Bonner and Ass. Pissed us Off

Bonner and Associates pissed us off, so a few of us at the Action Factory, a group of young climate activists living and working in DC, took our clothes off in the rain to demonstrate the NAKED FRAUD of this astroturf lobbying firm.
Bonner and associate, who were working for the Hawthorne Group, whom in turn were working for American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, forged not 1, not 6, but 12 letters to not 1 but 3 congressmen. All three of these companies are outraged, claiming to have fired the 'deviant' employee who supposedly acted on his or her own. They were so 'outraged' that they didn't notify the congressmen who received these letters. They were so 'outraged' that they even forgot that Bonner has been caught using almost the same tactics before, making them look very stupid for hiring them in the first place. That's pretty much blind with outrage.

Once the intense anger of the moment subsided, we grabbed a camera and headed back to Bonner's office first thing Monday morning to get to the bottom of this. Keep in mind, we're not professional journalists, and I apologize in advance if our 'outrage' clouds our judgment on ethical conduct. But, I think that you'll enjoy joining us on this search for democracy. Bonner and Associates seems to have stolen it, so it only made sense to start looking at the scene of the crime...



Some thoughts:
*People seem pretty unsure of whether forging letters is illegal
*We're not legal experts - what are the legal consequences for mail fraud? forging names and signatures? Lying to congress?

Aliens, Wizards, and Other Made-Up People Oppose Green Jobs

Bonner and Associates (ahem, Hawthorne Group, ahem, ACCCE) couldn't find enough real people to oppose clean energy and green jobs legislation. In fact, the management wouldn't take that 'no' for an answer, and pushed their employees to commit outright mail fraud instead.

(C'mon, seriously, Tom Periello knows the folks who work for the NAACP chapter in his district. He's gonna notice. - catch his interview on Rachel Maddow last night.)

So today, we decided to help the coal industry out a little bit by showing them that made-up people and creatures can have a say in politics! We dressed up as aliens, a wizard, and Little Red Riding Hood and passed out the Sierra Club's hill add to hill staffers getting out of the subway. "Hey, help us kill green jobs!"

Its a testament to hill staffers that at least some of them replied, "No, I like green jobs." Apparently irony isn't the best tactic at 9am. But making up the names of people who oppose climate change legislation? Never a good tactic.

Shaping the Story

A lot of the work of the Action Factory is about shaping a story in the public debate. Friday's action was a perfect example. At 11am we were discussing the days news, and the naked fraud of the lobby firm Bonner and Associates was just too blatant and wrong to be ignored. Shifting into action, we were protesting their office at 2:30 that afternoon, stripped down and holding signs saying "Oil and Coal: Naked Fraud"

Working with allies Powershift09 and Friends of the Earth, we produced video and photos that were up on the web within hours. Our goal was to stoke the fires of outrage of what is the most blatant and illegal action in recent months on the part of vested interests and dirty industry. We wanted to provide material for bloggers and media to get this story seen.

Our slideshow ended up on the front page of the Huffington Post. With Huffpo's high ranking on searches, we suddenly placed our story and our images as the top search result for Bonner and Associates, the lobbying firm responsible for this fraud.

In today's short media cycle, rapid response and producing high quality content in hours are the key parts of the game, and that's what we're here to do. Anyone looking for Bonner and Associates is going to see our naked, outraged faces calling out the fraud of that firm.

Lets take this to the next level and make sure that the perpetrators of this fraud are called out. This is bigger than one 'bad employee' and its bigger than one lobbying firm.

Photos and Video: No more Naked Fraud!