Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce

The GJ Chamber is an excellent provider of community education. I have been fortunate enough to participate in the Energy Breifings as well as the extremely well-​run and organized Leadership Class. And if you want to meet the whos-​who of Grand Junction, show-​up at one of their monthly After Hours!

When Diane Schwenke, president/​CEO of the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce, came out in support of woman-​beater, Rick Brainard, for City Council many of the local citizens protested this and asked her to withdraw her support as we don’t want this man to be part of the group tht is running our city. Ms. Schwenke’s response was that he deserved his day in court and she would reconsider after this happened. Rick Brainard was found guilty, yet Schwenke and the Chamber have not followed up withdrawing their support. Oh yes, they supported Brainard because he worked for Westar Aviation and they needed his vote for a multi-​billion dollar loan to expend Westar. Yes, this Chamber is all about politics. We still wonder if all the Chamber business members were behind Schwenke’s outspoken support of this candidate and because of this, we are boycotting Chamber business members.

Membership in the Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce is expensive and you get go perceptible value for the money. The cheapest dues are $ 325/​year, and you get little for it. The Chamber used to be a booster for economic development and tourism, but within the last several years has morphed into a politically partisan right wing organization with no other points of view represented at their meetings, according to a GJ City Councilman who attended their meetings. In 2012, the GJ Area Chamber formed a 501c4 lobbying group called Western Colorado Business Alliance that pours money from unknown sources into influencing local political campaigns. The Chamber is trying to take over Grand Junction politics and there are a lot of citizens in town now who have vowed to boycott Chamber-​member businesses. The City of Grand Junction withdrew its $ 6,000 annual membership in the Chamber in April, 2013, because it has become too politically partisan of an organization.