Recently, more and more Local Chambers of Commerce have been publicly distancing themselves from their parent trade group, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They're unhappy with many of the 'big business' policies the U.S. Chamber is supporting. Which begs the question: if the Chamber isn't representing the interests of the members of their Local Chambers, whose interests are they representing?

A New York Times article published on Monday helps shed some light. Reporter Anne Mulkern looked at documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service last month, finding that 19 supporters last year provided a third of the Chamber's total revenue. From the NY Times article:

Documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service this month show the chamber drew its 2008 funding heavily from a small group of contributors, with each paying more than $1 million. Within that set, some gave very large sums. One company or person provided the chamber with $15.3 million last year, an amount more than 10 percent of the influence group's $147 million revenues. Another gave $8.2 million, and a third $2.9 million.

A Chamber spokesperson assures us that "a specific company's giving does not impact the position we take on an issue."

But let's look at the numbers here. In the third quarter alone, the Chamber spent $34.7 million lobbying on a variety of issues: financial regulation reform, health care reform, mandated paid sick leave, and clean energy reform, to name just a few. That's over $300,000 a day.

The Times' article also proposes this scenario: that companies donate millions of dollars because they want to have the Chamber focused on driving their agenda--without having their name attached to it. Chamber President Thomas Donohue said it himself, when discussing the trade group's lobbying efforts several days ago: "People seem to listen to you more...when you've got a bagful of cash."