The Plum Line:

I’ve obtained a new poll done for the Environmental Defense Fund which found that in three conserva-Dem districts, backing cap and trade vote may not be a huge risk, after all. The poll, done by respected Dem firm Garin Hart Yang, found:

* In Blue Dog Dem Heath Shuler’s North Carolina dictrict, cap and trade is supported by 55% of voters, versus 29% opposed.

* In Blue Dog Dem Baron Hill’s Indiana district, cap and trade is supported by 45%, versus 30% opposed.

* In Dem Rep. Tom Perriello’s conservative Virginia district, cap and trade is supported by 42%, versus 25% opposed.

“We went into three districts where conventional wisdom held that Demorats took a tough vote on cap and trade,” Allan Rivlin, a partner with Garin Hart Yang, told me. “The poll shows that it didn’t hurt these members in these districts. It actually helps them. Even in districts that are represented by moderate or conservative Democrats, supporting action on climate change is the popular position to take.”

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Waxman-Markey Forged Letter Investigation Update: 5 More Letters Revealed, Dozens Still Must be Verified:

A Congressional investigation has discovered five new letters fraudulently sent without consent to Congress on a key energy and climate vote. These new letters purport to represent elderly services organizations and senior centers.

Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) released the letters today as part of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming’s ongoing investigation into the extent of fraudulent letters sent by Bonner & Associates — a so-called “astroturf” group subcontracted by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity — to influence members of Congress on the recently-passed Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill.

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Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming press release via email.

Faked Letters From Elderly Services and Senior Centers; Chairman Markey Demands Full Review of Remaining Letters

WASHINGTON (August 18, 2009) A Congressional investigation has discovered five new letters fraudulently sent without consent to Congress on a key energy and climate vote. These new letters purport to represent elderly services organizations and senior centers.

Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) released the letters today as part of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming’s ongoing investigation into the extent of fraudulent letters sent by Bonner & Associates — a so-called “astroturf” group subcontracted by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity — to influence members of Congress on the recently-passed Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill.

The dozen letters revealed today brings the total number of fraudulent letters to 13, now representing 9 different community groups. The letters released today were staged to appear as if they were sent by groups representing senior citizen services like the non-profit Erie Center on Health & Aging. Previous letters already made public were from the Charlottesville NAACP chapter, Creciendo Juntos, a hispanic advocacy organization, the Jefferson Area Board on Aging, and the American Association of University Women.

The letters released today are also the first set to show that letters were sent to Pennsylvania members Kathy Dahlkemper (D-Pa.) and Christopher Carney (D-Pa.), along with Tom Perriello (D-Va.). A full list of all the letters, with links to copies of the documents, is included below.

“Weve seen fear-mongering with our nations senior citizens with health care, and now were seeing fraud-mongering with senior citizens on clean energy,” said Chairman Markey. “Lately, democratic debate has been deceptively debased by fake facts and harsh rhetoric. We must return to an honest discussion of the issues, and ensure that this sort of campaign does not further poison the well of trustworthy debate.”

The letters were sent to the Select Committee in response to investigatory letters to Bonner & Associates and ACCCE. Dozens of letters still remain that must be verified as genuine or false–all told, 58 letters were sent to the three members of Congress. Chairman Markey has called on ACCCE and Bonner & Associates to fully verify whether the remaining several dozen letters were sent under false pretenses, or if they represent the views of the signers.

Below is a list of all fraudulent letters now received by the Select Committee:

Perriello:
Senior Center Inc., Charlottesville, VA
Creciendo Juntos, Charlottesville, VA [previously made public]
Jefferson Area Board on Aging, Charlottesville, VA [previously made public]
American Association of University Women, Charlottesville, VA [previously made public]
NAACP-Charlottesville, Charlottesville, VA [5 letters] [previously made public]
NAACP-1, NAACP-2, NAACP-3, NAACP-4, NAACP-5

Dahlkemper:
Slippery Rock Senior Center, Slippery Rock, PA
Erie Center on Health & Aging, Eire, PA
Butler Senior Center, Lyndora, PA

Carney:
Dunmore Senior Citizens Center, Dunmore, PA

From the transcript:

Let me give you another example of what‘s being passed off as politics right now by lobbying interests on the political right.

When the climate change bill came before the House last month, the Democratic congressman named Tom Perriello of Virginia received a letter purportedly from a nonprofit Hispanic group in his district, and the letter urged him to oppose the cap-and-trade legislation. He received similar letters from what were purportedly his local branches of the NAACP. Only, these letters weren‘t actually from that Hispanic group in his district or the NAACP. A Republican lobbying firm in Washington has admitted to impersonating those local nonprofits and sending Congressman Perriello fake letters to get him to oppose the climate change legislation.

Congress is now investigating this incident.

A burst of developments Monday considerably raised the profile of the latest attempt by polluting industries to thwart environmental legislation. This story has been moving quickly, so here is a quick timeline of how things have unfolded over the past few days. If I missed anything major, please let me know:

Friday

• The Charlottesville Daily Progress reported on a series of forged letters from community organizations, fraudulently sent by lobbyists to Congressman Tom Perriello of Virginia. The letters, written in opposition to the American Clean Energy and Security Act, failed to dissuade Congressman Perriello, who voted for the legislation.
• Representative Ed Markey immediately announced his plans to launch an investigation, calling the letters an “appalling abuse.”
• Senator John Kerry posted a rapid response diary on Daily Kos.
• The lobbying firm responsible for sending the letters, Bonner and Associates, blamed the incident on a temporary employee and tried to downplay the situation.
• Think Progress outlined Bonner and Associates’ long history of shady tactics.
• Avaaz.org took to K Street in protest of the naked fraud.

Over the weekend, more traditional outlets took notice, with stories from NYT, WaPO, WSJ, Politico and AP.

Monday

• Sierra Club announced a major beltway ad buy, and fired off a letter to Attorney General Holder urging investigations.
• Move On launched a position asking the DOJ to conduct “an investigation into whether the firm, Bonner & Associates, committed fraud, and how often they’ve done this.”
• Credo Mobile sent an email to their list petitioning A.G. Holder to “investigate and prosecute” dirty coal’s fraudulent tactics.”
• The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a front group for the coal industry, was exposed as the client Bonner and Associates sent the letters for.
• ACCCE released a statement, feigning ‘outrage’ and the ‘deception’. A. Siegel is outraged too.
• Sierra Club continued ratcheting up the pressure, again urging the DOJ to act.
• Pete Altman at NRDC reminded us of the difficulty ACCCE had getting all of their lobbying expenditures right last quarter.
• Representative Markey sent a harshly worded letter to Jack Bonner with 14 poignant questions. TPM notes that Markey’s Subcommittee has subpoena powers.

An ACCCE-produced Bonner and Associates Background Document, obtained late Monday by EnviroKnow, sheds additional new light on the extent of the fraud (emphasis mine):

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.

Six forged letters, all sent to Congressman Perriello, had been acknowledged previously. While Congressman Perriello remained unswayed by the letters, and voted in support of the legislation, Reps. Dahlkemper and Carney both did not. This raises the very real possibility that Members of Congress were influenced by fraudulent letters paid for by the coal industry, and voted against environmental regulation as a result of this influence. Given the razor thin margin and last-minute negotiations surrounding the House vote, this was a clear attempt by both Bonner and Associates and ACCCE to subvert the Democratic process. Now, we can’t say for with 100% certainty that fraudulent letters persuaded any particular Member of Congress to oppose the legislation, but that was certainly the intent. To make matters worse, the background document includes ACCCE’s less-than-inspiring “belief” that the fraudulent letters were limited to the three congressional districts mentioned previously:

Due to assurances that Bonner and Associates provided to Hawthorn, and Hawthorn subsequently communicated to ACCCE, we believe this matter to be limited to the three congressional districts mentioned above. However, we are in the process of verifying all contacts made by Bonner and Associates with respect to this project.

The folks who lied their way into this mess are not going to get to the bottom of it on their own. Chairman Markey has generously given Mr. Bonner nine days to respond to his questions. The Department of Justice should move forward in the meantime with separate investigations.

Full background on this story here.

And more from the Wonk Room:

The coal industry’s top front group has admitted to hiring Bonner & Associates to block clean energy reform. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), a public-relations juggernaut funded by electric utilities, mining corporations, and other coal interests to derail mandatory limits on global warming pollution, “acknowledged” paying for Bonner’s “outreach” fraud — the forging of letters from civil rights organizations opposing the American Clean Energy and Security Act.

ACCCE – Bonner and Associates Background Document –

Via email.

Also see: Sierra Club’s newspaper ads and letter to DOJ.

Washington, D.C.—In response to reports indicating that Washington, D.C. lobbying firm Bonner & Associates sent forged letters in opposition to comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation, Sierra Club today formally urged the Department of Justice to open a criminal probe. In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Sierra Club lays out possible violations of federal criminal law and requests that a formal investigation.

Print ads highlighting the controversy will also appear in Roll Call, The Hill, CongressDaily, Politico, and Congressional Quarterly on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.
Late this afternoon the coal industry group American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity issued a statement acknowledging a relationship with Bonner but denouncing any potentially illegal activity. Thinkprogress also has evidence of more possible fake letters opposed to the bill arriving in other congressional offices.

Statement of Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director

“We believe the allegations against Bonner and Associates are so serious that they merit immediate investigation by the Department of Justice. These kind of dirty tricks have no place in our democracy. Bonner needs to come clean about what they did and be held accountable. Both the coal industry’s ACCCE and Bonner have denounced the sneaky tactics and firmly placed blame elsewhere. It is clear that the Department of Justice and Congress may be the only ones can really figure out who is responsible for these dirty tricks.

“Big Oil, Big Coal and other special have already spent more than $100 million to kill a comprehensive clean energy jobs and climate plan. By faking these letters, Bonner and the special interests they represent admit that an army of lobbyists and hundreds of millions of dollars still can’t overcome real grassroots power. This just proves we need to redouble our efforts to demonstrate how much real support there is for clean energy jobs.

“We applaud Chairman Markey for calling on Bonner to come clean. We urge the Justice Department to also investigate this matter.”
Sierra Club Letter to DOJ

Statement from Americaspower.org:

ALEXANDRIA, VA – Statement on behalf of Stephen L. Miller, President and CEO of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE), in response to falsified constituent contacts made to congressional offices by Bonner and Associates:

“We are outraged at the conduct of Bonner and Associates. Bonner and Associates was hired by the Hawthorn Group – our primary grassroots contractor – to do limited outreach earlier this year on H.R. 2454. Based upon the information we have, it is clear that an employee of Bonner’s firm failed to demonstrate the integrity we demand of all our contractors and subcontractors. As a result, these egregious actions led to falsified letters being sent to Members of Congress.

“ACCCE has always maintained high ethical and professional standards. In this case, the standards and practices that we require for grassroots advocacy outreach were not adhered to by Bonner and Associates. In this sense, the community groups involved, the Members of Congress who received the fraudulent letters, as well as ACCCE,
were all victimized by this misconduct.

“ACCCE has initiated an extensive review to gather all relevant facts pertaining to this situation. Additionally, we are evaluating all possible measures – including potential legal action – as a 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.

“Over the past ten years, ACCCE’s public outreach program, as managed by the Hawthorn Group, has enabled more than 100,000 constituents to legitimately communicate with their elected and appointed officials on behalf of energy and environmental policies that sustain economic growth. We are proud of this work, and will continue to promote policies that will advance environmental progress, greater energy security, and economic prosperity in the United States.

Because of Bonner and Associates’ misconduct, we apologize to the community groups and the Members of Congress involved. There is no place for this type of deception. We applaud efforts to ensure that everyone involved in the public policy dialogue lives up to the highest ethical standards.”

Remember the story about the lobbying firm that was caught last week forging anti clean energy legislation letters to members of Congress? Of course you do. The Sierra Club has no intention whatsoever of letting this story die.

Here is the ad that will run Tuesday and Wednesday in CQ, CongressDaily, Politico, The Hill, and Roll Call.

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And here is the letter they have just sent to Attorney General Holder:

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The Charlottesville Daily Progress has the context:

As U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello was considering how to vote on an important piece of climate change legislation in June, the freshman congressman’s office received at least six letters from two Charlottesville-based minority organizations voicing opposition to the measure.

The letters, as it turns out, were forgeries.

“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 nonprofit network that tackles issues related to Charlottesville’s Hispanic community. “It’s this type of activity that undermines Americans’ faith in democracy.”

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Update: Representative Ed Markey plans to launch a Congressional investigation:

“This fraud on Congress shows that some opponents of clean energy have resorted to forgery and theft to block progress.“This is an appalling abuse, and Congressman Tom Perriello deserves great credit for seeing through it and casting a vote that will create clean energy jobs in Virginia and throughout the United States. I encourage all Members of Congress to be on the lookout for other suspicious and illegal materials.

“My Select Committee will immediately begin an investigation of the extent and scope of this activity.”

Update 2: John Kerry has a blog post about this at Daily Kos.