By Phil Mattera, Dirt Diggers Digest

As the Yes Men have shown with
their impersonations, misrepresentation is sometimes the best way to
convey a larger truth. That same lesson has been demonstrated, albeit
unintentionally, by the lobbying firm Bonner & Associates, which
was just exposed
as having forged letters from non-profit organizations to members of
Congress expressing opposition to the climate bill. In this case, the
larger truth is that much of the support that corporate interests claim
for their policy positions is bogus.

The story came to light thanks to the Charlottesville (Virginia) Daily
Progress, which revealed
that the office of Rep. Tom Perriello had received letters urging him
to vote against the climate bill from two local civil rights
organizations -- Creciendo Juntos and the Albemarle-Charlottesville
branch of the NAACP -- that were discovered to be forgeries. Additional
faked letters were later reported by two other members of Congress.

Soon it was revealed that the letters had been sent out by Bonner,
which had been hired by Hawthorn Group to help in its work on
behalf of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity
(ACCCE), a major coal industry front group. Bonner, which specializes
in fabricating what it calls "strategic grassroots/grasstops" campaigns
for large corporations, apologized for the phony letters but insisted
they were the work of a rogue employee who has been terminated. This
has not prevented a firestorm of criticism and calls from the likes of
MoveOn.org and the Sierra Club for a Justice Department investigation
of the matter.

Environmental groups are entitled to their righteous indignation, but
some of this is akin to expressing shock that gambling is taking place
in Casablanca. The entire point of the Astroturf work done by the likes
of Bonner is to be deceptive -- to give the misleading impression that
there is a groundswell of support for the policy positions of big
business.

The Bonner firm, founded in 1984 by former Congressional aide Jack
Bonner (photo), made its name creating bogus campaigns on behalf of
clients such as the banking industry (to fight proposals to lower
permissible interest rates on credit cards) and the auto industry (to
fight stricter fuel efficiency standards). In 1997 Ken Silverstein
wrote a piece
in Mother Jones describing Bonner as "a leader in the growing field of
fake grassroots" lobbying.

In other words, Bonner is in the business of generating communications
to members of Congress that are "real" messages from fake
organizations. The current case involves fake messages from real
organizations. It's too soon to tell whether this represents a new
tactic by the firm or an employee simply got confused about which
aspects of the messages are supposed to be bogus. But either way, firms
such as Bonner are helping large corporations co-opt political
discourse.

Even more ominous are the supposedly spontaneous disruptions of town
hall meetings being held by members of Congress. These confrontations
are being carried out by rightwing opponents of healthcare reform --
such as the group FreedomWorks
-- serving the interests of the for-profit medical establishment. It is
bad enough when agents of business try to manipulate "civilized"
communication with members of Congress; it is much worse when they
begin to act like storm troopers trying to intimidate elected officials
from diverging from the corporate line.