Coal Lobbyists Now ‘Outraged’ By Fraud, But Kept Silent During Clean Energy Vote
Coal Lobbyists Now ‘Outraged’ By Fraud, But Kept Silent During Clean Energy Vote
The top coal lobbying coalition in Washington, D.C. hid its knowledge of “fraudulent grassroots lobbying” while Congress voted against clean energy legislation on June 26, 2009. A background document from the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) reveals that it learned two days before the vote on Waxman-Markey that Bonner & Associates had sent a dozen forged letters opposing the American Clean Energy and Security Act to at least three members of the House of Representatives:
Due to reported misconduct by a Bonner and Associates employee (who the firm states was subsequently fired), it appears that a total of twelve falsified letters were sent by that firm to the offices of Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper, Congressman Christopher Carney and Congressman Tom Perriello.
Based upon information ACCCE received from the Hawthorn Group, it was Bonner and Associates’ own internal process that identified these falsified letters and it was Mr. Bonner who first brought this to the attention of the Hawthorn Group. ACCCE was then made aware of the situation by Hawthorn on June 24, 2009.
Two of the three members targeted by ACCCE — Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper (D-PA) and Rep. Chris Carney (D-PA) — voted against the bill on June 26th. However, despite its knowledge of this potentially criminal fraud, ACCCE said nothing until Rep. Perriello’s hometown paper, the Charlottesville Daily Progress, broke the story more than a month later on July 31st. On August 3rd, ACCCE released a statement that they were “outraged by the conduct of Bonner and Associates.”
Mirroring arguments made in the forged letters, Dahlkemper argued that “hardworking families simply cannot afford the additional costs that this legislation would impose on them” and Carney attacked the bill for “burdening hard-working Americans with a tax increase and without passing along increased energy bills to consumers.”
ACCCE, which spent $10.5 million last year lobbying Congress against mandatory limits on coal’s global warming pollution, refuses to admit which grassroots organizations in Pennsylvania were the victims of fraud in the letters sent to Dahlkemper and Carney.
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I’ll tell you who’s outraged…
ME!
August 4th, 2009 at 10:34 amI suppose there will be no investigation of this either!
August 4th, 2009 at 10:38 amOh, Please! I can hear the fake outrage now!
August 4th, 2009 at 10:38 amShaking my head >>> Outraged and even if they fired so called persons that did this they should still be made not to lobby for a few months.
Yes i know that would be in a semi perfect world.
August 4th, 2009 at 10:39 amAll the right wingers have is lies, forgeries, and fear-mongering.
Only the gullible , the ignorant, and the cowardly support them.
August 4th, 2009 at 10:43 amOnly the gullible, the ignorant, and the cowardly support them.
There were more than 46 MILLION of ‘em, last election…
August 4th, 2009 at 10:52 amOT:
White House uses Web against Drudge attack
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/Facts-Are-Stubborn-Things/
The three-minute White House video features Linda Douglass, a former network television correspondent and now White House Office of Health Reform communications director, sitting in front of a computer screen showing the Drudge Report Web site. That site carries a series of video clips from another blogger who strings together selected Obama statements on health care to make it appear he wants to eliminate the private health insurance business.
Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov
August 4th, 2009 at 10:55 amOn August 3rd, ACCCE released a statement that they were “outraged by the conduct of Bonner and Associates.”
Outraged that they got caught.
August 4th, 2009 at 10:56 amAnd this surprises who???
August 4th, 2009 at 10:57 amAmerica, it is time to OUTLAW all lobbying active, period.
August 4th, 2009 at 10:59 amThey pay off members of congress and line the pockets of the few at the cost of OUR COUNTRY.
ACCCE’s outrage is directed solely at the Bonner employees who did this and solely because for the money they pay Bonner for this obfuscation they expected their people to be slick enough to avoid getting caught.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:05 amWe can’t. There are five Republican corporatists on the Supreme Court. They are determined to finish the job of enslaving our country to the trans-national corporations. There is no way to stop them.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:13 amShoeless, there actually IS a way to stop them. There are a couple of ways.
Complete public financing of federal elections; corporations can’t lobby as a corporation; the only lobbies permitted would be interest groups; representatives can take NO corporate or interest group money…
And, finally, when they scream and take everyone to court, revisit Santa Clara v. Pacific Railroad (or whatever it was called) and once and for all read the decision and understand that it does not give corporations the rights of citizens under the 14th amendment.
And, if the court refuses to rule that corporations do not have the rights of individuals, then congress should pass laws as if corporations ARE individuals – corporations can not own other corporations; corporations must, at some point, die. If they want the rights of individuals, they should live by the same rules other “individuals” live under.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:23 amNinerFan, you don’t understand. Those five Republican corporatists are going to be on the Supreme Court for a long time. Next month, John Roberts, who spent his career as a corporate lawyer, is going to do a comprehensive review of corporate rights in a case involving corporate lobbying. The fascist five will undoubtedly rule that corporations have unlimited rights to buy our government and enslave our population.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:36 amWe’ll see, Shoeless. I don’t think Kennedy is as committed a corporatist as you think. I think Kennedy is waffling and is a potential problem for the other four. Not to mention the fact that people do die. Scalia and Thomas don’t look particularly healthy to me and Kennedy is getting very old.
August 4th, 2009 at 11:41 amshoeless says:
NinerFan, you don’t understand. Those five Republican corporatists are going to be on the Supreme Court for a long time. Next month, John Roberts, who spent his career as a corporate lawyer, is going to do a comprehensive review of corporate rights in a case involving corporate lobbying. The fascist five will undoubtedly rule that corporations have unlimited rights to buy our government and enslave our population
I’d expect Sotomayor to vote with the majority on the matter, too. She’s every bit as much a corporRat as Roberts, or Ed-Meese-clone, Kennedy…
We have a winner!
August 4th, 2009 at 11:43 amAmerica, it is time to OUTLAW all lobbying active, period.
They pay off members of congress and line the pockets of the few at the cost of OUR COUNTRY.
August 4th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Great idea…
Except for the Buckley decision…which ain’t going nowheres…
August 4th, 2009 at 11:45 amKennedy may be a moderate on many issues, but it is my understanding that he has consistantly voted for corporate rights. also, I think token liberal may be correct about Sotomayor. We could have a 6-3 vote in favor of a fascist state.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:07 pmWhat is that movie quote ? Something like:
Gambling in Morocco. I’m shocked I tell you, just shocked.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:45 pmWhen is someone in authority going to make the point that the dots all connect.
The people running this fraud are ex-repub congressmen who are still palling around with their pals on capitol hill.
They remain part of the club.
August 4th, 2009 at 12:48 pmOf course this is an isolated incident and in no way reflects on the actions of lobbyists in general.
August 4th, 2009 at 3:35 pmWhere has this country gone? Orwell here we come.
Up is down.
Right is left.
Good is bad.
GREAT. I was born and raised in WV, a major coal-mining state, but I currently live in Dahlkemper’s district in PA. No one who is familiar with the fight over the future of coal in Appalachia (and those who are familiar unfortunately are still mostly pro-corporate coal folks) would for one second believe that the lobbies are unaware of the sleazy underhanded tactics being used to keep the coal industry alive and well (see my separate explanation and plea here.) The major electricity provider in our area, Pennelec, is a user of MTR coal (which is worse than regularly mined deep shaft coal). But Dahlkemper, in talking about “cost” in the electric bills of her constituents, apparently doesn’t know about the true cost of the coal industry behind the scenes. Not many do.
Why? Because the drumbeat of false and misleading rhetoric goes on. There can be a “clean coal”. There are “safe and responsible ways” to get at these deposits. There is a bright future for coal. And if you are against that, you are not just against a dishonest, reckless industry driven by short-sighted greed and a disregard for the environment. You are against Appalachia, its heritage, and its people. You are an outsider or a traitor. You are against families and against tradition. You must be liberal, or duped by a liberal which explains why you are against “Big Coal”.
These outdated industries, which are taking down whole communities with them as they die and which are polluting and destroying the environment along the way, are using the politicians they keep in their pockets to cloud the issue and claim it is their opponents who are against free enterprise, the welfare of working families, etc. True innovation which could allow entrepreneurs to create newer greener industries are opposed, and somehow all of this is then connected with issues like gay marriage and gun rights. Sound like a familiar pattern? The problems facing Appalachia and the coal industry and the political rhetoric and maneuvering surrounding them are like a microcosm reflecting the larger issues facing our society.
Our fellow citizens are having the land around them blasted from verdant green and wild mountains into a moonscape while deep shaft miners continue work in unsafe conditions. Meanwhile, the scenery and wildlife are being decimated and the air, soil, and water are being poisoned. If we can’t do something about this, what hope does the rest of our nation have?
August 5th, 2009 at 12:56 am