Climate fight gets fraudulent

This was bound to happen with the stakes involved.

As U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello was considering how to vote on an important piece of climate change legislation in June, the freshman congressman’s office received at least six letters from two Charlottesville-based minority organizations voicing opposition to the measure.

The letters, as it turns out, were forgeries.

“They stole our name. They stole our logo. They created a position title and made up the name of someone to fill it. They forged a letter and sent it to our congressman without our authorization,” said Tim Freilich, who sits on the executive committee of Creciendo Juntos, a nonprofit network that tackles issues related to Charlottesville’s Hispanic community. “It’s this type of activity that undermines Americans’ faith in democracy.”

The faked letter from Creciendo Juntos was signed by “Marisse K. Acevado, Asst Member Coordinator,” an identity and position at Creciendo Juntos that do not exist.

The culprit is Bonner Associates (slogan: "Strategic Grassroots/Grasstops support to help you win"), which claims to have fired the two associates involved in sending the letters.

With Edmund Markey already publicly indignant, expect a lot of noise around this, but lobbying firms are protean creatures and this will not change how business gets done in Washington. It is a black eye for the anti-climate movement, though.