Freedom Line Blog

In an interview with CFIF, Bryan Goettel, Director of Communications for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring Our Heroes program, discusses the nationwide grassroots initiative to help veterans and military spouses find employment in the private sector.

Listen to the interview here.

Glenn Spencer, Executive Director of the Workforce Freedom Initiative at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, discusses his organization’s recent 50-state study highlighting labor and employment regulatory regimes and their impact on economic growth.

Listen to the interview here.

In this week’s Freedom Minute, CFIF’s Renee Giachino comments on the desperation tactics and outright lies of President Obama and his liberal allies against their political and ideological opponents. 

Below is one of the latest cartoons from two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Michael Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website here.

In an interview with the Center for Individual Freedom, U.S. Chamber Sr. VP Randel K. Johnson discusses President Obama’s controversial recess appointment of Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board and the negative implications for the business community and America’s job creators.

Listen to the interview here.

Eliot Spitzer doesn’t know when to quit. Laboring on the sidelines of political combat, the former New York Governor is out today with a plan to destroy the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Why? Because the corporate executives in its ranks disagree with Spitzer’s views on deregulation, tax and fiscal policy, global warming and environmental enforcement, consumer protection, health care reform, and probably just about everything else.

Of course, it would be one thing if Spitzer was just vying for a hyperlink to The Huffington Post with a screed against Wall Street. Unfortunately, he’s a got a plan to silence corporate America’s voice in Washington. Spitzer’s litigation strategy runs like this. The members of the Chamber are corporations (usually) owned by the public. Some of the most influential public stockholders are state government pension funds controlled by a state’s comptroller. In an effort to get publicly owned companies “out of politics,” Spitzer advises that when a state comptroller concludes that “the Chamber of Commerce has a distorted view of both economic and political policy” the comptroller should demand that every company in which the pension fund owns stock drop its membership in the Chamber. And if the CEO doesn’t agree? Pressure the board to drop the Chamber membership.

Just one problem. With the economy in a recession, and state pension funds trying to deliver on outrageous union contracts, does Spitzer really believe that an elected official like a comptroller would “demand” a series of actions specifically designed to weaken a corporation’s ability to make money? Surely Spitzer realizes that the primary motivation for most of the Chamber of Commerce’s policy positions is a desire to increase profits, and thereby dividends? No doubt there is at least one state elected official willing to apply Spitzer’s litigation strategy to grab headlines and perhaps a higher political perch. As usual, though, the people worst effected by such a move would be the same folks for whom Spitzer claims he’s suing to empower.