SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
For Immediate Release
September, 08 2020, 12:00am EDT
Contact:
Dani Heffernan:,dani@350action.org
Climate Justice Group Launches Effort Urging Candidates To Return Contributions From MN Chamber of Commerce
Calling the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce's record on climate "an assault on Minnesota values," the climate advocacy group MN350 Action today announced a campaign to pressure 14 legislative candidates to return campaign donations from the Chamber.
Minnesota
Calling the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce's record on climate "an assault on Minnesota values," the climate advocacy group MN350 Action today announced a campaign to pressure 14 legislative candidates to return campaign donations from the Chamber.
"The Chamber of Commerce trumpets itself as a friend to Minnesota's business community. And it spends millions of dollars on lobbying to buy access and influence at the Capitol" said MN350 Action Communications Director Brett Benson. "But Minnesotans know the climate crisis jeopardizes business every day. The Chamber really is little more than a mouthpiece for one particularly destructive business, Big Oil. It's time our candidates recognize that if they're taking donations from the Chamber, they're taking dirty money. We call on them to give it back."
MN350 Action last week sent letters to 12 Republican and two Democratic incumbents who the MN Campaign Finance Board says have accepted contributions ranging from $250 to $500 from the Chamber this election cycle. All are running to retain their seats in the state House or Senate. The relatively small amounts still "send precisely the wrong message and erode trust among the growing numbers of voters and constituents for whom protecting our climate for future generations is a primary concern," the letter said.
One incumbent candidate, Sen. Melissa Wiklund of SD 50 in Bloomington and Richfield, has returned the $250 her campaign received from the Chamber in February after MN350 Action contacted her last month. The largest recipient of contributions from the MN Chamber this year was state Sen. Erik Simonson of Duluth. He was resoundingly defeated in the August primary by an opponent who supports strengthening climate protections.
The remaining 14 candidates who've accepted Chamber donations are:
Tony Albright, R-House District 55B (Prior Lake, Jordan); Michelle Benson, R-Senate District 31 (Ham Lake, East Bethel); Rich Draheim, R-SD 20 (Northfield, New Prague); Kent Eken, D-SD 4 (Moorhead, Detroit Lakes); Barbara Haley, R-HD 21A (Red Wing, Cannon Falls); Jeff Howe, R-SD 13 (Sartell, Sauk Rapids); John Jasinski, R-SD24 (Owatonna, Faribault); Jon Koznick, R-HD 58A (Lakeville); Jim Nash, R-HD 47A (Waconia, Watertown); Carla Nelson, R-SD 26 (Rochester, Stewartville); Marion O'Neill, R-HD 29B (Buffalo, Monticello); Kristin Robbins, R-HD 34A (Maple Grove, Rogers); Joe Schomacker, R-HD 22A (Pipestone, Slayton); Daniel Sparks, D-SD 27 (Austin, Albert Lea).
MN350 Action volunteer Kayla Heinze called out Eken and Sparks in particular for breaking with the Democratic National Committee, which recently strengthened its stance on climate issues.
"Democratic candidates who position themselves as friends of the climate justice movement should especially feel ashamed about the hypocrisy of accepting campaign contributions from the Chamber," said Heinze, a 20-year-old college student who grew up in Plymouth, MN. "For young voters, who will play a critical role in the state's election, that's beyond disheartening. Candidates in Minnesota who profess to love our abundant natural resources and promise to preserve them for current and future generations cannot in good faith take money that ties their interests to the Chamber of Commerce. That's an assault on Minnesota values. We want our state and our leaders to take bolder action to protect our environment and decrease the influence of fossil fuel companies."
According to the Campaign Finance Board, the Chamber spent $6.5 million on lobbying in Minnesota from 2017 to 2019. That amount is second only to Enbridge Energy's $19.8 million over the same period.
In 2019 the Chamber lobbied against Gov. Tim Walz's proposal to transition Minnesota to 100% clean energy by 2050. This year, it lobbied against the Energy Conservation and Optimization Act, which passed with bipartisan support in the Minnesota House. The Chamber also has been a longtime supporter of Enbridge's massive Line 3 tar sands pipeline.
MN350 Action's announcement comes as climate groups nationwide have launched a campaign exposing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's support of far-right candidates who want to limit environmental protections intended to halt climate damage.
"It is clear that both the national and Minnesota chambers do not represent the interests of business owners or everyday voters in their lobbying efforts," Benson said. "We urge candidates in our state to cut ties with the Chamber as a step to returning power to Minnesotans and building an environmentally just future for everyone."
350 Action is the independent political action arm of the non-profit, non-partisan climate justice group 350.org.
LATEST NEWS
'Unconscionable and Impeachable': Experts Appalled at Report of Marco Rubio Acting as Venezuela 'Viceroy'
"Trump has turned Venezuela into an effective US colony," said one critic.
Jul 11, 2026
Some critics of the Trump administration are reacting with horror to revelations that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been serving as the de facto ruler of Venezuela.
According to a Saturday report in The New York Times, Rubio for the last several months has been acting informally as the "viceroy" of Venezuela ever since its recognized president, Nicolás Maduro, was abducted by the American military in January and brought to the US to face charges related to "narco-terrorism."
The Times' sources revealed that Rubio "effectively controls Venezuela’s finances, the distribution of its natural resources, and its government" and "is deeply involved in the country’s day-to-day operations," while maintaining regular contact with acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez.
Under current arrangements, the US Treasury Department takes in revenue from Venezuela's exports, including its petroleum, and then disperses the money back to the country through its private banks with strict conditions set by Rubio over what it can be spent on.
In explaining the system, the Times likened it to "parents handing out allowances to children," adding that it gives Rubio "immense leverage over... Rodríguez, who depends on the money to pay workers and prop up the national currency."
Elizabeth Saunders, professor of political science at Columbia University, described Rubio's power over Venezuela as "insane," as well as "derelict, unconscionable, and impeachable."
"The secretary of state's time is scarce, valuable, and not outsourcable," Saunders emphasized.
Orlando J. Pérez, professor of Political Science at the University of North Texas at Dallas, said the Times report made a mockery of Rubio's professed claims to want to bring democracy back to Venezuela.
"It appears Rubio has transformed from democracy promotion warrior," Pérez commented, "to transactional realpolitik operative!"
Kenneth Roth, former executive director at Human Rights Watch, wrote that US control over Venezuela appeared similar to the kind of imperial power wielded by European nations in the 19th Century.
"Trump has turned Venezuela into an effective US colony," said Roth, "with Marco Rubio as the viceroy and Washington controlling the country’s oil revenue and dictating major foreign and domestic policies. Democracy has been relegated to the distant future."
Bradley Simpson, historian at the University of Connecticut, also saw the current US arrangement with Venezuela as a return to overt imperialism.
"We are literally back in the Dollar Diplomacy days of the 1910s," Simpson wrote, "when the United States invaded countries and took over their financial systems and ran them as effective colonies. Flagrantly illegal, enormously corrupt. Where is the organization of American states or UN in denouncing this?"
Keep ReadingShow Less
Machine Gun-Toting Israeli Settlers Detain Ro Khanna During Trip to Occupied West Bank
"These hoodlums come in with machine guns—M4, an American-made machine gun—and they detain us. They block off the road."
Jul 11, 2026
Rep. Ro Khanna this week was detained by a group of Israeli settlers whom he described as "hoodlums... with machine guns" while making a visit to a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank.
In an interview with Reuters published on Saturday, Khanna (D-Calif.) said he and his tour group were surrounded by armed settlers as they were traveling through the West Bank on Wednesday.
"We were at a village that Israeli settlers had destroyed, they had destroyed the school, they had destroyed that village, and we were just looking at it," said Khanna. "And these hoodlums come in with machine guns—M4, an American-made machine gun—and they detain us. They block off the road."
The California Democrat said that the settlers called in members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to help them deal with him and his group.
"The IDF is on their side," Khanna remarked, "not on the side of the Americans."
Cameron Kasky, an aide to Khanna, told Reuters that the group was held for over an hour before officials whom he believed to be police intervened and secured their release.
The IDF told Reuters that both military troops and police officers dispersed the settlers who had set up a roadblock near the small Palestinian village of Khirbet Zanuta.
Khanna wasn't the only American to have a run-in with Israeli settlers this week, as CNN reported that four settlers attacked groups of journalists, including CNN reporters and crew, who were traveling through an area north of the Palestinian city of Ramallah on Saturday.
As the journalists were driving, four settlers blocked off the road with their cars and began attacking the reporters' vehicles with wooden clubs and metal rods.
"The settlers then began to jump on the vehicle behind CNN's—carrying another group of journalists—and smashed the windshield of that vehicle," the network reported. "Another group of settlers tried to block a separate exit route before chasing the journalists towards the town of Sinjil."
Israeli police arrived on the scene and arrested four settlers who were allegedly responsible for the attacks, CNN reported.
"The Israel Police and the IDF view any manifestation of violence or causing damage to property very seriously," the Israeli officers said after the arrests, "especially when it concerns media personnel performing their work."
Israeli settlers for years have carried out violent attacks on Palestinians living in the West Bank, and witnesses have regularly described IDF soldiers at the scene either standing by as the attacks occur or even actively helping the attackers.
In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that claims about settler violence have been "blown up beyond belief," describing attacks as being carried out by a small number of "juvenile delinquents."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Should Shock the Conscience': Trump Admin Escalates War on Press With Subpoena of New York Times Reporters
"This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs."
Jul 11, 2026
The Trump administration on Friday escalated its war with the press by subpoenaing several reporters at The New York Times days after the paper published a story on Wednesday that detailed security concerns about the luxury jet the Qatari government gave to President Donald Trump.
According to the Times, the subpoenas are attempting to force reporters to testify before a federal grand jury in Manhattan on Wednesday next week, a move that the paper describes as an "extraordinary escalation in President Trump’s efforts to threaten and intimidate independent news organizations."
The issued subpoenas do not specifically name the Times' reporting on the Qatari jet as the reason for the grand jury probe, although they were given to all four journalists—Tyler Pager, Julian Barnes, Eric Schmitt, and Eric Lipton—who reported the story.
Additionally, the Times noted, a senior official at the FBI had asked the paper to hold off publishing its story on the jet before it came out on Wednesday, citing unspecified national security concerns about its content.
David McCraw, the top attorney representing the Times' newsroom, denounced the subpoenas as an attack on the freedom of the press.
"The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects," said McGraw. “This brazen act should be seen as nothing more than an attempt to prevent the public from knowing what is happening in their country by intimidating journalists from doing their jobs."
It is highly uncommon for government investigators to subpoena journalists when they are probing national security leaks, as such actions are generally seen as having a chilling effect on reporters’ ability to gather information.
Rick Stengel, former under secretary of state for President Barack Obama, said that the Times' reporting on the Qatari jet, whose security upgrades are being financed with US tax dollars, is completely within the scope of constitutional protections for press freedom.
"The reporting that the Times journalists have been subpoenaed for is exactly the kind of journalism the First Amendment is designed to protect: matters involving national security and taxpayer dollars," wrote Stengel in a Saturday social media post. "Reporting that embarrasses a president is protected speech."
Fox News chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin also denounced the Trump administration for trying to drag reporters into a grand jury investigation.
"This action by the US government to subpoena reporters for reporting legitimate news on security concerns about Air Force One should alarm every American," Griffin wrote.
Seth Stern, chief of advocacy for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, accused the Trump administration of abusing government power not to defend national security, but to protect the president from personal humiliation.
"We've long said that when the government claims it needs to investigate journalists to protect national security, it really means its own reputational security," said Stern. "This is as clear an example as you can get. The administration's embarrassment that it reportedly charged taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars to retrofit a flying bribe that still isn't secure enough for hostile times does not supersede the need for a free and independent press."
This is the second time in recent weeks that the Trump administration has tried to subpoena reporters to compel their testimony in grand jury investigations.
In June, the US Department of Justice issued subpoenas for national security reporters at The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal related to national security leaks.
Subpoenas against both news organizations were withdrawn after they issued legal challenges in sealed filings.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular