House Investigation Turns Up Forged Letter #14 Against Climate Bill

Above: In this TV ad, funded by the VoteVets.org PAC, Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans ask the Senate to pass the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill.

House investigators have discovered another forged letter sent to a Virginia representative in June, urging him to vote against the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill.

As The Washington Post reports, this brings the total number of fakes up to 14 so far -- all coming from Bonner & Associates, the PR firm that was working for the pro-coal lobby group American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity in the run-up to the House vote.

Like the previous baker's dozen, this letter was made to look as if it were from a grassroots community organization. This time, rather than evoke sympathy for the concerns of the aging, or people of color, this letter pulled patriotic heartstrings, by appearing to come from a local American Legion post.

The letter lauded the continued use of coal-fired energy, and urged Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.) to vote against the Waxman-Markey bill.

Here's an excerpt:

America has enough coal right here ...to last for more than 200 years. We need to use our readily available resources and focus on using new technologies to make coal more efficient, therefore reducing greenhouse gases.

...Please make sure the Waxman-Markey bill includes provisions to promote American energy independence, while protecting already cash-strapped constituents from increases in electricity prices.

Thank you for listening to concerns of vets in your district.

(It's worth noting that even this argument for coal is fraudulent. Current carbon capture and sequestration technologies, often euphemistically called "clean coal technology," would increase the cost of coal-fired power about 75%, according to the Department of Energy.)

Bonner has claimed that the letters were all the fault of a rogue employee who has been fired. In August, TPM Muckraker noted that by Bonner's own admission, this same employee had been paid a bonus for generating "additional letters ... within that employee's assigned district," and that "quality control" had suffered because his supervisor had been out sick.

Even as this 14th forged letter was surfacing, over 150 veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars were on their way to meet with their senators and the White House to urge passage of climate and clean energy legislation, to preserve national security. The "National Security Week" of events is being coordinated by Operation Free, a coalition of veterans and national security experts "who recognize that climate change is a major threat, and support fast, bold action" to slow it down.