Tom Donohue, President of the Chamber of Commerce, made news yesterday when he said that if Republicans fail to pass amnesty they shouldn’t even bother fielding a presidential candidate.  The media is reporting Donohue’s statement as an ultimatum to the GOP – pass amnesty or lose our support.

However, there is one slight problem that has been overlooked by the media.  The Chamber has been dumping large sums of money into candidates who would not be caught dead backing amnesty on the campaign trail.  In fact, many of them are running against amnesty.

Here is a breakdown of Chamber spending on behalf of establishment candidates who have expressed opposition to the Chamber’s official position on immigration:

Georgia Senate: Jack Kingston $920,000 – On his congressional website, Kingston affirms that he is absolutely opposed to amnesty for those who came here illegally.  He also, touts his work with border hawk organizations.

North Carolina Senate: Thom Tillis $450,000 – Tillis made it clear, despite allegations to the contrary, that he absolutely opposes amnesty in any immigration bill.

West Virginia Senate: Shelley Moore Capito $200,000 – Her congressional website is full of language and commitments vehemently opposed by the Chamber.

Montana Senate: Steve Daines $250,000 – Daines completely opposes amnesty: “I will not support proposals that contain amnesty for illegal immigrants currently in our country. We cannot repeat past mistakes by rewarding unlawful behaviour—the rule of law is a fundamental foundation of our country, and it must be protected.”

Kentucky Senate: Mitch McConnell Over $1 million – McConnell publicly dumped cold water on the idea of bringing up amnesty this year.

Mississippi Senate: Thad Cochran $500,000 – Cochran voted against the Gang of 8 Senate bill: “The Senate bill is fundamentally flawed,” said Cochran. “It represents a headlong rush to offer a path toward citizenship for those here illegally.”

ID-2: Mike Simpson $725,000 – On his campaign website, Simpson is clear on amnesty: “Giving amnesty to those who have broken our nation’s immigration laws would undermine the policies that were established to regulate our borders and provide an orderly process of evaluating applications for citizenship.”

Someone is lying to us, and in many cases, the culprit is quite predictable.  But either way, this illustrates a simple point: even though almost every Republican in Washington supports amnesty, none of them are willing to run on it during the campaign season.  The Chambercrats lack the courage to run on their convictions, so they wink and nod at certain candidates and give them a hall pass to fool GOP primary voters until it is too late.