During Forged Letter Investigation Hearing, Coal Industry Lies Under Oath About Its Lobbying History
During Forged Letter Investigation Hearing, Coal Industry Lies Under Oath About Its Lobbying History
Today, the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming held a hearing investigating fraudulent letters forged by Bonner & Associates on behalf of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) to attack the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454). As the Wonk Room’s Brad Johnson has reported, ACCCE President and CEO Steve Miller lied under oath when he told the committee that his organization has never opposed clean energy legislation.
Later during the hearing, Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA) asked Miller about the purpose of ACCCE. Miller replied that in addition to grassroots lobbying (astroturfing) and state-based lobbying, his front group has only began federal lobbying in “April of 2008″ in its “16 year history”:
INSLEE: Your entire goal of your organization is to influence Congress. Is that right?
MILLER: We do work at the state level, we do regulatory matters, we do general education to the public. So, the federal, direct federal lobbying has only been part of our portfolio since April of 2008 with a 16 year history of the organization.
Watch it:
Miller’s claim is another example of the coal industry’s perjury under oath. In a six month period of 2007 alone, ACCCE, under its previous name of Americans for Balanced Energy Choices, spent $2,660,000 lobbying the federal government. Senate disclosures show that the organization has spent millions more lobbying since 2001.
ACCCE was formed in 2008, according to its website, with the combined “assets and missions of the Center for Energy and Economic Development (CEED) and Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC).” So when Miller noted his 16 year history, he was referring to the lobbying efforts of the coal industry’s previous incarnations, ABEC and CEED.
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They lied under oath, why aren’t they in court for perjury?
October 29th, 2009 at 2:43 pmHey Faiz, any news on Bonner’s testimony today regarding forged letters that his firm sent to members of Congress?
October 29th, 2009 at 2:49 pmIt would be nice if one of these politicans had all of the facts about these companies they investigate before they start talking with them. It would have been nice to hear Inslee come back with, “Are you sure that you want to let that coment stand on the record?”. But noooo. They never give it back to them so the company keeps getting away with all of the crap they can get away with.
October 29th, 2009 at 2:49 pmThis site is bad for my temper, every time I come on I hear, I get to bear witness to some new level of corruption foisted on us by corporate lobbysits and special interest Groups. You’re not the government, stay the F@#K out of legislation, you lying bastards!
October 29th, 2009 at 2:51 pmA Patriot Acting says:
See TPMmuckraker. Zac has been writing about it.
October 29th, 2009 at 2:51 pmLies. That’s OK. Congress has a knack for condoning them.
October 29th, 2009 at 2:52 pmAnd Mr Inslee responded…
*crickets*
October 29th, 2009 at 2:52 pmThanks IgnoranceIsNotBliss
October 29th, 2009 at 2:53 pmtheswan says
October 29th, 2009 at 2:53 pmAnd congress needs a kick in the ass for allowing this crap to happen. So does the Senate for that matter.
Educate the public: Coal is good to eat, have a bowl full kiddies.
October 29th, 2009 at 2:53 pmTemper, temper swabbie.
October 29th, 2009 at 2:54 pmI’m not completely convinced that this is perjury.
Sen. Inslee asked him about ACCCE – that company (or as Inslee called it, the “front group”) was formed in 2008, with the “with the combined assets and missions of the Center for Energy and Economic Development (CEED) and Americans for Balanced Energy Choices (ABEC)”. That’s a completely new entity.
ABEC basically ceased to exist when the merger occurred. It was noted in the story that ABEC “spent $2,660,000 lobbying the federal government”, and “millions more lobbying since 2001″, which ended in 2008 with the merger.
So it’s very shady on Miller’s part, but I believe that he’s not really perjuring himself. Inslee is linking all of the organizations when he asked specifically about ACCCE. Miller answered in reference to ACCCE.
Thoughts? Am I missing something?
October 29th, 2009 at 2:55 pmLying liars. As easily as they breathe, they lie.
I see coal trains two miles long snaking through my city. Heading east, full. Heading west, empty. From Wyoming. Millions and millions of tons of coal.
All that money has a life of its own. No wonder they lie.
October 29th, 2009 at 2:56 pmtheswan says:
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Temper, temper swabbie
October 29th, 2009 at 2:59 pmSwabbie? Lol, ok I do need to settle down, you’re right. I can’t help getting upset though when what should be a simple solution gets mired down by people who money at lawyers to insure they get their way. And when they do, we the people end up suffering.
*Throw money at lawyers
October 29th, 2009 at 3:00 pmSee, I’m so aggravated I forgot to add words.
Dave N, so you’re ok with any kind of misleading statement as long as it doesn’t cross a specific line?
October 29th, 2009 at 3:00 pmThis guy lied under oath. Shouldn’t Congress charge him with perjury?
Oh, wait…he just lied about illegal lobbying activities that cause irreparable harm to the environment and to the health of the people at large.
It’s not like he lied about getting a blowjob or anything…
October 29th, 2009 at 3:00 pmThere are too many acronyms in this post. (TATMAITP)
Just sayin’…
October 29th, 2009 at 3:02 pmINSLEE: Your entire goal of your organization is to influence Congress. Is that right?
Now, if he really did respond truthfully…
MILLER: Influence, Shmimfluence. Our goal is to bribe Congress, miseducate the public and spread disinformation, mislead you and yours with our forged letters, basically, sir, to destroy the environment while reaping obscene profits.
You know, Republican things.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:03 pmDave N.,
It’s the same organization, though…so long as Miller was present and around (and not completely blind, deaf, and dumb) to the lobbying activities of ACCCE, I think it still constitutes perjury.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:03 pmFred,
I didn’t say I was OK with it – I think it’s pretty scummy, but I think legally, he’s not committing perjury. There’s a loophole there, and he’s exploiting it, big-time.
We all see what he’s doing, but I doubt that anyone’s going to be able to make perjury stick, if he gets called on it.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:03 pmMoney does the talkin. Lawyers do the lying. If they only rhymed.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:05 pmDave N, what about when he uses the same method to squirm out of issuing the forged letters. We gonna let that go too?
October 29th, 2009 at 3:05 pmNow will they really investigate and follow up, or will they have a nice inquiry and issue a report 3 years later that says nothing.
Reminds me of a tirade in Lord of the Flies about their assemblies: Assemblies, Assemblies, don’t we just love assemblies.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:08 pm@22, it would sound better, but let’s face it, you can polish BS till it shines, it’s still BS.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:08 pmI think they have him on the forged letters. Forgery is pretty straightforward there. Again, not so sure on the perjury. I’m not saying it’s right, just that he may be able to squirm out of it.
Example – the company I work for just got acquired this week, and basically, we’re a new company, as of January 1, 2010. Everything stays the same except for the upper management structure. But our old company ceases to exist as the entity it’s been. I think that’s where he’s coming from. He’s weaseling his way out by using a change in corporate structure.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:11 pmSteve Miller, he’s a Joker.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:12 pmOh, please. Everyone knows that the coal industry has been
October 29th, 2009 at 3:13 pmthe Porky Pig of lobbying and subsidies for over a century.
There is a power plant here in Oklahoma, in an area surrounded by rivers, dams, and natural gas that is operated by coal brought in by train. The air around it is the dirtiest in the state.
All for the love of pork!
Fred, I don’t think Dave N is saying we should let it go that the dude is lying; he’s just saying that it seems like it might fall short of legal perjury.
Doesn’t mean it’s not a lie, just that a prosecution of the offense would likely be futile.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:14 pmSo they can do anything and not be held accoutable as long as it happens before Jan 1 2010?
Something just doesn’t add up there. I see what you are saying but I’m not for allowing such loopholes for them.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:15 pmRalph – thanks. That’s basically what I was trying to say. I just wasn’t doing it very succinctly.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:15 pmRalph, I agree and I’m not upset with Dave N. I just think they should not be allowed to build firewalls like that.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:17 pmFred,
No – just that anything that happens before Jan 1 is treated as the “old” company, and anything that happens Jan 1 or later is treated as the “new” company. 2 separate entities.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:17 pmYeah Xe isn’t responsible for anything that Blackwater did.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:18 pmand Haliburton is no longer responsible for anything KBR did now that KBR separated from them.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:18 pmSo in today’s testimony, Jack Bonner tried to claim that the forged letters were all the work of an un-named temp at the agency. I have a few silly questions that I’m sure were not asked at today’s hearing: What multimillion dollar lobby group gives this kind of responsibility to a freeking TEMP? Are we to believe that this temp had no supervisor or someone at the firm who would oversee what he/she was doing? We read about the first few forgeries within days of their arrival at Senate offices but Bonner & Assocs did not act to stop the dozen or so other forged letters that followed. Nor did Bonner, who learned of the forgeries well before the vote on the Hill, did not contact all of the Senators involved to make them aware of the forgeries. Now we are being told that it was just a temp and nobody knew what he/she was up to. Does anyone honestly believe that Bonner and the man who hired their firm Miller were not complicite in these crimes? Both of these scumbags need a cozy cell where they can spend their days away from the rest of civilization. Sadly nothing will come of this. Lying to Congress in in style now thanks to Rove, Gonzales, Cheney, Bush etal. Republiscum have no respect for the law that they claim to uphold so dearly. Just a pack of slimy rats hawking lies and fear with a wink and a smile.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:19 pmAnd the original doesn’t even exist anymore and so they can’t be held responsible? See hellinabucket’s post at 34.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:20 pmDave N: the problem is Miller’s own testimony. In the same sentence, he’s saying his organization has only been lobbying since April 2008, and then immediately thereafter says his organization has been around for 16 years.
Thus, as Lee points out in the post, he’s clearly talking about the prior incarnations of ACCCE being the same “organization”, and since those prior incarnations were lobbying Congress well before April 2008, that’s perjury — either in stating how long the organization has existed, or in stating how long the organization has been lobbying Congress. Both parts of that sentence can’t be true.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:22 pmSorry — inaccurate final statement in #38; I meant to say that the two parts of that sentence can’t both be true…
October 29th, 2009 at 3:25 pmI’m not sure if ACCCE is responsible for anything that ABEC did, but, aren’t the people who ran the “company” still held accountable for the “company’s” actions since the “company” is supposed to have the rights of people?
October 29th, 2009 at 3:25 pmDog,
Jeez, I feel scuzzy for sounding like I’m defending this creep…but I’m guessing that he’s referring to ACCCE as part of the organization, but only one arm of the it (that started in 2008), and differentiating it from ABEC, which ended in 2008 and was folded into ACCCE.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:29 pmDave N. nothing I wrote was directed at you personally it’s just that the names may change but the motives remain the same.
The PNAC closed shop a little while ago but their ideals live on like mold.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:41 pmSame here Dave. It’s just a case of us not wanting to hear that these worms might be able to squirm off of the hook again.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:53 pmDon’t fret or worry no one in Congress will dare to hold his feet to the coal fire.
October 29th, 2009 at 5:11 pm