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Chamber: Membership has risen post-SB 5
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Tom Humphries, president and CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.
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David Betras, Mahoning County Democratic Party chairman.
By Karl Henkel
YOUNGSTOWN
The Youngstown/ Warren Regional Chamber says it has grown since it took a pro-Senate Bill 5 stance earlier this year, according to a letter sent to chamber members.
But the extent of the increases still is unknown; the chamber again said it will not release membership totals.
The two-page letter, written by President and CEO Tom Humphries, only went as far as characterizing the chamber’s membership boost as “four times as many new members” as the number of business that quit.
Totals from a list posted on the chamber’s website in April indicated a membership count of approximately 2,700. That list, which still included members that had quit, has since been removed.
At least a dozen businesses publicly quit the chamber, the third-largest chamber of commerce in Ohio, after its backing of SB 5, which curbs some collective-bargaining rights for public officials.
“We must advocate for what is in the best interest of private businesses, because those businesses are the foundation for our regional economy,” Humphries wrote in the letter.
Humphries also used the letter to indirectly denounce Mahoning County Democratic Chairman David Betras. He said the chamber does not respect campaigns that include “threats, name- calling or old-style, destructive Valley politics.”
“We understand there are those who feel passionately that SB 5 is the wrong approach for Ohio,” he wrote. “We respect their right to this position, and we know and respect that they will vigorously press their case in the upcoming referendum in the November election.”
He also criticized the chamber’s critics who “bully ... members” and “disrupt ... operations with unnecessary requests for records.”
Doug Sollitto and Eric Kusky, two union presidents at area prisons, previously started a chamber offshoot for those who vacated their memberships after the political stance and urged residents not to do business with chamber members.
Betras last week sought Humphries’ resignation, as he has done repeatedly over the past few months.