Foreign Funded Chamber of Commerce Pours Money into U.S. Elections

According to reporting
released today by Think Progress, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is
spending millions of dollars supporting the GOP in the 2010 Elections, collects
hundreds of thousands of dollars from foreign owned businesses, including
companies owned by foreign governments.

"It's no surprise that foreign owned companies are
interested in supporting Republicans," said Michael B. Keegan, President
of People For the American Way. "After all, Senate Republicans
voted in lockstep to block legislation that would have prevented foreign
corporations from using American companies as conduits for spending money in
our elections. The GOP voted to keep foreign money in elections and to
keep corporate money secret. Now companies owned by Abu
Dhabi and Russia
seem to be returning the favor."

According to a report
released last week by People For the American Way, the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce has already spent over $1 million in Colorado,
Florida, New Hampshire
on ads in each state, along with more than $800,000 in California,
$500,000 in Kentucky, $300,000 in Missouri, and $200,000 in Pennsylvania
and Indiana.
According to the Washington Post, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce "vows to
spend $75 million or more on November's midterm election cycle."

"Voters from both parties are sick and tired of the influence
that big money interests have in Washington,"
said Keegan. "We need to pass legislation like DISCLOSE so voters
can see who exactly it is that is trying to buy elections, and, ultimately, we
need to pass a constitutional amendment to fix this problem once and for
all. Voters should be well aware of which interests are already pulling
the strings for many of the candidates who are seeking their vote."