Ed Schultz and Joan Walsh discuss the report from Think Progress on the US Chamber of Commerce and the source of some of their funding being used for political attack ads, much of which they claim is coming from foreign donors. The Chamber denies this, and their spokesman said that no foreign funds are being used to pay for political activities.
As Joan Walsh noted, wherever they're getting their money, these conservative organizations are not looking out for the interests of the working class, but huge national and multi-national corporations instead.
You can read the report from Think Progress here -- Exclusive: Foreign-Funded ‘U.S.’ Chamber Of Commerce Running Partisan Attack Ads:
In recent years, the Chamber has become very aggressive with its fundraising, opening offices abroad and helping to found foreign chapters (known as Business Councils or “AmChams”). While many of these foreign operations include American businesses with interests overseas, the Chamber has also spearheaded an effort to raise money from foreign corporations, including ones controlled by foreign governments. These foreign members of the Chamber send money either directly to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, or the foreign members fund their local Chamber, which in turn, transfers dues payments back to the Chamber’s H Street office in Washington DC. These funds are commingled to the Chamber’s 501(c)(6) account which is the vehicle for the attack ads.
As Sam Stein reported at the Huffington Post, MoveOn is asking that the DOJ look into the matter -- MoveOn Asks DoJ To Launch Criminal Investigation Of Chamber's Funding:
The Democratic Party's infrastructure responded with noticeable alarm on Tuesday to a report that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce may be funding its political efforts with foreign donations. [...]
On Tuesday afternoon, the progressive advocacy group MoveOn.org honed in on that element of the report, sending a letter to the Department of Justice's Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, urging him and the criminal division to launch an investigation into the matter.
