--- title: Trade Groups Tell Businesses to Keep Quiet on Spending description: Three leading trade associations have told members to resist demands they disclose more about their campaign spending. canonical: https://time.com/4195334/campaign-finance-disclosure-trade-groups/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-27T10:00:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:39.603Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trade Groups Tell Businesses to Keep Quiet og:description: On campaign spending. og:url: https://time.com/4195334/campaign-finance-disclosure-trade-groups/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2b5e21d5e1a45670/69887aab0b72e3fbac6e7d1a/tom-donohue-john-engler.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: Business Roundtable President and former Michigan Gov. John Engler (L) talks with U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas Donohue after a news conference as part of a 'Day of Action for Immigration Reform' at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce July 9 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trade Groups Tell Businesses to Keep Quiet twitter:description: On campaign spending. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2b5e21d5e1a45670/69887aab0b72e3fbac6e7d1a/tom-donohue-john-engler.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trade Groups Tell Businesses to Keep Quiet on Spending > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Center for Public Integrity / Dave Levinthal](https://time.com/author/center-for-public-integrity/) ## Center for Public Integrity / Dave Levinthal Jan 27, 2016 10:00 AM UTC  Business Roundtable President and former Michigan Gov. John Engler (L) talks with U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas Donohue after a news conference as part of a 'Day of Action for Immigration Reform' at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce July 9, 2014 in Washington, DC. Business Roundtable President and former Michigan Gov. John Engler (L) talks with U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas Donohue after a news conference as part of a 'Day of Action for Immigration Reform' at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce July 9, 2014 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Center for Public Integrity / Dave Levinthal](https://time.com/author/center-for-public-integrity/) ## Center for Public Integrity / Dave Levinthal Jan 27, 2016 10:00 AM UTC Three of the nation’s leading trade associations have a message for their member corporations: Resist activists who demand you disclose more details about your politicking than the law requires. “The strategy of pressuring companies to voluntarily disclose the details of their spending on public policy engagement for the purpose of reducing that engagement is, in fact, their ultimate goal,” wrote [U.S. Chamber of Commerce](https://www.uschamber.com/about-us/about-the-us-chamber) President and CEO Tom Donohue, [Business Roundtable](http://businessroundtable.org/about) President John Engler and [National Association of Manufacturers](http://www.nam.org/About/) President and CEO Jay Timmons [in a letter dated Oct. 13](https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2697724/U-S-Chamber-Letter.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAI5WMXH27O6KH3ALA&Expires=1453756871&Signature=9Ag33FUNm8db%2ByiY6vv7PWp6Kl4%3D) and obtained by the [Center for Public Integrity](http://www.publicintegrity.org/). They added: “As these activists continue efforts to silence the business community’s voice, we will continue to engage on your behalf.” The trade association leaders reserved particular criticism for the [Center for Political Accountability](http://politicalaccountability.net/about/about-us) and the [Zicklin Center for Business Ethics](http://www.zicklincenter.org/) at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, which in early October [published an annual index](https://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/10/08/18266/corporations-improve-reporting-political-activity-exceptions) ranking large companies on their political disclosure practices and policies. Companies earn points on more than two-dozen measures, such as revealing money spent to influence state-level ballot initiatives and voluntarily disclosing contributions to politically active trade associations and other nonprofit groups. Such politically active nonprofit groups — including the U.S. Chamber itself — sometimes directly advocate for and against political candidates and may spend into the millions of dollars to do so. Donohue, Engler and Timmons argued that the index is little more than a “tool to be used to attack companies” and “name-and-shame” them “into either curtailing or eliminating their involvement in public policy debates altogether.” They also warned that the index could be used by activist investors to justify [proxy proposals](https://www.shareholdereducation.com/SHE-proxy%5Fproposals.html) aimed at forcing companies to publish details about their political efforts. **Read More:** [_How the Koch Brothers Are Influencing U.S. Colleges_](http://time.com/4148838/koch-brothers-colleges-universities/) The men [sent a similar do-not-disclose letter](https://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/10/25/13597/business-groups-assail-political-transparency) to their members in 2013. Bruce Freed, president of the Center for Political Accountability, scoffed at the groups’ criticism, which he says he expects. “The reason: it is leading to the broader disclosure of company payments to trade associations, and the U.S. Chamber in particular. The Chamber has a deep investment in secrecy,” Freed said. As for the trade groups’ letter, Freed added that “hasn’t been effective in discrediting CPA or the Index. Companies continue to treat the index as a credible, serious benchmarking.” Officials at the U.S. Chamber, Business Roundtable and National Association of Manufacturers declined the [Center for Public Integrity](http://www.publicintegrity.org/)’s requests for comment. The trade groups’ plea comes as the U.S. Chamber is [preparing to play](https://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/03/30/17000/us-chamber-doubling-down-political-juggernaut) a major role in the 2016 congressional elections. Consider that during the 2014 midterm elections, the U.S. Chamber spent about $35.5 million on messages naming federal political candidates, if not overtly advocating for their election or defeat, Federal Election Commission records indicate. Of that, the U.S. Chamber spent about $6.8 million total to help elect Republicans Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Joni Ernst of Iowa to the U.S. Senate, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. All the while, the U.S. Chamber could hide the names of people or corporations bankrolling what were primarily political attack ads: Trade groups, which are nonprofits organized under Section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Service code, are not by law required to reveal their funders. Thank the Supreme Court’s [_Citizens United v. FEC_](https://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/10/18/11527/citizens-united-decision-and-why-it-matters) decision for this. The 2010 ruling allowed corporations — including certain nonprofits and unions — to spend unlimited amounts of “[dark money](https://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/01/20/19156/what-political-dark-money-and-it-bad)” to promote or attack political candidates. A Center for Public Integrity [investigation](https://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/01/16/14107/top-us-corporations-funneled-173-million-political-nonprofits), for example, identified dozens of companies that in 2012 or 2013 gave money to the [U.S. Chamber](https://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/01/11/14093/follow-corporate-cash-flow-nonprofits#nonprofit/u-s-chamber-of-commerce), [Business Roundtable](https://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/01/11/14093/follow-corporate-cash-flow-nonprofits#nonprofit/business-roundtable) and [National Association of Manufacturers](https://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/01/11/14093/follow-corporate-cash-flow-nonprofits#nonprofit/national-association-of-manufacturers). Some contributions, which ranged from low five-figure amounts to well into the millions, specifically funded the trade groups’ government lobbying or political efforts. Companies with household names such as PepsiCo Inc., eBay Inc., Intel Corp. and AFLAC Inc. ranked among those who earmarked money for such purposes. More recently, some companies that play key roles in one or more of the trade associations have, in practice, gone against the trade associations’ wishes as they pertain to political transparency. Take Dow Chemical Co., whose executive vice president and general counsel, Charles Kalil, is also a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce [board of directors](https://www.uschamber.com/about-us/board-directors). Dow [voluntarily disclosed](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2698265-dowchemical1.html) that it contributed more than $2.91 million to the U.S. Chamber, $250,000 to the National Association of Manufacturers and about $92,000 to the Business Roundtable in 2014\. It also [revealed](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2698264-Dowchemical.html) significant contributions it made to various ballot initiative campaigns and other politically active nonprofits. “Dow endeavors to participate actively in the leadership of its key trade associations,” the company said. “However, we may from time to time find ourselves in disagreement with the prevailing views of the majority of the association’s membership.” So-called 501(c)(4) “social welfare” nonprofits, like their trade association cousins, may also engage in direct politicking so long as this is not their primary purpose for existing. The U.S. Chamber doesn’t generally involve itself in presidential politics, but several nonprofits are already combining to pump millions of anonymous dollars into the 2016 presidential election. They include a group backing Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio. More will almost assuredly become active later this year once the general election campaign begins in earnest. 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