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Crossing the Chamber line?

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This week, the Washington Post reported on a unique new newspaper in Southern Illinois. The Madison County Record was launched in September as a kind of local legal journal. Recent front pages have carried a variety of stories about lawsuits against businesses. What readers probably don't know is that the Record is a creation of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Post story called the Madison County Record a weapon in the Chamber's multimillion-dollar campaign for 'tort reform'. The expose was written by Post reporter Jeff Birnbaum, who argues the Chamber is wielding a lot more power right now than many may suspect.