(Originally published on December 7, 2010)

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is under fire from some local chambers over its hard-hitting $75 million ad campaign to elect a Republican House, with dozens of groups distancing themselves from the effort and a handful even quitting the national group in protest.

“We were getting pounded. We felt here, in central Pennsylvania, that the ads they were running were not professional ads,” said David Wise, president of the Chamber of Business and Industry of Centre County, which is considering dropping its national membership. “This was not a unifying event. It was divisive.”

More than 40 local chambers issued statements during the midterms distancing themselves from the U.S. Chamber’s campaign — including nearly every major local chamber in Iowa and New Hampshire, key states for the presidential campaign.

Other chambers plan to take the extraordinary step of ending their affiliation with the U.S. Chamber.

The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce in Pennsylvania was seriously considering dropping its affiliation with the national group after its leaders reported being inundated with angry — and sometimes profanity-laced — telephone calls from people objecting to the U.S. Chamber-backed ads, according to an official familiar with the internal discussions. On Wednesday, the Philadelphia group announced that it has decided to maintain its membership.

“We recognize value in that membership, and the services that they offer,” a statement read. “However, our positions are not dictated by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.”

At the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce in Washington, officials hope to avoid a similar discussion about nonrenewal of its membership. “What we’d prefer to do at this point is have conversations with the U.S. Chamber representatives, so we can be more respectful of each other’s constituencies,” said George Allen, senior vice president of government relations with the Seattle Chamber.

The U.S. Chamber prides itself on a take-no-prisoners approach to power in Washington. Community-based chambers generally operate in a manner that encourages bipartisanship and consensus while shunning the edgy partisanship that became the hallmark of the national office’s 2010 political strategy.

Smoothing over that friction now is important because it could carry legislative and political consequences.

Passage of business-friendly policy in the next Congress could hinge on a robust grass-roots lobbying push — with participation from local chambers, including those that still have ties to the moderate Democrats subjected to the U.S. Chamber’s firepower.

Tony Sheridan, president of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut, said “it all kind of backfired in Connecticut. All of our Democratic congressmen won. Now, we have to deal with the fallout.”

Looking ahead to the 2012 elections, if more local chambers publicly declare their independence, it could undermine the power and credibility of attacks launched from the Washington office.

In Iowa, Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley survived an onslaught of U.S. Chamber attack ads in part because he circulated disclaimers issued by his local chambers.

To be sure, local chambers are not abandoning the national office in droves, and some of those complaining don’t belong to the national group, according to POLITICO reporting and information assembled by U.S. Chamber Watch, an anti-Chamber website.

Bill Miller, the U.S. Chamber’s senior vice president for political affairs and federation relations and national political director, said 2,600 state and local chambers belong to the national body, and most have been more supportive than ever of the organization’s political operation.

In Ohio, Missouri, California and West Virginia, some local chamber leaders joined Miller on stage when he endorsed Republican candidates for federal offices. In 2008, only one did, he said.

“It was an unprecedented number of state and local chambers that came out of the place they never want to go to and supported our political efforts,” he said.

Still, some local Chamber officials say complaints about the U.S. Chamber’s ad campaign went unheeded.

Wise shared his concerns with state and national Chamber officials in a pre-election conference call with little effect. “They concluded that this may have been an effort that was worth breaking eggs [over] or worth losing members over. I’m not sure at the local level that very many of us agree with that,” he added.