U.S. Chamber adds to confusion

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce isn't doing community chambers of commerce any favors these days.

In case you missed it, the U.S. Chamber has weighed in against any meaningful health care reform, battling administration and congressional initiatives with a blizzard of television commercials.

By doing so, it has confused plenty of folks about just who is what in the world of chambers of commerce.

So let's clarify the situation a bit.

The Jay County Chamber of Commerce is a locally-focused organization of businesses promoting growth of the local economy. As such, it offers business training and organizes promotional events such as A Taste of Jay County, the county expo, and last week's downtown Portland merchants' trick-or-treat night.

Politics are the furthest thing from its core mission, except in those rare instances when business needs a local advocate on policy matters such as the Economic Development Income Tax.

The Indiana Chamber of Commerce is a different entity completely, and we'd guess that only a small minority of Jay County Chamber members also belong to the Indiana Chamber. (Full disclosure: The Graphic Printing Co. is a member of the Indiana Chamber in order to get a price break on employee health insurance.)

While the local chamber is promoting business, the state chamber is lobbying the Indiana General Assembly. Its stances have been aggressively pro-business and anti-union, and its leadership has been a fierce opponent of the Indiana State Teachers Association and a harsh critic of public education.

Needless to say, not every state chamber member shares those views.

And there's absolutely no reason to connect those views with rank-and-file members of the local chamber.

As if that weren't confusing enough, the U.S. Chamber focuses on lobbying Congress and its views are even more conservative than the Indiana Chamber. Its membership is also far more narrow.

Nationally, the U.S. Chamber is viewed as the voice of big business; it's a far cry from the Main Street merchant in the local chamber.

But that hasn't stopped it from presenting itself as the voice of the little guy in the health care debate, blurring the lines and doing a disservice to local chambers that provide the backbone to small town business communities all over the country. - J.R.[[In-content Ad]]