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In the days before this reversal in stated preferences, conservative ideological
entrepreneurs and other businesses heavily lobbied the Chamber. John Boehner (R-Ohio)
was the chair of the Conservative Opportunity Society who led House Republicans in
their reverse lobbying of the Chamber’s president, Richard Lesher, and its chief lobbyist,
William Archey. “In one meeting, Boehner and House Republicans in the Conservative
Opportunity Society informed Archey and Lesher, according to one participant, that it
was ‘the Chamber’s duty to categorically oppose everything that Clinton was in favor
of’” (Judis, 1995, p. 68). Based on several interviews with key ‘players’ in the health
reform episode, David Broder and Haynes Johnson (1996, p. 323) stated the following.
“At Gingrich’s urging, prominent House Republicans boycotted a Chamber awards
dinner and urged their local Chambers to protest the national policy.” Additionally,
“Chamber officials reported threats from Congressional Republicans to ‘take a walk’ on
other issues if the Chamber backed Clinton.”
John Motley was the chief lobbyist with the National Federation of Independent
Businesses (NFIB) from 1990-1994. The NFIB was strongly opposed to employer
mandates. The following paragraph is based on Motley’s account of the Chamber’s
reversal (personal correspondence October 9, 2002). Barry Jackson, John Boehner’s
chief of staff, said he had it on “good word that the Chamber has a draft floating around
with support of an employer mandate.” Jackson’s strategy was to: 1) have Congress call
the Chamber’s board of directors members that were close to Congress; 2) have the state
Chambers mobilized in opposition; 3) have the NFIB and the National Restaurant
Association mobilized. Motley said that the NFIB “alerted the Chamber membership that
Convention