Anti-climate change letter from minority groups is forged: what a surprise

Craig Pittman, environmental journalist and co-author of "Paving Paradise", writes a blog for the St. Pete Times; The Fueling Station. If you haven't read "Paving Paradise" yet, you should. Here's a recent post: "Minority group letters urging congressman to vote against climate bill turn out to be forged". The fossil fuel industry will stop at nothing to sow doubt and confusion about global warming.

July 31, 2009

Minority group letters urging congressman to vote against climate bill turn out to be forged


As freshman Democratic U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello was considering how to vote on the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 back in June, the Virginia congressman received at least six letters from two minority organizations urging him to vote no.

"The letters, as it turns out, were forgeries," reports the Charlottesville, Va., Daily Progress.

“They stole our name. They stole our logo. They created a position title and made up the name of someone to fill it. They forged a letter and sent it to our congressman without our authorization,” said Tim Freilich, who sits on the executive committee of Creciendo Juntos, a Hispanic advocacy group in Perriello's district.

The other five forged letters were purportedly from the Albemarle-Charlottesville branch of the NAACP -- an organization which actually supports the bill, better known as Waxman-Markey.

Turns out the forgeries came from Bonner & Associates, "a DC-based lobbying firm specializing in organizing grassroots and minority efforts for big business," Politico says. "The firm, run by Jack Bonner, a former RNC official and aide to late Sen. John Heinz (R-Penn.), has represented the energy and coal industries in the past." It has also been accused in the past of creating fake grassroots campaigns, something known as "astroturf."

After the story broke, Bonner faxed out a statement blaming a temporary employee who has since been fired, according to Talking Points Memo. However, Bonner still has not identified who his client is.

Incidentally, the Daily Progress reports that "Perriello ultimately voted in favor of the bill, which narrowly passed the House on June 26 in a 219 to 212 vote." Meanwhile his press secretary, Jessica Barba, told the paper: "Spreading false information is not healthy for real debate in our democracy. Congressman Perriello voted in favor of the bill because of its potential to create clean energy jobs, which is why the NAACP and many other groups supported the legislation in the first place.”

[U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello]