify cost-effective steps that they can take now, to contribute to substantial and long-term reduction in net global greenhouse gas emissions."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/users/profile/realpolitic?action=comments

No propaganda in the world can change this reality!

[Richard2]

The new Pew Survey and Harris Poll indicate that the majority of Americans do not think man-made global warming is real. Only 37% think it is real.

These two sources also indicate that the percent who think that man-made global warming is real is steadily shrinking, and the majority that does not think global warming is real is steadily growing.

It would appear that the positions of the Chamber of Commerce are closer to the views of the majority than the minority, and that as the majority continues to grow, the Chamber's credibility should be growing, not declining.

[realpolitic]

The poll really breaks down bewteen conservatives and liberals. Those with a liberal bent believe the scientific evidence on climate change and thus with a conservative bent ignore it. Conservatives go so far as to believe it is patriotic to burn coal like in "drill, baby drill!" Consider....

"While three-quarters of Democrats believe the evidence of a warming planet is solid, and nearly half believe the problem is serious, far fewer conservative and moderate Democrats see the problem as grave. Fifty-seven percent of Republicans say there is no solid evidence of global warming, up from 31 percent in early 2007."

Well, Republicans who turn to Fox News and AM radio for their information are misinformed about everything these days. The same percentage of conservatives who do not believe in warming also think Obama was born in Kenya, and that the government is creating death panels for grannies. They sort of inhabit a different planet anyway!

[realpolitic]

Misspelled "between"!

[realpolitic]

Here's how companies responded to the Chamber of Commerse nonsense about denying climate climate change...

From PG&E’s statement:

PG& E Chairman and Chief Executive Peter Darbee wrote that company employees “find it dismaying that the Chamber neglects the indisputable fact that a decisive majority of experts have said the data on global warming are compelling and point to a threat that cannot be ignored.”

From Exelon’s statement:

Exelon has staked out an industry-leading position on the issue of climate change and, in the spirit of Daniel Burnham, we have launched our own “not so little plan” to eliminate the equivalent of our entire carbon footprint by the year 2020. I do not know if it will stir men’s souls, but I hope it will stir policymakers and others in our industry to action.


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