By Jacquelynn D. Powers, Photographs: Tomas Muscionico

his being Las Vegas, the Chamber of Commerce is not the typical municipal group found in other cities across America. And Kara Kelley, president and CEO of the Chamber, is not the usual staid representative with a gavel and a narrow agenda. For one thing, she is sexy, dynamic and poised (think Wonder Woman Lynda Carter in a three-piece suit). Most significantly, the pro-business Kelley presides over a 7,000-member-strong organization and runs it like a Fortune 500 company. In this capacity, Kara endorses candidates, hosts nontraditional networking events and organizes educational seminars. "We are dedicated solely to being advocates for our members in the business community," she says. "I work to keep the economy strong and thriving, and to keep government off the backs of business so that business can do what it does well, which is grow the market and create jobs."

Kelley also prides herself on taking the chamber-of-commerce concept into the 21st century. "No matter where you are from, there is a chamber of commerce," she explains. "People are familiar and comfortable with them. Chambers equate to Main Street, U.S.A. Some chambers do what we call the three P's: pancakes, parades and pageants. Other chambers are much more sophisticated advocates for business. That's the category we fall into." In fact, the Las Vegas branch is the third-largest metropolitan chamber in the country, with an annual budget of $8 million.

The Las Vegas Chamber dates back to 1911, when the city was six years old. "The Chamber was the place where the early business leaders and visionaries made this city into something great," Kara emphasizes. "I'm not sure if I would have had that vision 100 years ago. It took great tenacity and commitment. This Chamber has a very proud history with the growth and development of Las Vegas. We supported the building of the Hoover Dam and helped create the Live Wire Fund, which was the first [initiative] to promote tourism in Southern Nevada. That was the precursor to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which is now one of the leading convention and visitors bureaus in the world. We helped found the Las Vegas Valley Water District and the Better Business Bureau. In the last 15 to 20 years, we've been strongly involved with politics and policy."

While chambers in other cities eschew political debate, Kelley and her staff of 63 leap right into the fray—from backing candidates to disseminating issues. "We take our position as an advocate for business very seriously," says Kelley, who also sits on the board of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. "We have to stand up for the business community, particularly for the small businesses who can't stand up for themselves. Small businesses are too busy working the front counter, doing payroll at night and trying to keep the lights on to worry about what the government is trying to do to them. We watch out for them. We are active at the state legislature. We have a full-time team up there. We do work on federal issues, too. We don't have a full-time presence in Washington, D.C., but we do communicate and lobby them from home."

The Chamber's members appreciate the organization's zeal in going to battle for them over policies that will affect business. But the Chamber has also alienated members with its stance on certain issues, such as in 2003 when the MGM Mirage group dropped its membership over a tax debate. "In any political situation, you win some and you lose some," Kara says. "We are pretty effective. We're the place people go to when they want to know what's happening with the business community. Another indication is that people like to take shots at us. If we weren't effective, what we say and do wouldn't matter."

Currently, Kelley and the Chamber are fighting the "awful, awful" union-sponsored H.R. 800, the Employee Free Choice Act (the act would change federal law to make it easier for employees to unionize and increase penalties for employers who try to prevent workers from forming a union). "This bill would change the rules of how unions can organize workplaces so fundamentally that it would undermine America's competitiveness," Kelley says ...

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