MLive fails to report on the long standing connection between the US Chamber of Commerce and West Michigan

On Wednesday, MLive posted an article entitled, U.S. Chamber of Commerce taps West Michigan business leader for advisory role.

The MLive article was brief, with some information about the person appointed to the advisory board and a listing of the other current board members. However, the article failed to do two important things. First, there was no mention of the fact that several other people from West Michigan have played a significant role with the US Chamber of Commerce. The MLive article also omitted any history or critical perspective about the US Chamber of Commerce since it was founded in the early part of the 20th Century.

The MLive writer could have mentioned that Amway co-founder Jay Van Andel was appointed as the Chairman of the US Chamber of Commerce from 1979 to 1980. This meant that Van Andel was the head of what is known as the largest lobbying organization in the United States, according to Source Watch.

Not only is the US Chamber of Commerce the largest lobbying group in the country, they have a long history of getting the US Government to defend the economic system of Capitalism and work to silence and even repress those that are anti-Capitalists. In fact, in 1934 the US Chamber of Commerce convinced the US Justice Department to set up an agency “to investigate, record, control, and prosecute all subversive agitators,” according to Alyssa Katz’s book, The Influence Machine: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Corporate Capture of American Life. 

Getting back to Jay Van Andel’s tenure as the Chairman of the US Chamber of Commerce, it is important to note that during the 1970s there was tremendous pressure from the public and numerous citizen-led groups to push the US Government to adopt more regulatory standards for consumer products. 

In response, the US Chamber of Commerce created astroturf group (fake group) called Citizen’s Choice, that sought to undermine efforts for further regulation. As the Chairman of the US Chamber of Commerce, Jay Van Andel decided to house this astroturf group in the Chamber’s headquarters. At the same time, Van Andel used the Amway corporation’s 300,000 distributors at the time to sign up as members of Citizen’s Choice to oppose business and consumer product regulation, as is documented in Katz’s book.

Jay Van Andel’s son Steve, was Chairman of the US Chamber of Commerce from 2001 – 2002, a fact that is also omitted in the MLive story. I’m not sure if the MLive reported was unaware of the West Michigan connection to the US Chamber of Commerce, or maybe they don’t want to talk about these connections and this history out of fear of retaliation from the Chamber and its members in Washington and in West Michigan.