What Does a 46% Rating by the Denver Metro Chamber Mean?
July 06, 2009
Some of you may have seen the PR piece printed in the Denver Post for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce ranking the legislators on their votes on bills. Normally I wouldn't be proud of a 46% rating, but I am. Let's look a little further into what the Denver Metro Chamber considered "good votes":
- They opposed pharmaceutical reform, transparency, ethics and re-sale of your rx information.
- They opposed a bill prohibiting insurance companies for paying bonuses to deny claims or cancel policies.
- They opposed a bill requiring if an insurance company is going to deny medical treatment that the reviewer be licensed and qualified.
- They opposed autism coverage in insurance policies.
- They opposed the homeowner protection act balancing the scales against faulty homebuilders.
- They opposed sick leave for workers (a public health problem with the H1N1 or Swine Flu virus).
- They opposed parental leave time for parents to attend their children's academic functions.
- They supported every corporate tax credit around.
- They supported tolling on existing roads.
- They opposed a measure putting a penalty on employer's who bounce their paychecks to their workers.
Are you serious? I am a small-business owner. I have managed 2 large companies. These are abysmal policy positions that work against the values and needs of most people in the state. I see opposition to health care reform, transparency, working families, best business practices and their consumers. I also know that other good business owners do NOT necessarily agree with the positions that are being lobbied in their name.
There is an alternate world where the business lobby works on actual economic development in the state and doesn't view all things good for workers as bad for business or all things good for consumers as bad for business. Most significantly, businesses are crying out for health care reform, yet it has been the Chambers of Commerce who have often been at the front of the line to oppose health care reform.
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