More About the Chamber of Commerce and Climate Change

Dear Trial Lawyers: I still haven’t seen you guys take this ball and run with it.  Quit being arrogant, avaricious, and ignorant and start exploiting the enemy’s biggest weakness.

Likewise, the administration's affinity for dealing with front-line corporate players subtly tilts the playing field. Other business associations – notably the CEO-heavy Business Roundtable– weigh in on many of the same issues as the chamber. But Ivan Seidenberg, the roundtable chairman, is also the CEO of Verizon. And when John Castellani, the roundtable president, shows up at the White House, he brings CEOs who head the group's individual issues committees.

"We probably learn more from the Business Roundtable, because the people who come in are wearing two hats, whereas mostly the chamber comes in with Tom Donohue and the appropriate staff person as opposed to their members," Jarrett said.

When Donohue talks of lobbying, he speaks of the constitutionally protected right to petition the government for redress of grievances. The Obama administration, however, casts lobbying as emblematic of a dysfunctional Washington culture that profits "special interests" at the expense of "the people."

Source: 'Change' puts U.S. Chamber of Commerce on the spot - USATODAY.com