House Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee
Fraudulent Letters Opposing Clean Energy Legislation
This hearing was originally scheduled for October 15.
Chairman Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming announced that he will be holding an investigative hearing into the fraudulent letters sent to Congress on clean energy and climate legislation. The Select Committee has now discovered more than a dozen fraudulent letters were sent to several members of Congress as part of an “Astroturf” campaign run by the firm, Bonner & Associates, and contracted by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. This campaign was designed to influence members of Congress on the House-passed Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill.
The hearing will feature some of the central figures in the controversy, including victims of the fraud. The fraudulent letters were staged to appear as if they were sent by groups representing senior citizens, minorities and veterans.
While the hearing will focus on the specific events surrounding this fraud on Congress, the practice of “Astroturf” – corporate-funded activities that create the false appearance of a true grassroots movement – has come to the fore in American political discourse surrounding the debates over health care and energy legislation.
Witnesses- Jack Bonner, Bonner & Associates
- Steve Miller, President and CEO, American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity
- Lisa M. Maatz, Director of Public Policy and Government Relations, American Association of University Women
- Hilary O. Shelton, Director and Senior Vice President for Advocacy and Policy, NAACP Washington Bureau