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Verifying the Facts: Local Chamber likes
local jobs
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| March 31, 2011 |
By Colet Allen
Bonners Ferry Chamber of Commerce
This article is being written to correct a
misconception about our local Chamber of
Commerce and its wrongly assumed affiliation
with the US Chamber of Commerce.
After the president of the US Chamber of
Commerce made the statement on national news
that it was a good idea to send US jobs
overseas, many local people and their businesses
were concerned that this Chamber agreed.
I have been asked several times by various
friends who know that I work with the chamber
about our chamber's relationship with the US
Chamber of Commerce, and the answer is always
the same.
There is no relationship.
The designation, "Chamber of Commerce," is not
branded or copyrighted by the US Chamber. That's
a legal designation for the IRS and is a 501C6,
in legalese, which "provides for the exemption
of business leagues, chambers of commerce, real
estate boards, boards of trade, and professional
football leagues, which are not organized for
profit and no part of the net earnings of which
inures to the benefit of any private shareholder
or individual."
The U.S. Chamber doesn't fit the bill.
As a local Chamber, we do not have to join, send
money to, or be associated in any way with
another organization. We are stand-alone, and
the money that the Bonners Ferry Chamber raises
stays in our county and serves our community.
For a short history of chamber of commerce refer
to the next paragraph, taken from the Britannica
Concise Encyclopedia:
“Any of various voluntary organizations of
business firms, public officials, professional
people, and public-spirited citizens whose
primary interest is in publicizing, promoting,
and developing commercial and industrial
opportunities in their local area, and usually
also community schools, streets, housing, and
public works. The International Chamber of
Commerce (founded 1920) acts as the voice of the
business community in the international field
and runs a court of arbitration for settling
commercial disputes. National chambers of
commerce exist in most industrialized,
free-enterprise countries. The first to use the
name was founded in Paris in 1601; the first
U.S. chamber of commerce was that of the state
of New York, founded in 1768.”
Provided by: The Britannica Concise
Encyclopedia.
Your local Chamber of Commerce, along with the
many local businesses and individuals who
support it and make up our community, seem often
to disagree with the sensibilities of the
"thinkers" residing along the Potomac.
The Bonners Ferry Chamber of Commerce is YOUR
local chamber, and we welcome your interest and
participation. Our website,
http://www.bonnersferrychamber.com is there
to let you know what we're doing on behalf of
not only our members, but our community, and
we're there to promote and encourage local
business and local trade.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO
Thomas Donahue is free to make whatever
statements he wants, no matter how assinine or
disconnected to the true engine of the U.S.
economy he might be.
He doesn't speak for or have any influence on
the Bonners Ferry Chamber of Commerce.
This Chamber believes that small businesses in
places like ours across the country drive the
U.S. economy. We're the ones making the products
and greeting the customers and making the
sacrifices.
We'll know that the economic crisis is over when
our local businesses start working again,
putting local people to work. |
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