Sensenbrenner and the Chamber

I speculated in a recent post about what Rep. F. Jim Sensenbrenner could want to say to the US Chamber of Commerce so desperately that he would use his chit on a pro-CAFTA vote to get an audience with the Chamber CEO, Thomas Donahue.

Here's a theory advanced by one of the people in the Xoff Files' Washington Bureau.

Sen. Russ Feingold asked, in a Green Bay Press Gazette op ed:

"Why won’t Congress stand up for working Americans and business owners and against more painful trade-offs being made in the name of a deeply flawed trade policy?

Perhaps the answer comes from a recently reported story where “a prominent business leader ... laid it on the line: Business groups are prepared to cut off campaign contributions to House members who oppose the pact.” The story said that Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, warned recently during a meeting on Capitol Hill, “If you [lawmakers] are going to vote against it, it’s going to cost you.”

The story he referred to was in the Washington Post, headlined, "CAFTA in Peril on Capitol Hill, One Business Leader Gives Lawmakers an Ultimatum." Link.

Sensenbrenner got the message, doesn't like to be threatened, and wanted to tell Donohue that personally, the theory goes. Best explanation I've heard so far. Others?