POLITICS - What China Buys, the GOP

"What Would China Pay to Make John Boehner Speaker and to Give the GOP Power Again?" by Howie Klein, Huffington Post 10/6/2010

Communist China knows who its friends are -- and it goes beyond just Ron Johnson who loves the Chinese slave labor model so much that he seems likely to move there if Russ Feingold manages to beat him in November. When Tim Ryan (D-OH) introduced legislation to prevent China from continuing the systematic currency manipulation that has cost Americans hundreds of thousands of jobs, it was lobbyist owned-John Boehner and his entire leadership team -- Eric Cantor, Mike Pence, David Dreier, Paul Ryan, Pete Sessions -- who took the side of the Chinese against America. Even Boehner's own caucus was horrified and most Republicans deserted Boehner and his Communist Chinese allies and crossed the aisle to vote with the Democrats and, for a change, the interests of ordinary American working families. Yesterday, Think Progress broke the story on just how China and other foreign interests are going about taking over the U.S. government -- using the easily manipulated Republicans and their reactionary allies at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. [The FEC has been asked to investigate.]

The largest attack campaign against Democrats this fall is being waged by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a trade association organized as a 501(c)(6) that can raise and spend unlimited funds without ever disclosing any of its donors... The Chamber's spending has dwarfed every other issue group and most political party candidate committee spending. A ThinkProgress investigation has found that the Chamber funds its political attack campaign out of its general account, which solicits foreign funding. And while the Chamber will likely assert it has internal controls, foreign money is fungible, permitting the Chamber to run its unprecedented attack campaign. According to legal experts consulted by ThinkProgress, the Chamber is likely skirting longstanding campaign finance law that bans the involvement of foreign corporations in American elections.

In recent years, the Chamber has become very aggressive with its fundraising, opening offices abroad and helping to found foreign chapters (known as Business Councils or "AmChams"). While many of these foreign operations include American businesses with interests overseas, the Chamber has also spearheaded an effort to raise money from foreign corporations, including ones controlled by foreign governments. These foreign members of the Chamber send money either directly to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, or the foreign members fund their local Chamber, which in turn, transfers dues payments back to the Chamber's H Street office in Washington DC. These funds are commingled to the Chamber's 501(c)(6) account which is the vehicle for the attack ads...

There are many reasons foreign corporations are seeking to defeat Democratic candidates this November. The Chamber has repeatedly sent out issue alerts attacking Democratic efforts to encourage businesses to hire locally rather than outsource to foreign counties. The Chamber has also bitterly fought Democrats for opposing unfettered free trade deals. To galvanize foreign businesses, the Chamber has commissioned former Ambassador Frank Lavin -- who served as the McCain-Palin Asia campaign director and has appeared on television multiple times recently saying a Democratic Congress is bad for business -- to speak before various foreign Chamber affiliates to talk about the stakes for the 2010 midterm elections.

Meanwhile, wonderers are wondering if the lobbyist Boehner has been romantically linked to (although this has not been substantiated enough for the respectable press to report on) -- who lobbies for PRINTING companies, always looking for cheap coated paper (which China has been DUMPING into the U.S. market) -- has had anything to do with Boehner having sold out the paper companies in his own district, costing hundreds of local jobs. I think this story will be breaking by the end of the week. We've been talking with some of the paper industry locals who weren't aware of the foreign money flooding into the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to help the GOP capture Congress but are very aware of Boehner's disgraceful behavior when it came to saving American jobs. Remember, when senior Ohio Republicans Mike Turner and Steven LaTourette signed onto a July 28 letter to President Obama urging him to look into illegal Chinese subsidies of the coated paper dumping Boehner's girlfriend lobbyists was pumping for-- so to speak -- Boehner opposed it.

Arab money, Communist Chinese money, Russian money... every shady government on earth would like to see John Boehner and the GOP in control of Congress... and thanks to a corrupt, corporate Supreme Court ruling they are flooding cash into the political system to make sure they get what they want. Inserting implausible laughing stocks inside the U.S. government -- clowns like Rand Paul, Christine O'Donnell, Daniel "Taliban Dan" Webster, Sharron Angle, Joe Miller, Linda McMahon, Ken Buck, Carly Fiorina, Mike Lee, Marco Rubio, and, of course, their very own Ron Johnson -- would be a dream come true for this country's enemies.

NYTimes Notices All Those Yuan And Rubles Showing Up At Ad Agencies

Probably too late to stop now, but the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is clearly a criminal enterprise that should be shut down.

For at least 44 years, it has been illegal for foreign corporations, countries and individuals to make political contributions in the United States for any election, either directly or indirectly. It is even against the law to solicit such contributions. But in this Wild West year of political money, that longstanding ban is being set aside. The United States Chamber of Commerce -- one of the biggest advertisers in midterm races around the country -- is actively soliciting foreign money, and government enforcers seem to be doing nothing to stop it.

The government needs to make sure that the tax code -- and American control of American elections -- is not being violated.

What can we do as citizens? If you see an ad by the Chamber of Commerce, understand that it's being funded by another country with interests antithetical to our own. If the ad is anti-Candidate A, vote for that candidate. Keep China from taking over America through John Boehner.