According to Chamber CEO Tom Donohue, at least. In a private meeting with a handful of reporters, Politico reports that:
"He blamed the resignations on an "orchestrated pressure campaign" by environmental groups, refusing to name specific organizations at fault.
Thanks for the compliment Mr. Donohue, but is that the best you can do? Cry about the big, bad environmental groups? Have a hanky and dry your tears so you can read on:
I'm pretty sure every single one of these companies will be quick to tell you that they make their own decisions, thank you very much. Wait - plenty of them already have made it clear, expressing they are "deeply disappointed" with the Chamber's "opposition to climate legislation" and its "obstructionist tactics", "extreme rhetoric" and "disingenuous attempts to diminish or distort the reality of these challenges."
Which is why we are asking the question: WhoDoestheChamberRepresent.org?
Running tab of the Chamber's climate credibility crisis:
Quit US Chamber over climate: Apple, Exelon, PNM Resources, PG&E, PSEG, Levi Strauss & Co.*
Quit US Chamber Board over climate: Nike.
Say Chamber doesn't represent their views on climate: Johnson&Johnson, General Electric, San Jose Chamber of Commerce, Alcoa, Duke, Entergy, Microsoft.
Also, SEIU has just posted a pretty funny video on the departures. And maybe Donohue could use a laugh about now:
* UPDATE 11/12/09: Levi-Strauss informed us that the company did not leave the US Chamber over climate concerns, as Greenwire had reported.