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Astroturf Firm Bonner Institutes New No-Forgery Quality Control Policy
Justin Elliott | August 28, 2009, 1:51PM
Jack Bonner in 1995. 'Quality Control' sign on desk.
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Bonner & Associates, the DC 'strategic grassroots' firm facing a Congressional investigation for sending forged letters opposing the climate bill to members of Congress, is instituting a new No Forgeries ethics program to get out in front of the emerging scandal and ensure its astroturf campaigns are not tainted in the future.
"This is a very rare occurrence," says a Bonner spokesman who asked that his name be withheld as a condition of talking to TPMmuckraker. "In response to it, as of August 11, the company has introduced a five-point check against this sort of thing. And every employee at Bonner has signed it and dated it."
Rule number one: no forged letters.
Or as the five-point one-page document puts it: "100% call back verification of all groups that have signed statements of support to elected officials. The 100% call back verification will be conducted by permanent Bonner & Associates staff that did not place the original calls. The 100% verification will occur before any letter or statement of support is delivered to an elected official."
That reference to "permanent staff" is significant because it's clear Bonner relies on "temps" to do much of its work.
Read the full "GRASSROOTS FIVE POINT QUALITY STANDARDS PROGRAM" here.
The Bonner spokesman says "everything that's in the signed statement was in place" in the past -- "but it was verbal. It was never written down. And it only was for the senior members, it didn't go through the entire organization."
In other words: Bonner clients can be sure of ethical, best practices astroturf campaigns from here on out.
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EH
August 28, 2009 2:50 PM
But just to be clear, forgery is still a crime, right?
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NobleCommentDecider
August 28, 2009 6:25 PM in reply to EH
Its not a crime if it is done to advance Republicans or their interests. Ask any Republican.
God is their judge, and they will swear on a stack of bibles they it is not their fault.
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erwin
August 28, 2009 2:51 PM
That was the very first official Bonner Associates memorandum. Here's the second:
To: Bonner Associates
From: Jack Bonner
Re: Barn Door [Status Update]
Whereas the barn door has been open since Bonner Associates was founded, a number of horses have left. In the future, the barn door will remain open so that the horses, if they are so inclined, chose to return to the barn.
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ArmChairPol
August 28, 2009 2:53 PM
I'm going to rob a bank today. But after I do it and before I get caught, I'm going to come up with some cockamayme line to keep me outta the shitter...
1) Will will NOT Rob Banks again
2) Will will NOT Rob Banks again
3) Will will NOT Rob Banks again
4) Will will NOT Rob Banks again
5) Will will NOT Rob Banks again
There now I'm no longer a common criminal I'm a Grassroots Organization with a Five Point Quality Control Plan?
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Shrubbit
August 28, 2009 3:45 PM in reply to ArmChairPol
Who's Rob Banks? And what's Will doing? :) Sorry, brain mush, friday, blahhzzzzzzzzy....... have a great weekend all!
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Measure for Measure
August 28, 2009 2:55 PM
If enforced, that policy might actually work.
EH: Good point! Shouldn't law enforcement be looking into this?
"Very rare occurrence": heh. How many phony letters have be uncovered in the past year? 3+ right?
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traitorjoe
August 28, 2009 3:09 PM
No forged letters, and this time we mean it. But a goofy moustach will be tolerated.
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midnight rambler
August 28, 2009 3:14 PM
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traitorjoe
August 28, 2009 3:17 PM
The paragraph for "Ethics" in the HR manual was written by Jack Abrahmoff.
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VictorLaszlo
August 28, 2009 4:00 PM
Yeah... if you get to the point where you have to specifically implement a 'no forgeries' policy, you're pretty much a lost cause.
It's like 'if I have to explain it to you, you wouldn't understand.'
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sunnysteve
August 28, 2009 4:03 PM
Could we please remember that "someone" committed forgery, mail fraud and lied to Congress (the latter no real punishable offence)? According to Bonner, this includes, at a minimum, a pathetic, malicious, conniving temporary recent hireling, plus an accomplice at a liability insurance firm. OK. Go there. Who are they, and what is their defence? As in: indict, arrest, take to trial. It's not pick-up-sticks, folks. It's crime affecting the outcome of national legislation. Let the sun shine in. Watch the cockroaches run.
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GTFOOH
August 28, 2009 4:12 PM
That no forgery policy looks suspiciously like the one Orly Taitz adopted, after getting caught with that Australian birth certificate!
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Rantcaster
August 28, 2009 5:15 PM
Well, I found this Bonner letter blowing down K-Street in DC last week, and it sure looks authentic...
August 20, 2009
Dear Senator Grassley:
Well, I think we really have the pro-healthcare reform folks on the defensive now, and I am one proud, patriotic American to have helped the cause with the “death panels”, “socialism” and “Nazi” plants and chants we orchestrated! Every one of the “Blue Dog Democrats” was deluged with “constituent letters” crafted by my team of political alchemists, folks who really know how to channel the passions of the great, unwashed electorate. I’ve attached copies of the best of these letters for your reading enjoyment, along with our invoice for services rendered.
You and I both know that it would be RIP for the GOP if we let Obama & Company pass, and take credit for healthcare reform. Not to mention plugging up the spigot of cash from big Pharma and insurance companies that we all bathe in! Not to worry, though; in our experience, no amount of pleading, cajoling or threatening from the White House is going to turn back the tide of vitriol, hatred and just plain ignorance that we have spawned on the healthcare issue. Just wait until you see what we have in mind on education reform!
One last comment: things did get a bit dicey on the global warming / climate bill fiasco, what with the bogus letters that have come to light. Damn those #@!!! liberals for spoiling a good thing! I guarantee you that none of the stuff on the healthcare gambit will leak out. We’ve got our house in order, and stand ready to serve the conservative cause without reservation (as long as you pay up! Ha Ha!!)
Yours truly,
Jack Bonner
President
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AJM
August 29, 2009 10:26 AM
It's not how many forgeries we've committed;It's how many we've prevented! Right?
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Whenwillthisnightmareend
August 29, 2009 2:04 PM
This group has been doing for the Gee, Oh pee in the well, what they have held up as horrible crime against them, namely the false voter registrations that ACORN had submitted. The only thing is that the Bonner group has been doing it intentionally, as a business. Can you ever get more hypocritical than that?
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Kuyleh
August 29, 2009 10:54 PM
Every time I read that name, I say it as 'Boner' in my head. Methinks it fits, though.
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afisher
August 30, 2009 11:49 AM
So now everyone is supposed to QUIT looking at Bonner and Associates, because they now have a Quality Process to make sure that they are not doing what they have always done...except they finally got caught.
As the number of forged letters continues to grow...and the number of those 7 Permanent Employees (vs. those Damn Temps) are going to verify that the forgeries are indeed forgeries fails on so many levels, that for anyone to consider this a "good faith" improvement must be lining up for a ride on the "bridge to nowhere"!
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