Liar, liar, Armani pants on fire

Dear MoveOn member,

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is one of the most powerful right-wing lobbying groups in Washington. They're spending over $300,000 a day to kill health reform, clean energy, financial reform—you name it.¹

But now the Chamber has a big problem. A reporter recently discovered that they've been lying about how many members they have. For years, under Chamber CEO Tom Donohue, they've falsely claimed to have three million members, when the real number is closer to 200,000.²

When they exaggerate their membership, it exaggerates their power. So let's set the record straight. Everywhere we see the Chamber repeat the "3 million member" lie, we're going to call them out—starting with their Facebook page.

Go to the U.S. Chamber's Facebook page today and post a comment on their wall like this: "Stop lying about your members. The Chamber doesn't represent anywhere near 3 million businesses." Click here to post your comment:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85043&id=17752-10220574-2jD5gWx&t=1

To post a comment on the Chamber page, you first have to click "Become a fan" near the top of the page. Then, just type your comment into the box that says "Write something..." and click "Share." If you want, you can "un-fan" the Chamber immediately by clicking "Remove me from Fans" (towards the bottom of the left column, under the photos box).

The amazing thing about this controversy is that, after getting called on it, the Chamber admitted that the three million number is totally false.³

But that hasn't stopped Donohue from repeating the made-up number in press releases, on the official Chamber website, and even on their Facebook page.⁴

A lot of the Chamber's power comes from the false perception that they represent so many businesses. But in fact, they represent no more than about 1 percent of all businesses in America.⁵ This isn't a small, meaningless lie—it's a big, important lie that needs to be corrected.

Click here to post your comment:

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85043&id=17752-10220574-2jD5gWx&t=2

Thanks for all you do.

–Steven, Noah, Stephen, Anna, and the rest of the team 

Sources:

1. "U.S. Chamber Spent a Record $34.7 Million on Lobbying in Past 3 Months," The Wall Street Journal, October 19, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85026&id=17752-10220574-2jD5gWx&t=3

2. "The Chamber's Numbers Game," Mother Jones, October 13, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85045&id=17752-10220574-2jD5gWx&t=4

3. "Chamber Rejects Use of Term '3 Million Members,'" Mother Jones, October 23, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85030&id=17752-10220574-2jD5gWx&t=5

4. "U.S Chamber of Commerce: About Us," U.S. Chamber of Commerce website, accessed October 30, 2009
http://www.uschamber.com/about/default.htm

5. "Survey of Business Owners," U.S. Census Bureau, accessed October 30, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85048&id=17752-10220574-2jD5gWx&t=6

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PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. This email was sent to eddie alfaro on October 30, 2009. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.