Jeff Larson

Lies, Ex-Cons, And 'Nasty' Bathrooms: Behind The Scenes At A Top GOP Outreach Firm

Zachary Roth | November 16, 2009, 12:21PM

FLS Connect logo and Karl Rove

A top Republican political fund-raising and outreach firm gives convicted felons access to political donors' credit-card information, according to three former employees.

Minnesota-based FLS Connect uses low-wage workers to make fund-raising calls for a bevy of prominent GOP clients. And many of those workers -- including those responsible for processing credit-card transactions -- have felony convictions, the former employees said.

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Bonner & Associates

Bonner's 'Independent' Ethics Adviser Commissions Ad Praising Him

Zachary Roth | November 4, 2009, 3:16PM

Jack Bonner, Bonner & Associates, and James Thurber, American University

When he was hauled before Congress last week for sending those forged letters to lawmakers on climate change, astroturf lobbyist Jack Bonner pledged to make sure that no similar event ever happened again. As a centerpiece of that effort, Bonner announced that his firm had retained James Thurber, an American University political science professor, to act as an "independent ethics adviser."

Bonner assured lawmakers that the new adviser "is well-regarded as maintaining the highest ethical standards and independence," and "will review our policies and work with us to continue to improve our internal quality control system to the highest standards." All in all, it sounded like a good idea.

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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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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.

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Bonner & Associates

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.

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.

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