Like a lot of Bend businesses, we belong to the local chamber of commerce - you know the one "The Bend Chamber of Commerce, Make You A Promise... We're Taking Care of Business... Yeah, We're Taking Care of..." But we digress. And like a lot of businesses, we often find ourselves scratching our heads at the positions that the chamber takes - remember the equal rights ordinance?
So we were relieved when the chamber with its unabashedly pro-growth agenda got out of the business of endorsing local candidates. Unfortunately, since that time though the chamber has been outsourcing its politics to its political action arm, the Bend Business PAC, which has long looked like nothing more than a front for the conservative chamber board. When we got our most recent bill this week it confirmed just how little the chamber distinguishes itself from its ostensibly independent PAC.The statement included a line item for a "voluntary" $50 donation to the Bend Business PAC. What we'd like to know is: who volunteered us? WTF
