Business groups saddle Salem-Keizer with poor leaders, regressive policy

News LLC - $1,000

Richard Withnell - $1,000

Dan Clem - $376

Salem Aviation Fueling - $200

Friends of Julie Hoy - $1,000

Warren Bednarz for Salem City Council - $1,000

Create Jobs Coalition - $725

Friends of Bill Post - $300

Create Jobs PAC started as Help the Chamber of Commerce Keep Salem Liveable back in 2008. Its largest contributions (easily 5-figures each) over the years have come from corporations - Garmin, Salem Health, Norpac Foods, Mountain West Investments, Portland General Electric, and, of course, the Salem Chamber itself.

With that $25k from corporate benefactors, the Salem Chamber launched Create Jobs Coalition - a political influence machine started in 2022 and still active into this year. And that $25k, along with another $5k directly from the Salem Chamber of Commerce, comprises nearly all of the money raised by this incarnation of Chamber political influence.

Led the opposition narrative on the 2023 employee‑paid city payroll tax (referred to voters, crushed 82–18 on Nov. 7, 2023). The Chamber published a victory statement the next day; Salem Reporter covered the result. (Salem Area Chamber of Commerce, Salem Reporter)

Minimum wage: formally opposed Oregon’s 2016 increases, pledging to “vigorously oppose” mandated hikes. That’s not ancient history—it’s the same policy posture they still signal as “business‑friendly.” (Salem Area Chamber of Commerce)

“Sit‑lie” ordinance (anti‑homeless sidewalk restrictions): the Chamber’s board and policy committee unanimously supported Salem’s crackdown (Nov. 2019). OPB quoted the Chamber CEO making the case. (opb)

Hosts a standing Government Affairs Committee that workshops tax levies and pending legislation—and in August 2025 spotlighted the Cherriots employer payroll tax proposal with Salem Chamber’s CEO as featured guest. That’s real‑time mobilization around a live tax measure affecting Keizer/Salem employers. (cm.keizerchamber.com)

Keizer Times has framed the current debate bluntly: councilors are weighing opposition to the new Cherriots payroll tax; the Chamber is platforming the issue for members. (Keizertimes)

In 2023–24, Keizer residents were pulled into Salem tax debates (many work in Salem). City packet materials show locals raising payroll‑tax impacts on Keizer households/employers—context for why the Chamber keeps programming on taxes/levies. (keizer.org)

Runs an in‑house political operation: Build Jobs PAC/Create Jobs Coalition (“recruit and support business‑friendly candidates and ballot initiatives”). See analysis above. Their endorsements in May 2024 included mayoral and council picks - ORESTAR shows the PAC cutting checks to Julie Hoy and Shane Matthews that spring. This is institutionalized partisan‑style campaigning, just with Chamber branding. (Salem Area Chamber of Commerce, Oregon Secretary of State)

“Advocates for business‑friendly legislation at the local and state levels.” That’s bland phrasing, but in practice it’s been anti‑payroll‑tax, anti‑min‑wage, pro‑sit‑lie. (Salem Area Chamber of Commerce, opb)

Markets itself as a lobbying/advocacy outfit to members—“legislative support through pro‑business advocacy and lobbying” is a listed benefit. That’s a tell. (Keizer Chamber of Commerce)

Gives every new member a free ad package on KYKN (80 thirty‑second spots). KYKN is explicitly branded as conservative talk radio (Glenn Beck, Sebastian Gorka, Hugh Hewitt, Todd Starnes, Charlie Kirk, etc.). That’s not neutral chamber marketing; that’s alignment with a right‑wing media ecosystem. (Keizer Chamber of Commerce, 1430 KYKN)

The Chamber’s Government Affairs series routinely centers taxes/levies and pending legislation—the mechanics of moving or blocking policy. (Again: agenda‑setting on conservative‑coded issues like payroll taxes.) (cm.keizerchamber.com)

Keizer Chamber Chair Jenn Benavidez appeared before the Keizer City Council in August 2025 urging them to register a “no” vote on a potential tax increase on businesses to help fund public transportation. The council obliged (naturally). 

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce remains one of the most powerful business lobbies in America (>$76M on federal lobbying in 2024 alone) and has historically directed its political muscle overwhelmingly to Republicans; even scholarship calling out rare Democratic endorsements still describes a GOP tilt across cycles. (OpenSecrets, Digital Commons@DePaul)

Policy posture is consistently anti‑“progressive economics”: the U.S. Chamber formally opposes a $15 federal minimum wage and has fought paid leave expansions. Meanwhile, leaked polling of “chamber”‑type business leaders shows broad executive support for higher minimum wages and paid leave—i.e., chamber lobby shops are often to the right of many employers they claim to represent. (U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Employment Law Project)

State/local chambers mirror that stance. Example: in Missouri, the state chamber and allied business groups went to court to block a voter‑approved package raising the minimum wage and guaranteeing paid sick leave—and then celebrated a legislative repeal signed July 11, 2025. The playbook is familiar: defeat or unwind “progressive” mandates in the name of business climate. (AP News, The Washington Post)

Researchers tracking local employment standards show persistent business‑association opposition to city‑level wage/leave laws—even as those policies proliferate. Translation: chambers default to the brake pedal. (Economic Policy Institute)