People in the news

Thomas J. Donohue

President and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (since 1997)

(U.S. Chamber)

Why He Matters

He's never actually worked in the corporate world, but he speaks for more than three million companies. In fact, Donohue's reputation as a tough negotiator may surpass the skills of the chief executives that he represents.

As the president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Donohue lobbies for business interests on Capitol Hill. He's an advocate for the companies he represents, big and small, but he is also one of the most powerful political figures in Washington, D.C. When he first took the post at the chamber in 1997, the group had lost membership to rival organizations. Under Donohue's leadership, the Chamber's membership has increased 15 times over to make the trade association the largest advocacy group in the nation.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: President of the American Trucking Association (1984 to 1997); Lobbyist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (1976 to 1984); U.S. Postal Service (1969 to 1976)
Birthday: Aug. 12, 1938
Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Alma Mater: St. John's University, BA; Adelphi University, MBA
Spouse: Elizabeth
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Path to Power

The Brooklyn, N.Y., born Donohue, grew up in Long Island. He played basketball, where he apparently had an impressive vertical leaping ability, but he wasn't known for his shot. St. Agnes' basketball team, which Donohue played for in high school, won 50 straight games while he attended. Donohue attributes the success, in part, to the way he and the rest of the team carried themselves.

"We all wore ties and jackets and we all said 'yes, sir' and 'no, sir' and 'please, sir,'" said Donohue. "That's how we talked to referees. Late in the game, if there was a close call and we were playing against guys with hair down to their knees and cussing at the refs, they got screwed. We always got the good calls."

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The Issues

By 1997, the chamber's growth and influence had stagnated under President Richard L. Lesher. For a decade, the trade association's budget stood at $60 million, based mostly on membership dues. The chamber had only three lobbyists and Lesher spent much of his time building and participating in the group's television programs.

In addition, the group supported President Bill Clinton's 1993 health-care reform push, which many of its members thought would hurt their bottom line. House Republicans called for businesses to leave the chamber and join another trade group that better represented their interests. In response, the chamber began to work closely and support many Republican causes. Still, growth continued to stagnate.

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The chamber began to look for new blood at the top. The executive search committee selected Donohue after a three-hour interview over dinner in which the job candidate bluntly declared that he would not let the chamber's support be taken for granted.

"I [Donohue] said they [the GOP] couldn't be sure that the chamber was going to be there on every single issue. And I told them that they could be damn sure that we're going to try to bring some Democratic votes along, even if it means making a few compromises here and there, because we don't just want to talk about these issues and feel good about where we stand on them. We want to win."

On the job, Donohue steadily increased the group's political efforts by championing key causes and increasing the lobbying team from three to more than 15 people. He's not afraid to offend his enemies. "We are an advocacy organization," said Donohue. "I believe that advocates should be enthusiastic and should be energetic, and I do believe they should be aggressive."

Donohue's push has gotten results. When he arrived, the chamber had 200,000 members; now it has over three million member companies.

The chamber jealously guards its member list, however, and those companies are not public.

Political Activity

Since Donohue joined the chamber, he has majorly stepped up its political activity through the U.S. Chamber of Commerce PAC and through TV ads underwritten by millions of dollars in independent expenditures in U.S. congressional races. Some of those expenditures in the 2008 cycle included an ad against now-Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) and an ad touting then-Sen. Gordon Smith's (R-Ore.) health-care work, each of which cost $700,000.

In the 2004 elections, the PAC enlisted 215 political operatives to canvas 31 states, all the while mailing 3.7 million letters, placing 5.6 million phone calls and sending 30 million emails to entice business-friendly voters to the polls.

The chamber's efforts were particularly noticeable in South Dakota, where then-Senate Majority Leader Daschle was up for reelection and the business group injected enough money for 50 operatives in the state, while issuing multiple anti-Daschle ads. Thanks in no small part to those efforts, the Senate minority leader became the first sitting congressional leader to lose his bid for reelection in 52 years.

"Business is so afraid of upsetting members of Congress, the press or stockholders," said Donohue. "It's time to say, wait, U.S. companies employ 130 million people, put $16 billion into charitable activities, create new jobs and products."

Tort Reform

One issue that Donohue has continually focused on since arriving at the chamber is tort reform, which is a push to scale back the number of lawsuits that make it to trial.

In 1999, Donohue created the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform to focus on tort reform. The chamber has also funded three newspapers in areas that appear friendly to trial lawyers, including the Madison County Record in Illinois and West Virginia Record in Charleston.

"Are they anti-trial lawyer? You bet," said Stanton D. Anderson, the chamber's chief counsel to Donohue, and former chamber executive vice president and chief legal officer, regarding the newspapers. "That's their focus, but their principle focus is to cover what's happening."

Conflicts of Interest

Donohue's tenure at the Chamber has also been controversial because of his positions on boards of companies that the chamber represents, and his sometimes aggressive actions on behalf of his clients.

In May 2007, the SEC informed Sunrise Senior Living that the company was under investigation for some unusual stock sell-offs by a few members of the board of directors. Donohue was a part of a group on Sunrise's board that sold off $32 million worth of stock options prior to an announcement in May 2006 that Sunrise would have to change an accounting rule that would negatively affect the its stock price. The investigation is ongoing and the company continues to work closely with the government, and Donohue has denied any wrongdoing.

But the SEC investigation isn't the first time Donohue's other commitments have raised questions. Donohue also serves on the board of Union Pacific and some have wondered how he can balance that job with advocating for legislation that might help or hurt the railroad company.

The Network

Donohue has been head of the chamber since 1997 and is one of the biggest political players in the nation's capital. Donohue has worked with other Washington business leaders as part of legislative coalitions supporting or fighting key legislation, including John Castellani, president of the Business Roundtable, and Bruce Josten, who runs the chamber's lobbying efforts and Dan Danner, president of National Federation of Independent Businesses. Another ally is American Tort Reform Association's President Sherman Joyce.

James R. Young, CEO of the Union Pacific Corporation sits on the Union Pacific's board along with Donohue.

Campaign Contributions

As the head of the Chamber of Commerce, Donohue has personally donated $7,100 to political campaigns since 2001. This includes $1,000 to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) in 2007 and $2,000 to President George W. Bush in 2003.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce PAC donated $144,576 to various campaigns in the 2008 election cycle. In the House, the PAC donated $55,076 to Democrats and $46,000 to Republicans. Democratic Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) received $1,000 from the PAC; he was the only Democratic Senator to receive a donation. Republican senators received $42,500 from the PAC in the 2007-2008 cycle.

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Additional Resources