EM:/ The Forger's Dilemma

Folks:

 

We don't know if any Michigan Congressional Reps were targeted by the coal
industry's forged letters discussed below, but Michigan is a state in the
middle of the coal fight and we have seen some heavy handed tactics here.
The American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy, along with Consumers Energy,
have played a major role in the efforts to convince union workers that the
proposed coal plant in Essexville will be a boon for jobs.  That is DESPITE
the fact that clean energy options like the construction going on NOW at
Hemlock Semiconductor more than equal the "maybe someday jobs" of
constructing the coal plant, AND will result in many more permanent jobs
here in Michigan, AND will stop sending billions of dollars out of state
each year to bring dirty coal in so we can pollute our communities and the
Great Lakes.  

 

You still have a chance to tell the Michigan DEQ and Governor Granholm that
we can't afford the Consumers Energy plant expansion nor the Wolverine Power
Coop expansion proposed in Rogers City.  Send comments on the proposed
Consumers Energy plant via this link: www.tiny.cc/ConsEnergycmt before
August 11th, and the Wolverine Power Cooperative plant using this link:
www.tiny.cc/Wolverinecmt 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anne Woiwode, State Director

Sierra Club Michigan Chapter

517-484-2372   www.michigan.sierraclub.org 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-pope/the-forgers-dilemma_b_251392.html 

 

Carl Pope

Executive Director of the Sierra Club

Posted: August 4, 2009 07:39 PM

 

The Forger's Dilemma

 

What's an organization whose core mission is to create a false

impression supposed to do when its hired agents add an additional,

unauthorized layer of falsity to the scheme? That appears to be what

tripped up the coal-industry front group, ACCCE, the American Coalition

for Clean Coal Electricity. 

 

-SNIP-

 

ACCCE was fighting to kill the House climate legislation. It retained

Washington's premier creator of misleading "astro-turf" campaigns,

Bonner & Associates, to do what Bonner does so well -- generate an

impression that Main Street America is violently against whatever

legislation Bonner's clients don't like. Bonner makes no bones about the

fact that it can create the impression of a groundswell regardless of

the facts -- all that is required is enough of a retainer to pay its

typically "temporary" employees to get on the phone and get enough local

influentials and organizations to sign the letters that Bonner has

written for its clients. Bonner firmly believes that if you spend enough

hours on the phone, you can get enough organizations signed up for

whatever position you have been hired to flack.

 

But apparently the "groundswell" that Bonner promised to generate

against clean energy legislation wasn't quite strong enough, so Bonner's

staff guy on the project resorted to forgery. He simply made up the

names of officers at a dozen local organizations, copied their

letterhead from the web, and sent letters to three members of Congress

urging them to vote against the House climate bill.

 

-snip-

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