Bonner & Associates: October 2009

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Bonner & Associates: October 2009

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Jay Inslee

Inslee To Coal Rep: As "Penance," Run Ads In Support Of CO2 Regulation -- And Tell Inhofe Too

Zachary Roth | October 29, 2009, 11:25AM

Rep. Inslee is now telling Steve Miller of ACCCE that as "penance" for the forged letter fiasco, his group should tell Sen. James Inhofe that we need to take serious efforts to limit global warming legislation.

And that they should run an ad that says at the top: "We need CO2 regulation in America and we need it fast."

Miller, unsurprisingly, is unwiling to do this.

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Topics: ACCCE, Astroturf, Bonner & Associates, Jack Bonner, Jay Inslee, Lobbyists

ACCCE

Perriello: Don't Hide Behind Front Groups

Zachary Roth | October 29, 2009, 10:30AM

We're watching the Congressional hearings on those forged letters to lawmakers sent by an astroturf lobbying group working on behalf of a coal-industry lobby group.

And Rep. Tom Perriello, who received some of the forged letters and was first to testify, just had a nice flourish that's worth highlighting.

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Topics: ACCCE, Bonner & Associates, Global Warming, Jack Bonner, Tom Perriello

ACCCE

Coal Lobby Paid $7 Million To PR Firm That Hired Bonner

Evan McMorris-Santoro and Zachary Roth | October 29, 2009, 9:32AM

Jack Bonner

A coal industry group paid over $7 million last fiscal year to the company that hired Bonner & Associates, the astroturf lobbying firm behind those forged letters to Congress. That's according to internal documents obtained by congressional investigators and examined by TPMmuckraker.

Jack Bonner, the founder of the firm that bears his name, will go before a Congressional committee this morning to explain how those letters -- which purported to come from local community groups, and urged lawmakers to oppose climate change legislation -- got sent.
Bonner has blamed the letters on a temporary employee, since fired, and claimed that it was a "victim of fraud" itself.

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Topics: ACCCE, Astroturf, Bonner & Associates, Ed Markey, Global Warming, Hawthorn Group, Jack Bonner, Lobbyists, Tom Perriello

Bonner & Associates

Bonner To Testify On Forged Letters

Zachary Roth | October 14, 2009, 11:16AM

Jack Bonner

Astroturf lobbyist Jack Bonner will testify tomorrow in front of a Congressional panel investigating the forged letters his firm sent this summer, according to a witness list for the hearing obtained by TPMmuckraker. Also testifying will be Steve Miller, the CEO of the coal industry group that had hired Bonner to gin up opposition to climate-change legislation.

This summer, Bonner & Associates sent forged letters to several lawmakers, urging them to oppose the legislation. The letters, sent on behalf of Bonner's client, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, purported to come from local minority, senior, women, and veterans groups. Bonner has blamed the letters on a temporary employee, but as we've shown, his firm's modus operandi makes such occurrences all but inevitable.