Portal:Fix the Debt/Phony State Chapters

"Up to this point, Fix the Debt's ad campaigns have been largely Washington-focused, combined with a heavy dose of CEO-lobbying. The next phase, Romano says, is national outreach," Fortune Magazine reported in January 2013. Fix the Debt has 23 “state chapters” listed on its website as of February 2013. Those state chapters have been created following a similar formula: "Select bipartisan co-chairs along with a passel of business leaders, write a press release, hold a teleconference et voilà!: a 'chapter' is born that looks like an organic, bipartisan effort."

More than 90 Fix the Debt leaders at the state level are current or former lobbyists, and many lobby for Fix the Debt firms, according to a review of federal and state lobbying databases by the Center for Media and Democracy in February 2013. Click here to see a list of state leaders and their lobbying ties.