Democrats already have 51 seats in the Senate, and Schumer said the partys candidate is significantly ahead in five races and even in seven others meaning a 63-seat majority is possible in 2009.
The Chambers contributions have come almost wholly in Senate races, Schumer said, not House elections or the presidential race. The sole exception to the Republican favoritism, he argued, was donations in Louisiana, where Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu is seeking reelection.
Schumer distributed a chart showing the Chamber has donated $16.28 million to Republican candidates this election cycle, and only $329,000 to Democrats. The ads funded by the contributions have all come in 2008, said DSCC spokesman Matt Miller, and have included Chamber affiliates like the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace and the Employee Free Action Committee.
The Coalition for a Democratic Workplace did not return a call. However, Tim Miller, spokesman for the Employee Free Action Committee, rejected Schumers statements.
We have absolutely no affiliation with the Chamber of Commerce and have received no money from them, Miller said. For Sen. Schumer to criticize any institution for partisanship when the DSCC has received so much contributions from labor unions and has pushed legislation as payback to the labor unions really makes his claim rather comical.
Schumer said the Chamber is supposed to be nonpartisan, and theyve turned themselves into a wing of the NRSC [National Republican Senatorial Committee]. Theyre running attack ads on issues unrelated to the issues the Chamber stands for, theyre taking partisan stands, and their ads almost dovetail with the campaign ads of the NRSC in some cases, they use the exact same slogan.
The Chamber of Commerce did not immediately return two calls for comment.
Schumer specifically blamed the Wisconsin Right to Life decision by the U.S. Supreme Court last year a ruling in which the court said issue-based ads were allowed within 60 days of a general election. That decision changed the rules and allowed little-known special interest groups to funnel undisclosed amounts of money into political advertising, the senator said.
The justices should be embarrassed of this decision, Schumer stated.
