Richard Tafoya
Aug 5th, 2009, 07:09 PM
NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/us/politics/05charity.html
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.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/us/politics/05charity.html
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.