Chamberwatch

=<a href="http://www.velvetrevolution.us/images/Chamber_amended_irs_complaint_10-14-10.pdf">http://www.velvetrevolution.us/images/Chamber_amended_irs_complaint_10-14-10.pdf</a>starr fdn<a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/">http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/</a>eg<div class="author" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="submitted" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;">Posted by Sam Jewler on January 13, 2014</div></div><h3 class="title" style="line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/tracking-the-chamber/alcoa-joins-gang-us-chamber-commerce-directors-trouble-over-fcpa-violations" title="Alcoa joins the gang of U.S. Chamber of Commerce directors in trouble over FCPA violations " style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">Alcoa joins the gang of U.S. Chamber of Commerce directors in trouble over FCPA violations</a></h3><div class="content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px; line-height: 22px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div id="node-596" class="node node-teaser node-type-blog" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 0px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(162, 189, 208);"><div class="node-inner" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><div class="author" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><div class="submitted" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;">Posted by Sam Jewler on January 09, 2014</div></div><h3 class="title" style="line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/tracking-the-chamber/whose-opportunity-us-chamber-commerce-talking-about" title="Whose Opportunity Is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Talking About?" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">Whose Opportunity Is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Talking About?</a></h3><div class="content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">Whose opportunity does U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue talk about when he talks about opportunity?The Chamber’s policies might give the largest corporations the opportunity to grow, but that is often not the same thing as growth and opportunity for the American people. After-tax corporate profits in the third quarter <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2013/12/20/how-to-measure-corporate-americas-huge-profits/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">topped 11 percent of GDP for the first time</a> since the records started in 1947. But everyday Americans aren’t doing so well, with <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/12/30/sheila-bairs-graph-of-the-year-for-many-americans-theres-been-no-recovery-at-all/" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">real median household income declining 4.4 percent since 2009</a>.When <a href="http://www.uschamber.com/issues/labor/minimum-wage" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">the Chamber opposes increasing minimum wages</a> to coincide with growth in productivity and the economy overall, one must ask whose growth and opportunity the Chamber is pushing for.<a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/tracking-the-chamber/whose-opportunity-us-chamber-commerce-talking-about" title="Read the whole post" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">More...</a></div><div class="terms terms-inline" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; display: inline;">Tags: <ul class="links inline" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px; list-style: square; border: 0px; display: inline; text-align: right;"><li class="taxonomy_term_511 first" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/2014" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">2014</a></li> <li class="taxonomy_term_513" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/growth" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">growth</a></li> <li class="taxonomy_term_106" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/jobs" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">Jobs</a></li> <li class="taxonomy_term_512" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/opportunity" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">opportunity</a></li> <li class="taxonomy_term_384" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/state-american-business" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">State of American Business</a></li> <li class="taxonomy_term_59" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/tom-donohue" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">Tom Donohue</a></li> <li class="taxonomy_term_93 last" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/us-chamber-commerce-0" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">U.S. Chamber of Commerce</a></li></ul></div></div></div><div id="node-595" class="node node-teaser node-type-blog" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 0px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(162, 189, 208);"><div class="node-inner" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><div class="author" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><div class="submitted" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;">Posted by Jake Parent on July 31, 2013</div></div><h3 class="title" style="line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/tracking-the-chamber/us-chamber-commerce-hits-1-billion-lobbying-milestone" title="The U.S. Chamber of Commerce hits $1 billion lobbying milestone" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">The U.S. Chamber of Commerce hits $1 billion lobbying milestone</a></h3><div class="content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">Ever wonder why our political system seems to be dominated by corporate interests?An <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/07/billion-dollar-baby-us-chamber-is-first-to-hit-lobbying-milestone.html" target="blank" class="external" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">excellent report just out from the Center for Responsive Politics</a> (CRP) helps shed light on that very question.Through some impressive tracking work, CRP showed that one of the biggest mouthpieces for Big Business – the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – has become the first organization to spend a total of $1 billion on lobbying since CRP started keeping track in 1998.In comparison, the report showed the next highest spender during that time was General Electric, at just shy of $294 million.Although this year so far has been slow for the U.S. Chamber (in terms of reported dollars spent on lobbying), the group’s spending has increased greatly since current President Tom Donohue took over the organization in 1997.The year after Donohue started leading the U.S. Chamber, the group spent just $17 million. By 2010, that number had risen to $157 million.The U.S. Chamber’s Agenda <a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/tracking-the-chamber/us-chamber-commerce-hits-1-billion-lobbying-milestone" title="Read the whole post" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">More...</a></div><div class="terms terms-inline" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; display: inline;">Tags: <ul class="links inline" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px; list-style: square; border: 0px; display: inline; text-align: right;"><li class="taxonomy_term_510 first" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/center-responsive-politics" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">Center for Responsive Politics</a></li> <li class="taxonomy_term_145" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/google" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">Google</a></li> <li class="taxonomy_term_491" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/jake-parent" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">Jake Parent</a></li> <li class="taxonomy_term_96" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/lobbying" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">lobbying</a></li> <li class="taxonomy_term_142" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/money-politics" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">money in politics</a></li> <li class="taxonomy_term_509" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/opensecrets" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">OpenSecrets</a></li> <li class="taxonomy_term_59 last" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/tom-donohue" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">Tom Donohue</a></li></ul></div></div></div><div id="node-594" class="node node-teaser node-type-blog" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 0px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(162, 189, 208);"><div class="node-inner" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><div class="author" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><div class="submitted" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;">Posted by Jake Parent on July 31, 2013</div></div><h3 class="title" style="line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/tracking-the-chamber/another-company-leaves-us-chamber-commerce-over-organizaitons-environmental-pol" title="Another company leaves the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over the organizaiton's environmental policies" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">Another company leaves the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over the organizaiton's environmental policies</a></h3><div class="content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">Construction firm Skanska on Tuesday became the latest in a string of members to leave the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over the organization’s regressive policies.This week we had great news when Skanska Corp. made the decision to depart the U.S. Chamber. The <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324867904578594152247691008.html" target="blank" class="external" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">U.S. Chamber is fighting new green construction standards</a> that the company supports. The U.S. Chamber was so determined to block these new standards that it helped start an advocacy group – the American High-Performance Buildings Coalition – dedicated to opposing them.Skanksa said in <a href="http://www.usa.skanska.com/News--Press/Display-news/?nid=NCtQrYPc" target="blank" class="external" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">its press release</a> that the U.S. Chamber was supporting the interests of a few status quo businesses – those who manufacture materials that would be banned under new rules – over those of companies that are bringing innovation to the building and construction industry.At least one member of the U.S. Chamber-backed advocacy group  said that the new rules would put jobs at risk. <a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/tracking-the-chamber/another-company-leaves-us-chamber-commerce-over-organizaitons-environmental-pol" title="Read the whole post" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">More...</a></div><div class="terms terms-inline" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; display: inline;">Tags: <ul class="links inline" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px; list-style: square; border: 0px; display: inline; text-align: right;"><li class="taxonomy_term_508 first" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/construction" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">construction</a></li> <li class="taxonomy_term_506" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/green-building-standards" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">Green building standards</a></li> <li class="taxonomy_term_491" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/jake-parent" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">Jake Parent</a></li> <li class="taxonomy_term_507" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/leed" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">LEED</a></li> <li class="taxonomy_term_505 last" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/skanska" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">Skanska</a></li></ul></div></div></div><div id="node-593" class="node node-teaser node-type-blog" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px 0px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(162, 189, 208);"><div class="node-inner" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><div class="author" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><div class="submitted" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;">Posted by Jake Parent on June 17, 2013</div></div><h3 class="title" style="line-height: 1.3; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/tracking-the-chamber/surprising-answer-google-its-membership-us-chamber-commerce" title="The surprising answer from Google on its membership in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">The surprising answer from Google on its membership in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce</a></h3><div class="content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; border: 0px;">It can be hard to get a big corporation to go on record about anything – much less something controversial.That’s why I was pleasantly surprised by the answer I got at Google’s annual shareholder meeting when I asked cofounder Larry Page why the company is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, <a href="http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/pressroomredirect.cfm?ID=3909" target="blank" class="external" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">an organization that has publicly opposed many of Google’s positions and interests</a>.After receiving applause for my question, Google’s head lawyer David Drummond – who was helping Page to answer questions – responded that the company’s membership in the U.S. Chamber is something senior leadership debates a lot. He added that while there are some things that the U.S. Chamber is good for, there is a lot of stuff it does that Google doesn’t agree with.He concluded by saying that, “while we are members for now, it’s something that we do review.”<a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/tracking-the-chamber/surprising-answer-google-its-membership-us-chamber-commerce" title="Read the whole post" rel="nofollow" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">More...</a></div><div class="terms terms-inline" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; display: inline;">Tags: <ul class="links inline" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px; list-style: square; border: 0px; display: inline; text-align: right;"><li class="taxonomy_term_502 first" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/david-drummond" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">David Drummond</a></li> <li class="taxonomy_term_145" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/google" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">Google</a></li> <li class="taxonomy_term_503" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/larry-page" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">Larry Page</a></li> <li class="taxonomy_term_504" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/sharholder-meeting" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">Sharholder meeting</a></li> <li class="taxonomy_term_66 last" style="margin: 0px 0px 7px; padding: 0px 0.5em; border: 0px; display: inline; list-style-type: none; background: none !important;"><a href="http://www.fixtheuschamber.org/us-chamber" rel="tag" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: none;">U.S. Chambe</a>r</li></ul></div></div></div></div>===defectors:

<table frame="VOID" cellspacing="0" cols="4" rules="NONE" border="0"><colgroup><col width="87" /><col width="211" /><col width="146" /><col width="1038" /></colgroup><tbody><tr><td style="border-top: 1px solid #000000; border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 3px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000" width="87" height="74" align="LEFT" valign="TOP" sdnum="1033;1033;General">CA</td><td style="border-top: 1px solid #000000; border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000" width="211" align="LEFT" valign="TOP" sdnum="1033;1033;General">Mountain View Chamber of Commerce</td><td style="border-top: 1px solid #000000; border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000" width="146" align="LEFT" valign="TOP" sdnum="1033;1033;General">Quit 6/10 kos</td><td style="border-top: 1px solid #000000; border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000" width="1038" align="LEFT" valign="TOP" sdnum="1033;1033;General">“As a progressive, I didn’t like what the U.S. Chamber was doing with respect to Climate legislation. Since then, it has really become clear that they are a dishonest lobbyist for the Republican platform…With the belt tightening that we’re undergoing as we prepare next fiscal year’s budget, it was an easy sell to the Board this morning to discontinue our membership. It was an unanimous vote. Effective July 1st of this year, the US Chamber of Commerce will have one fewer (or is it 700 fewer) members.”</td></tr><tr><td style="border-top: 1px solid #000000; border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 3px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000" height="56" align="LEFT" valign="TOP" sdnum="1033;1033;General">CA</td><td style="border-top: 1px solid #000000; border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000" align="LEFT" valign="TOP" sdnum="1033;1033;General">Pasadena Chamber of Commerce</td><td style="border-top: 1px solid #000000; border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000" align="LEFT" valign="TOP" sdnum="1033;1033;General">Denounced, not a U.S. Chamber member.</td><td style="border-top: 1px solid #000000; border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000" align="LEFT" valign="TOP" sdnum="1033;1033;General">“…the Pasadena chamber prefers to stay above the fray, and is not affiliated with either group. "Honestly, by design, we don't belong to either one, because they do things and take positions sometimes that are antithetical to what our members think," [Paul] Little said. "People are passionate on both sides, and we prefer not to alienate anybody.”</td></tr><tr><td style="border-top: 1px solid #000000; border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 3px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000" height="38" align="LEFT" valign="TOP" sdnum="1033;1033;General">CA</td><td style="border-top: 1px solid #000000; border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000" align="LEFT" valign="TOP" sdnum="1033;1033;General">San Francisco Chamber of Commerce</td><td style="border-top: 1px solid #000000; border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000" align="LEFT" valign="TOP" sdnum="1033;1033;General">Denounced</td><td style="border-top: 1px solid #000000; border-bottom: 1px solid #000000; border-left: 1px solid #000000; border-right: 1px solid #000000" align="LEFT" valign="TOP" sdnum="1033;1033;General">"We take a fundamentally different approach than the US Chamber," says Rob Black, its vice-president of public policy. He adds, "We don’t do a whole lot with the US Chamber. It’s just a loose federation of business organizations."</td></tr></tbody></table>==
Themis:

SEPTEMBER

On September 10, U.S. Chamber Watch files charges with the IRS that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce “violated tax codes by laundering millions of dollars meant for charitable work from a group with ties to the insurance giant AIG.”

September 10, 2010

Chamber of Commerce Accused of Tax Fraud

By ERIC LICHTBLA

WASHINGTON — With a war chest rivaling that of the Republican Party itself, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has emerged in the last year as perhaps the Obama administration’s most-well-financed rival on signature policy debates like health care and financial regulation.

Critics on the left have long complained about the chamber’s outsize influence. But now they are taking on the business association directly, charging in a complaint filed Friday with the Internal Revenue Service that it violated tax codes by laundering millions of dollars meant for charitable work from a group with ties to the insurance giant A.I.G.

The complaint was brought by a group called U.S. Chamber Watch, which was created four months ago — with the strong financial backing of labor unions — to scrutinize the Chamber of Commerce’s growing influence and provide a counterbalance.

But chamber officials said they had complied with all tax laws and dismissed the complaint as a political ploy.

A chamber spokeswoman, Tita Freeman, said its opponents “are desperately looking for opportunities to undermine the chamber’s efforts to promote free markets and economic growth.”

The I.R.S. refused to comment on the complaint, citing the confidentiality of taxpayer records.

I.R.S. regulators have often been wary of wading into political grievances, particularly after evidence emerged during the Watergate scandal that the Nixon White House had sought to use the agency for political purposes.

But in recent years the agency has occasionally gotten involved in politically tinged controversies. In one high-profile case in 2004, Republican complaints led it to open an investigation into the N.A.A.C.P.’s tax-exempt status after the group’s leader criticized President George W. Bush in a speech. The I.R.S. concluded two years later that the remarks did not violate the group’s nonprofit restrictions on political activity.

At issue in the complaint against the Chamber of Commerce is whether the group mixed funds for charitable and noncharitable political purposes in violation of tax codes.

The chamber, often using expensive mass-market radio and TV spots, has weighed in on many major public policy debates in recent months, including the Obama administration’s health care policy, business regulations, campaign finance laws and Internet rules, as well as job creation and the threat of tax hikes. On many issues, it has pushed for less government regulation in favor of free-market incentives.

Now the chamber’s political arm is turning to the November elections, and it expects to spend $50 million or more to push pro-business candidates, usually Republicans. As part of a wave of new commercials broadcast this week, the chamber’s California affiliate attacked Senator Barbara Boxer — a Democrat running for re-election against Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard — and accused Ms. Boxer of “destroying jobs” by voting against business.

Cyrus Mehri, a Washington lawyer who brought the I.R.S. complaint on behalf of U.S. Chamber Watch, said in an interview that the chamber’s current political activities were, in effect, being underwritten with money intended for charitable work.

The complaint focuses on loans and grants totaling about $18 million that were made beginning in 2003 to a nonprofit affiliate, the National Chamber Foundation, by the Starr Foundation, a charity started by the founder of A.I.G. and now led by Maurice R. Greenberg, the insurer’s former chairman.

Lawyers for Chamber Watch said their research, based largely on public tax filings, found that none of the principal on some $12 million in loans had been paid back and that the money appeared to have been given to the chamber’s foundation for unrestricted use.

The lawyers said that the money, in violation of nonprofit restrictions, was ultimately funneled to the chamber itself and used to finance broader political causes, including support for legal tort reform to shield companies like A.I.G. from liability. Mr. Greenberg himself had worked to promote restrictions on lawsuits, the complaint notes.

“You have millions of dollars improperly going to the chamber,” said Mr. Mehri, who drafted the complaint with Gail M. Harmon, a Washington lawyer specializing in tax law. “This is not a technical violation.”

But Stan Harrell, chief financial officer for the Chamber of Commerce, said in an interview Friday that the chamber’s lawyers and its accountants at Ernst & Young had reviewed the Starr Foundation funding and found that it complied with all relevant tax law.

“We’ve never had an issue, period,” Mr. Harrell said. He said that Chamber Watch, which was created by a federation of five unions called Change to Win, was simply trying to create trouble for the chamber because of its opposing political views.

“That’s democracy. From time to time, people make allegations,” he said. “If their real interest was proper accounting, they’d be talking to us. This is political.”

Mr. Harrell said that the funding from the Starr Foundation was listed in tax documents as a loan only in the most technical sense and that it was never intended to be paid back. Instead, he said, the money was restricted for long-term use on educational and research projects as part of the chamber’s capital plan and was invested by the chamber to ensure the Starr Foundation a set rate of return.

“We wanted to make sure we guaranteed the investment return,” he said. “Legally, that has to be represented as a loan. This was all done very scrupulously. If anything, we overdisclosed the transaction” in the group’s federal tax returns, he said.

OCTOBER

On October 5, ThinkProgress exposes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for directing foreign funds into the general account it uses for political expenditures to defeat progressive candidates.

On October 7, MoveOn, Public Citizen, and other progressive organizations protest the Chamber’s plan to spend $75 million against progressive candidates, and their lack of transparency over foreign money, in front of Chamber headquarters in Washington D.C.

NY AG goes after laundering:

Founded in 1967, NCF was created to provide in-depth analyses of critical economic and policy issues facing the nation. NCF has founded a number of programs to address emerging critical issues. In the early 1980?s, NCF established the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) in response to President Reagan’s Democracy Initiative. Today, CIPE continues to strengthen the democracy around the globe through private enterprise and market-oriented reform. It became a stand-alone affiliate of the U.S. Chamber in 1985.

During the next twenty years, NCF has founded several other programs including the Investment for Growth initiative (now the Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness) to response to the complex regulations of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2004, and the Intellectual Property initiative, which become the Global Intellectual Property Initiative (GIPC) in 2008.

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Margaret Spellings serves as Executive Vice President of NCF. In this capacity Spellings provides both strategic and ongoing management leadership to the Foundation, including critical support around the Chamber’s American Free Enterprise. Dream Big. campaign. Spellings joined the Chamber in April 2009 as a Senior Advisor to the President and CEO. Before this, Spellings served as Secretary of Education under President George W. Bush. Spellings previously served as Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy, where she aided in the development and passage of the NoChild Left Behind Act. Prior to this, she worked for six years as Senior Advisor to then-Governor Bush, developing and implementing the Governor’s education reforms. She continues to work as the President and CEO of Margaret Spellings and Company, a Washington, D.C.-based strategic and public policy consulting firm.

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