Lobbyist Appears Before Congress to Explain Fake Letters

2334368In June, lawmakers received letters ostensibly from the NAACP and local Hispanic, seniors, women and veterans groups stating that those organizations had serious reservations about the then-pending climate change legislation.

Eventually they learned the letters, which were printed on official stationary, weren't real: They had come from a D.C. lobbying group called Bonner and Associates, which is headed by Jack Bonner. (Here's one sample.) Yesterday Bonner was called before House lawmakers to explain the fake letters. He took responsibility, National Public Radio reports, but also claimed he knew nothing about them when they were drafted.

"This improper activity was undertaken without the knowledge of anyone at our firm. It was the actions of one rogue temporary employee, acting on his own, against our company's policies and without the knowledge of anyone else at Bonner and Associates," Bonner said. He said the employee had been fired.

TPM Muckraker, citing internal company documents, reported Thursday that the coal industry paid more than $7 million over the past fiscal year to a company that hired Bonner and Associates.

Falsely offering up evidence of ostensibly grassroots support for a particular position is known as "astroturfing," and it's a common tactic in Washington. NPR reports that to protest the practice, conservation activists showed up at the hearing in suits covered in fake plastic grass.

The climate bill ended up passing the House by a slim margin, 219-212, even though the Democrats have a sizable majority in the chamber.