Nov. 9--Coal industry lobbyists said "sorry," but they hardly seemed chastened in recent testimony before a congressional panel that looked into a bogus letter-writing campaign that captured all too well the political tenor of the times.

The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity had hired a public affairs company, which in turn had hired a subcontractor to generate grass-roots opposition to the American Clean Energy and Security Act -- a bill to lower greenhouse gas emissions and known in some circles simply as "cap and trade."

Instead of channeling genuine outrage, the subcontractor produced astroturf, phony public comment made to look genuine, this time of a particularly vile kind.

The subcontractor, Bonner & Associates, sent letters to targeted congressmen regarded as swing votes, including Rep. Tom Perriello in Virginia's 5th District, purporting to be from community groups fearful that the bill's cap-and-trade provisions would send their members' electric bills sky high.

Key constituencies, from local chapters of the American Association of University Women to the NAACP, seemed to plead with the lawmakers to insist on changes in the bill.

But none of the groups sent, or even knew of, the letters.

They had been written by a Bonner & Associates worker -- a "temp," the company said, who was fired as soon as the forgeries came to light.

Blame went tumbling down to a lone worker, an easily sacrificed small fry. As members of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming noted, though, none of the bigger fish tried to notify the targeted congressmen until after the House voted on the bill. It passed by a slim margin.

Newspapers are distressingly familiar with astroturf and spend a lot of time trying to sift out the phony letters from the authentic, to discard manufactured outrage to make room for opinions formed independently.

The phenomenon infects every communications medium, too. If the Internet had been made for astroturf, it couldn't have found a better fit.

Stealing the names and reputations of community organizations and using them to pressure elected officials, though, is particularly poisonous to civic life -- in this case, a sneaky attack by corporate interests on the communication that needs to take place between government and governed.

Perriello appeared before the House select committee to explain the harm: "Forgery and identity theft in attempting to influence members of Congress not only does a disservice to those who support the legislation, but also to those who oppose it. If members of Congress have to view voices of opposition with suspicion or doubt, it hurts the opposition's cause and our national debate as a whole. ... 'Astroturf' campaigns and the expanding corporate capture of government are not healthy for our democracy."

They undermine an essential trust.

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