Energy interests to fund ‘astroturfing’ efforts during congressional break

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Astroturfing – the corporate practice of funding initiatives that mimic “grassroots” support for an issue – has been getting a lot of attention these days, after it came to light that a pro-coal group was ultimately behind forged letters to Congress on the climate bill. But the practice is neither new nor rare, and we can expect to see similar actions over the next weeks as representatives return to their home districts for August recess.

Grist reported yesterday that the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, the group whose money ultimately funded the forged letters, has planned a $1 million ad and “volunteer” blitz over the August congressional recess aimed at Senate Democrats in coal-dependent states. The group plans to organize 225,000 “volunteers” in what its calling “America’s Power Army,” to attend town hall meetings, fairs and other functions attended by members of Congress. ACCCE’s paid staff will work to round up volunteers, providing them with “information or T-shirts” and encouraging them to ask questions of the legislators.

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On Wednesday, FreedomWorks issued an “August Action Recess Packet” that will be distributed at events around the country. The packet provides talking points to bring up at events with legislators. Among them:

What?
The Waxman-Markey cap and trade legislation recently passed in the U.S. House of Representatives. In September the Senate will take up this legislation and it’s critical that freedom loving citizens come together to stop it from passing.

Why?

* Waxman-Markey cap and trade could more accurately be called “cap and tax” as it threatens to impose huge new costs to energy consumers.
* Various economic analysis estimate the costs of Waxman-Markey-like legislation to the American household would be between $800 and $1,300 by 2015.
* Waxman-Markey would cost American jobs. An analysis conducted in 2007 of the kind of policy approach contained in Waxman-Markey estimated as many as 1.2 million to 2.3 million jobs would be lost.
* The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has said that the policy contained in Waxman-Markey puts upward pressure on gasoline, heating oil, and electricity costs. Analyses shows that gas prices could even climb back up to $4 a gallon. This is the hidden tax that Waxman-Markey threatens to impose on American energy consumers!

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Another astroturf group trying to drum up opposition to the climate bill over recess is Americans for Prosperity. The group has been leading a “Hot Air Tour” to combat what it calls “global warming alarmism.” The tour includes an actual balloon claiming that the climate bill will create “lost jobs, higher taxes, less freedom.”

Americans for Prosperity is also funded largely by Koch Industries. It also received funding from ExxonMobil, back when the organizations was known as Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation, before changing its name in 2003. Tim Phillips, the group’s leader, tried to deny their relationship to Exxon on the Rachel Maddow Show on Thursday, in a segment detailing how AFP and other astroturf groups are using a variety of tactics create the impression that most Americans are opposed to action on health care and energy.

Not to be forgotten, Newt Gingrich’s American Solutions for Winning the Future (of “Drill Here, Drill Now” fame) is also jumping into the astroturf game, running an anti-climate bill petition on its website and providing “tools” for the recess. His group is heavily funded by Peabody, American Electric Power, and other oil and gas producers. Gingrich has also signed on as an official cosponsor of the tea-baggers movement.

http://www.grist.org/article/2009-08-07-fossil-fuel-backed-groups-plan-massive-astroturf-effort-over-con

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1. obama and half the dems against corporations repubs and the other half of dems lol