{"id":3518,"date":"2015-10-11T02:39:34","date_gmt":"2015-10-11T02:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3518"},"modified":"2015-10-11T02:39:34","modified_gmt":"2015-10-11T02:39:34","slug":"new-york-times-story-u-s-chamber-has-become-a-front-group-for-big-tobacco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3518","title":{"rendered":"New York Times story: U.S. Chamber has become a “front group” for Big Tobacco"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"chamber_commerce_cartoon<\/a><\/p>\n

Another big New York Times article<\/a> on how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is shilling around the world on behalf of Big Tobacco.<\/p>\n

In the past several years, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which used to be a fairly nonpolitical organization, but it has been transformed, mostly by its executive director\u00a0Thomas Donohue, into a highly politicized lobbying organization.<\/p>\n

And lately, much of the Chamber’s lobbying efforts have been directed toward not only defending Big Tobacco but aggressively attacking countries attempting to reign in tobacco marketing and packaging. The New York Times story uses the example of the Irish prime minister who visited the U.S. Chamber offices to lobby for investments, business opportunities in Ireland, and instead Donohue lobbied him to drop new Irish laws requiring plain packaging on tobacco products.<\/p>\n

From the New York Times article:<\/p>\n

\n

Since taking over in 1997, Mr. Donohue has transformed the chamber into a powerful lobbying force, an evolution most starkly epitomized by its aggressive advocacy for tobacco. While the organization represents a variety of industries, its strategy has been a boon for cigarette makers, which have relied heavily on the chamber to push their agenda at home and abroad.<\/p>\n

Few allies of Big Tobacco are as enduring as Mr. Donohue, who has personally lobbied the speaker of the House, the United States trade representative and the Irish prime minister on the industry\u2019s behalf. A review of industry records, which came to light during government litigation, highlights the longevity of his ties.<\/p>\n

In the 1990s, after taking over the chamber, Mr. Donohue fought the Justice Department\u2019s tobacco litigation, personally lobbied against antismoking legislation in the Senate and promised \u201ca unique role in determining the future direction of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce<\/a>\u201d to a big cigarette maker in a letter.<\/p>\n

\"tom<\/a>
U.S. Chamber Executive Director Tom Donohue — New York Times photo<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/blockquote>\n

The US. Chamber’s lobbying efforts around the world on behalf of Big Tobacco has been talked about a lot in the past year. I’ve written about it<\/a> and there’s been a number of major articles about it, including CVS Pharmacy<\/a> quitting the U.S. Chamber over its tobacco lobbying. John Oliver<\/a> has likewise taken on Big Tobacco’s battles against smaller countries.<\/p>\n

This is specifically what’s changed just in the past year or two. While the U.S. Chamber has been for some time now lobbying for Big Tobacco in the U.S., it’s been putting a ton of energy into lobbying for Big Tobacco around the world lately. According to the Times article, it has gotten to the point that officials with the World Health Organization are literally calling the U.S. Chamber a “front group” for the tobacco industry.<\/p>\n

According to the Times, a few weeks after Donohue took over at the U.S. Chamber in 1997, he received a letter from a Philip Morris executive. \u00a0According the to the New York Times:<\/p>\n

\n

Mr. Donohue\u2019s ambition, he wrote in a reply to the Philip Morris executive, was \u201cto build the biggest gorilla in this town.\u201d He scrapped the chamber\u2019s in-house cable network and magazine, which were centerpieces of his predecessor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe chamber has become the antithesis of its former self,\u201d a Philip Morris memo reported in 1999, while an executive said in an internal email, the \u201cchamber is doing good work.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

There’s even been a \u00a0revolving door between Philip Morris and the U.S. Chamber. A former Philip Morris executive is now one of the top executives in the U.S. Chamber … and better yet, a former U.S. Chamber employee\u00a0is now\u00a0a spokeswoman for Philip Morris International.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another big New York Times article on how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is shilling around the world on behalf of Big Tobacco. In the past several years, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which used to be a fairly nonpolitical organization, but it has been transformed, mostly by its executive director\u00a0Thomas Donohue, into a highly … Continue reading New York Times story: U.S. Chamber has become a “front group” for Big Tobacco<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[49,719],"tags":[608,720],"class_list":["post-3518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philip-morris","category-u-s-chamber","tag-philip-morris","tag-u-s-chamber"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/chamber_commerce_cartoon-2.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4hpEa-UK","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3385,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3385","url_meta":{"origin":3518,"position":0},"title":"CVS quits U.S. Chamber of Commerce over CoC’s campaign against anti-smoking laws","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"July 13, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Great story, I loved this. 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This is a growing issue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Australia"","block_context":{"text":"Australia","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/U.S.-chamber-graphic.jpg?fit=374%2C441&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3395,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3395","url_meta":{"origin":3518,"position":1},"title":"New Jersey Star-Ledger editorial: U.S. Chamber, stop promoting tobacco worldwide","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"July 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The New Jersey Star-Ledger, a major daily newspaper in Newark, N.J., came out this week with a strong editorial bashing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for promoting U.S. tobacco companies abroad. The Star-Ledger accuses the U.S. Chamber of being a \"shill\" for Big Tobacco around the world. The Chamber, which\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Australia"","block_context":{"text":"Australia","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/chamber-smoking.gif?fit=630%2C354&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/chamber-smoking.gif?fit=630%2C354&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/chamber-smoking.gif?fit=630%2C354&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3653,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3653","url_meta":{"origin":3518,"position":2},"title":"Crikey! Australia kicks international Big Tobacco’s butt … again","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"December 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Yet another major legal victory for Australia in its long-running battle against Big Tobacco. Specifically, Australia defeated Philip Morris International, which has been one of the corporations fighting Australia for the past five to 10 years over that nation's plain-packaging laws. Initially, the government of Australia won in the Australian\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Australia"","block_context":{"text":"Australia","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=8"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/AustralianFlag.jpg?fit=1200%2C991&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/AustralianFlag.jpg?fit=1200%2C991&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/AustralianFlag.jpg?fit=1200%2C991&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/AustralianFlag.jpg?fit=1200%2C991&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/AustralianFlag.jpg?fit=1200%2C991&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3531,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3531","url_meta":{"origin":3518,"position":3},"title":"Philadelphia proposes banning tobacco sales in drug stores","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"October 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The mayor of\u00a0Philadelphia last week proposed banning tobacco sales in pharmacies and drug stores. This story jogged my memory that I think San Francisco did the same thing. Sure enough, San Francisco did ban tobacco sales in pharmacies, in fact some time ago -- 2008 -- longer ago than I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "CVS Pharmacy"","block_context":{"text":"CVS Pharmacy","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=223"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Philadelphia.jpg?fit=780%2C438&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Philadelphia.jpg?fit=780%2C438&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Philadelphia.jpg?fit=780%2C438&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Philadelphia.jpg?fit=780%2C438&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3717,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3717","url_meta":{"origin":3518,"position":4},"title":"U.S. Department of Justice urged to investigate bribery case against British-American Tobacco","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"February 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Several U.S. Senators and Congresspeople have signed a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice\u00a0urging the agency to begin an investigation into bribery accusations against British-American Tobacco. I wrote about some of these accusations a few weeks ago here.\u00a0However, according to the letter from Congresspeople, the accusations go beyond those\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British-American Tobacco"","block_context":{"text":"British-American Tobacco","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=451"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/BAT_2148576b.jpg?fit=620%2C388&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/BAT_2148576b.jpg?fit=620%2C388&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/BAT_2148576b.jpg?fit=620%2C388&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4098,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=4098","url_meta":{"origin":3518,"position":5},"title":"Philip Morris International trying to bring back the Council for Tobacco Research","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"October 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Oh, this is too rich. Philip Morris International, the international wing of Altria, has proposed setting up something called \"A Foundation for a Smokefree World.\" The World Health Organization has urged world governments not to get involved with the foundation, pointing out the pretty glaring conflict of interest. Here's the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Philip Morris Interntional"","block_context":{"text":"Philip Morris Interntional","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=755"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/WHOGeneva008.jpg?fit=1200%2C791&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/WHOGeneva008.jpg?fit=1200%2C791&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/WHOGeneva008.jpg?fit=1200%2C791&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/WHOGeneva008.jpg?fit=1200%2C791&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/WHOGeneva008.jpg?fit=1200%2C791&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3518"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3522,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3518\/revisions\/3522"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}