The bad news for the US Chamber of Commerce is that the world now knows that Chinese hackers broke into its computer system. The good news is that its membership has suddenly increased tenfold. This is according to the Wall Street Journal, CNN, and Politico, which reported yesterday that the US Chamber of Commerce has 3 million members, 2,700,000 more than it has claimed as of late.
Did a few reporters accidentally misplace a decimal point? Not likely. Most media outlets used the “3 million members” line until 2009, when I discovered that the Chamber’s true membership is no more than 300,000. After a bit of back and forth, the Chamber was forced to agree with me. Many reporters continued using the wrong number until I called them on it, at which point the 300,000 figure finally won out. Or so I’d thought.
The inflated reports of the Chamber’s size have allowed it to claim to speak for a broad swath of American businesses, when in reality it’s a dark money outfit controlled by a few ultra-wealthy special interests. In 2009, just 16 members accounted for 55 percent of its $200 million budget.
So here we go again. A math lesson for Siobhan Gorman of the Wall Street Journal, Tim Mak of Politico, and Gerry Smith of the Huffington Post (who should know better): 3,000,000 – 2,700,000 = the correct size of the US Chamber of Commerce.*
*If you count only dues-paying members, the true Chamber membership is probably closer to 100,000, but what’s a couple hundred thousand here or there?
