With the big rollout for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's much touted project to build a national grassroots movement to back "free enterprise" in areas ranging from trade to regulation to taxation set for Oct. 14, the group's feisty leader Tom Donohue earlier this month penned a memo to his board to inform them fundraising efforts "focused on individuals who have done exceedingly well in a free enterprise system, are right on target."

To sustain the multi-year effort, which will feature lots of expensive ads on television and other media, the Chamber is trying to raise some $100 million--without poaching too much on its traditional corporate base of financing lest it "rob Peter to pay Paul," says one source.

Dubbed "American Free Enterprise--Dream Big," the Chamber has spent long hours previewing the campaign for its executive committee and this week is hosting a session in California where more details are being provided at the group's semi annual meeting of its "committee of 100." It's official launch is Oct. 14, the group announced today.

Donohue's seven page memo to the Chamber board also includes some interesting tidbits about other top issues on its agenda such as health care and free trade plus a somewhat combative discussion of the recent defections of a few big Chamber members including PG&E and Apple over the business lobby's stance on climate change issues.

In Donohue's view, the departures and the media coverage of them are "an outgrowth of an orchestrated campaign by some environmental groups to pressure companies and the Chamber into supporting specific approaches to climate change that we believe just wouldn't work--such as the House passed Waxman-Markey bill or EPA's go-it- alone effort to impose costly new greenhouse gas regulations across our society without legislation."

See memo here. Chamber memo.pdf

(Photo of Donohue by Liz Lynch)