News is being made as the 14th forged letter in the phony influence fraud scam perpetrated by American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) and Bonner and Associates was released today by Congress.
This from the Sierra Club:
Washington, DC- A 14th forged letter from lobbying firm Bonner & Associates was released as part of House Chairman Markey’s (D-MA) investigation in the scandal today. This letter, purporting to be from a local American Legion chapter in Virginia, echoed the same anti-clean energy language found in previous letters forged from groups like the NAACP, a local Hispanic group and Senior Centers and sent to several members of the House of Representatives. Bonner & Associates, who has admitted that a since-fired temporary employee was responsible for the letters, was at the time working on behalf of a contractor hired by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE).[emphasis mine]
And from Carl Pope, Sierra Club Executive Director:
“Last week the AAUW, National Wildlife Federation, NAACP, Center for American Progress Action Fund and Sierra Club joined forces to help average citizens blow the whistle on deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal tactics being perpetrated by big polluters and their lobbyists to strike down clean energy innovation. The tip line (866-363-4648) launched last Thursday.
“Yesterday, just a week after the nation’s third largest utility, Duke Energy announced it was of the terminating its membership in the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, French giant Alstom power today followed suit. The company, which makes pollution control technologies for coal plants, cited “questions that have been raised about ACCCE’s support for climate legislation” as the reason for leaving.
You might remember that this started when Congressman Tom Perriello’s office revealed forged letters that had been sent to him, purporting to not support the ACES act.
This was almost immediately taken up by Massachusetts Congressman Ed Markey, who is the Chair of the Energy Committee in the House. Their investigators are the people that found this latest letter and released the information on it today.
Interesting that this hoax was perpetrated on an American Legion post here in Virginia. It seems that there are no rules for this fraud, just opportunities.
[Update: Tom Perriello was the target of this letter too. 4:57PM EDT h/t Eileen]
