The US Chamber of Commerce, in its battle to defeat a new consumer protection agency and other “burdensome” financial reforms, is aiming a multimillion-dollar ad campaign at influential senators tasked with shaping the Senate’s financial overhaul. In a press conference with reporters today, David Hirschmann, president and CEO of the Chamber’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness, said his organization planned to spend $3 million on ad campaigns to push its financial reform message, which mainly consists of defeating a consumer agency. That money will be focused in Tennessee, Montana, South Dakota, Indiana, Virginia, and Arkansas.
Why those six states? Well, they just so happen to be the homes of six crucial—and mostly undecided—lawmakers with a hand in deciding the fate of the Senate’s Wall Street overhaul. Five of them sit on the powerful banking committee tasked with writing new financial reforms:
- Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) was the GOP’s lead negotiator on financial reform until late last week. No doubt he’ll continue to figure largely into the Senate’s negotiations;
- Jon Tester (D-Mont.) has staked out a liberal position on financial reform, but has fielded intense criticism for backing Senate Democrats’ financial reform efforts like a consumer protection agency;
- Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) is the second-ranking Democrat on the banking committee, but, as a centrist, is seen as less likely to rally alongside Sen. Chris Dodd’s Wall St. overhaul. It doesn’t help that Citigroup, one of the world’s largest banks, has major operations in Johnson’s home state;
- Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) hasn’t taken much of a stand during the Senate’s financial reform talks—which means he’s more likely to be swayed by constitutients’ concerns about a new consumer agency;
- Mark Warner (D-Va.) has played a leading role in crafting a bipartisan solution with Corker on ending too big to fail banks and creating a bank “resolution,” or euthanization, process. Warner’s state, however, is hardly a liberal hotbed in lockstep behind the idea of a consumer agency;
The final senator, Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), isn’t on the banking committee. She is, however, the chairwoman of the Senate agriculture committee, which will help craft future regulation of derivatives. Lincoln, who’s facing a tough reelection battle this fall, could use derivatives reform as a way to curry favor with big business in her state. (Businesses who use derivatives for risk management or hedging purposes—known as “end users”—want an exemption from derivatives regulation; if Lincoln delivered that exemption, she’d score points and potential campaign cash with the business community.)
The Chamber has already spent more than $3 million on ads and other messaging efforts to influence Wall Street reform. With this new focused push, keep your eye on these six senators to see whether the Chamber’s efforts pay off.
