NY probes Chamber of Commerce political funding

Source: Press TV

The New York Attorney General has launched an investigation to determine if organizations are secretly channeling money to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to be used to impact political campaigns.


The tax-exempt chamber is a major player in U.S. politics, but not required to disclose the identities of its donors. AG Eric Schneiderman yesterday issued a subpoena to officials of a foundation affiliated with the chamber, seeking emails and bank records to determine if the foundation illegally funneled $18 million to the chamber for political and lobbying activities, sources tell the New York Times.


Investigators are examining grants totaling $19 million from the philanthropic Starr Foundation-which is based in New York-to the chamber's National Chamber Foundation, which loaned the Chamber of Commerce $18 million during the same period of time.


Though the money was supposed to be used for a "capital campaign," watchdog groups say the funds financed lobbying for “tort reform” legislation in Congress and to run largely anti-Democrat issue ads in the 2004 presidential and congressional campaigns.

Read more: http://www.presstv.com/usdetail/248240.html

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I actually noticed this on the Bloomberg News ticker but cannot find their link.