Friday, February 11, 2011

Lobbyists Write Fake Letters in Support of Derivatives Rules #p2


It appears the forgers have a large supply of stationery... (photo: Crinklecrankle.com on Flickr)

Way back in the day when I was just a mere independent blogger and not THE MEDIA ENTIRE I wrote about the practice lobbyists engaged in on the climate change bill, forging letters to members of Congress and claiming they came from grassroots organizations. I labeled the practice "astroforging."

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."

The faked letter from Creciendo Juntos was signed by "Marisse K. Acevado, Asst Member Coordinator," an identity and position at Creciendo Juntos that do not exist.

This was a fairly noteworthy scandal, and it appeared that no lobbyist would try such a tactic ever again.

That took about a year.

rest at http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/02/11/astroforging-returns-lobbyists-write-fake-letters-in-support-of-derivatives-rules/

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