VideoFrom his office on the fourth floor of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce building in Washington, D.C., Thomas Donohue commands a grand view of Lafayette Park, abloom with flowers, and, beyond that, glimmering in the sun, the White House. On his desk, Donohue keeps a blunt reminder of what it takes to maintain such a view: a small plaque that says "Show Me the Money."
Having spent nearly a decade at the helm of the organization, Donohue has emerged as an undisputed master of both raising and spending money. His fund-raising prowess has remade remade the Chamber into the richest, most powerful, and arguably most successful business lobby in the United States. As the Chamber's coffers have swelled, so too has its agenda, which now includes everything from scaling back Sarbanes-Oxley to battling the Securities and Exchange Commission to promoting U.S. business in China, assessing the state of the country's public-education system, and waging legal battles in state and federal courts.
Donohue loves a good fight, and his fans applaud his ability to rally the troops for a huge range of causes. His critics, some of whom are very much probusiness themselves, contend that both his agenda and his methods are ill-advised, allegations that he shrugs off as an inevitable byproduct of intense advocacy.
No one can dispute his impact on the Chamber. Since he became president and chief executive officer in 1997, he has tripled its operating budget to a projected $151 million in 2006, boosted the number of full-time lobbyists from 2 to 18, and transformed the organization into a bully pulpit from which he has redefined the business of lobbying for business.
Until a few years ago, the Chamber was a meek participant in the rough-and-tumble game of politics. Most companies relied on their trade associations to protect their interests discreetly; those groups worked mainly behind the scenes with small budgets and narrow agendas. Donohue's big money has bought a bullhorn for the Chamber, and it is speaking out on a broad array of issues, many of them highly controversial, including immigration, trade policy, health care, homeland security, foreign investment, and Social Security. Despite the lobbying scandals that brought down House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and bought a nearly six-year jail sentence for lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Donohue says the Chamber has no plans to rein in its spending. "Everything we do is within the law," he says.
Indeed, the law seems to hold a special fascination for Donohue. The Chamber is unique among associations in that it has its own in-house law firm. Three full-time lawyers and one part-timer staff the firm, which last year was involved in 85 cases as plaintiff or friend of the court. The Chamber says 43 of those cases were decided in its favor. The Chamber also has filed amicus briefs in cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. "Tom loves litigation," says Robin Conrad, senior vice president of the National Chamber Litigation Center. "We live in a litigious society, and he believes in fighting fire with fire."
Ten Wide, Six Deep
Still, "money doesn't guarantee success," Donohue says during a recent interview in his opulent office on H Street. "You've got to deliver the goods. My deal is simple: I am here to represent our members with the highest integrity and good manners. I'm not looking for a barroom brawl...but our adversaries should be forewarned. We're coming at you 10 wide and 6 deep. We play to win."
Now 67, wiry, and with a shock of white hair, Donohue says he learned long ago that "people don't give money to causes, they give money to people who have ideas, passion, and commitment." He started his career with a short stint in academic administration, then joined the U.S. Postal Service where he rose to deputy assistant postmaster general. Next, Donohue joined the Chamber as a group vice president, but left in 1984 to head up the American Trucking Associations. It was there that he hit his stride as an association executive, helping the ATA become one of the most powerful groups in Washington. In 1997, Donohue was wooed back to the Chamber, where his $1.8 million in annual salary makes him one of the highest-paid association executives in the United States.
Upon his return to the Chamber, Donohue began to mobilize grass-roots support, reaching out to local chambers and to business executives. (Donohue says he meets with 200 chief executives a year.) Today, the Chamber has 3 million members, encompassing several thousand state and local chambers and hundreds of trade associations. The Chamber does not disclose how much its individual members pay in dues, though a spokeswoman says that some of the largest companies pay an annual fee of more than $100,000. The Chamber says 96 percent of its members are small businesses with fewer than 100 workers.
The Chamber has not been shy about looking for opportunities to flex its newfound muscle. In 2004, the Chamber and its Institute for Legal Reform spent a total of $53.4 million on lobbying efforts. PoliticalMoneyLine, which analyzes lobbying expenditures, says that amount is more than any single organization has ever spent in a single year. The Chamber claims that 94 percent of the 269 candidates it endorsed for federal office and for state attorneys general won in 2004. As part of its campaign to reform courts, the Chamber also has targeted judicial elections in recent years, claiming to have unseated antibusiness jurists in more than two dozen courts in Alabama, Mississippi, and other states. This year, with critical races in dozens of states, Washington insiders expect the Chamber to spend as much or more to aid candidates friendly to business.
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