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Sent: Wed, Aug 5, 2009 10:13 am
Subject: [energy activists] News: "Coal Group Linked to Fake Letters on 
Climate Bill"
 
Read this article online:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/us/politics/05charity.html?_r=1
 
 
COAL GROUP LINKED TO FAKE LETTERS ON CLIMATE BILL
August 5, 2009
New York Times
By Stephanie Strom
A trade group representing coal producers and power companies says that 
it indirectly hired a lobbying firm that sent fake letters to lawmakers
purporting to be from nonprofit groups opposed to climate-change
legislation.
The group, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, said in
statement Monday that it was considering legal action against the 
lobbying firm.
On Tuesday, staff members across Capitol Hill combed through 
constituent mail in search of other fake letters. The search began after
three 
members of Congress said they had received them.
A Washington lobbying firm, Bonner & Associates, has admitted sending 
the letters and said it had fired the person responsible.
The coal organization said it had hired the Hawthorn Group, a public
affairs consulting firm, to lobby against the legislation, and Hawthorn 
in turn hired Bonner. The coalition said it was indirectly the client on
whose behalf the letters had been sent, even though it deplored the
tactic.
?We are evaluating all possible measures ? including potential legal
action ? as part of our commitment to ensure that high ethical 
standards are followed when conducting outreach to community groups,
elected
officials and other members of the public,? the coalition said in a
statement.
Representative Edward J. Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat and a sponsor 
of the climate bill, has begun an investigation into whether the fake 
letters amount to fraud on Congress, and the Sierra Club has petitioned
the
Justice Department to bring criminal charges against Bonner for wire
fraud.
An aide said Mr. Markey hoped to combat the tactic of astroturfing in
which a professional lobbying effort is made to seem like a grass-roots
movement.
Since Representative Tom Perriello, Democrat of Virginia, revealed that 
he received fake letters late last week, two more House members 
Christopher P. Carney and Kathy Dahlkemper, both Pennsylvania Democrats,
have 
reported getting similar letters. The coal trade group said it thought
the 
problem was limited to those three representatives and a dozen letters.
Mr. Perriello received letters urging him to vote against the
environmental bill that purported to be from both Creciendo Juntos, a
loose network of nonprofit organizations that provide services to 
Latinos in the Charlottesville area of Virginia, and the 
Albemarle-Charlottesville chapter of the N.A.A.C.P.
?We support making the environment cleaner, but the reason we are 
writing is that we are concerned about our electric bills,? the letter
said. 
?Many of our members are on tight budgets, and the sizes of their monthly
utility bills are important expense items.?
Hilary Shelton, the N.A.A.C.P.?s senior vice president for advocacy and
policy, called the fake letters ?outrageous.? The group favors the
legislation, which it believes will lead to jobs as well as 
environmental benefits.
Mr. Perriello ended up voting for the legislation, the American Clean
Energy and Security Act, which passed the House in June and awaits 
action in the Senate.
Jack Bonner, the lobbying firm?s founder, said a temporary employee had
been responsible for the fake letters and was fired.
?This should not have happened,? Mr. Bonner said in an e-mail message. 
?We had a bad employee, but through our internal checks, we found the 
problem and on our own initiative took the step to notify the affected
group,?
Creciendo Juntos.
Bonner & Associates did not contact the Albemarle-Charlottesville
N.A.A.C.P., which was notified of the problem by Mr. Perriello?s office.
Gwynn Geiger Hegyi, a partner at Bonner, attributed the letters to a
?person on our staff? ? not a temporary employee ? in a July 22 letter 
to Creciendo Juntos?s legal counsel, Tim Freilich.
Mr. Freilich disputed Ms. Hegyi?s characterization of the matter as a
mistake.
?Sending an e-mail to the wrong address with a click of a button, 
that?s a mistake,? Mr. Freilich said. ?They stole our logo, they stole
our name,
they used our address, they created a position with a title, they 
created a name to hold that title and they sent the letter to Congressman
Perriello?s office.
?This was a carefully constructed, deliberately forged letter designed 
to make it appear that it came from our organization ? not a mistake.?
###
 
 
Christina Marie Yagjian
National Conservation Organizer
Sierra Club, Global Warming and Energy
202.675.7911
 
 
 
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