This morning, Politico reported that Democratic members of Congress are increasingly being harassed by “angry, sign-carrying mobs and disruptive behavior” at local town halls. For example, in one incident, right-wing protesters surrounded Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) and forced police officers to have to escort him to his car for safety.
This growing phenomenon is often marked by violence and absurdity. Recently, right-wing demonstrators hung Rep. Frank Kratovil (D-MD) in effigy outside of his office. Missing from the reporting of these stories is the fact that much of these protests are coordinated by public relations firms and lobbyists who have a stake in opposing President Obama’s reforms.
The lobbyist-run groups Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, which orchestrated the anti-Obama tea parties earlier this year, are now pursuing an aggressive strategy to create an image of mass public opposition to health care and clean energy reform. A leaked memo from Bob MacGuffie, a volunteer with the FreedomWorks website Tea Party Patriots, details how members should be infiltrating town halls and harassing Democratic members of Congress:
— Artificially Inflate Your Numbers: “Spread out in the hall and try to be in the front half. The objective is to put the Rep on the defensive with your questions and follow-up. The Rep should be made to feel that a majority, and if not, a significant portion of at least the audience, opposes the socialist agenda of Washington.”— Be Disruptive Early And Often: “You need to rock-the-boat early in the Rep’s presentation, Watch for an opportunity to yell out and challenge the Rep’s statements early.”— Try To “Rattle Him,” Not Have An Intelligent Debate: “The goal is to rattle him, get him off his prepared script and agenda. If he says something outrageous, stand up and shout out and sit right back down. Look for these opportunities before he even takes questions.”The memo above also resembles the talking points being distributed by FreedomWorks for pushing an anti-health reform assault all summer. Patients United, a front group maintained by Americans for Prosperity, is currently busing people all over the country for more protests against Democratic members. Rep. Pete Sessions [R-TX], chairman of the NRCC, has endorsed the strategy, telling the Politico the days of civil town halls are now “over.”
Meanwhile, AHIP, the trade group and lobbying juggernaut representing the health insurance industry is sending staffers to monitor town halls and other right-wing front groups are stepping up their ad campaign to smear reform efforts. The strategy for defeating reform — recently outlined by an influential lobbyist to the Hill newspaper as “delay” then “kill” — is becoming apparent. By delaying a vote until after the August recess, lobbyists are now seizing upon recess town halls as opportunities to ambush lawmakers and fool them into believing there is wide opposition to reform.
Lobby Firm Sent Forged Climate Change Letter To Congressman
TPMmuckraker
By Zachary Roth
July 31, 2009, 12:24PMOK, this is a good one…
Via The American Prospect: Freshman Democratic congressman Tom Perriello — whose Virginia district leans Republican — faced a tough decision last month over whether to support the climate change bill. As he was weighing the issue, he got a letter from a non-profit group in his district that focuses on issues of importance to Hispanics. The letter urged Perriello to oppose the bill because it could raise low-income members’ utility bills. "Many of our members are on tight budgets and the sizes of their monthly utility bills are important expense items," it read in part.
But, reports the Charlottesville Daily Progress, the letter was a fake:
"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 letter — subsequently obtained by TPMmuckraker – had actually been sent by someone at the D.C. lobbying firm Bonner and Associates – a pioneer in "strategic grassroots/grasstops" lobbying whose clients have included Citicorp, Aetna, PhRMA, Dow Chemical, AT&T, and General Motors, among others.
And Perriello staffers soon dug out five other forged letters – also obtained by TPMmuckraker – urging the congressman to oppose the bill – all purportedly from the local branch of the NAACP, whose president says he’s "appalled" at the scam.
The Wonk Room has learned that the National Republican Congressional Committee [NRCC] is engaged in a misleading campaign to trick physicians into opposing health care reform. The NRCC has been placing calls and sending “hand-written” faxes to physicians across the country to ostensibly recognize physicians for their “invaluable experience” and ask recipients to call a toll-free number and approve a press release “to honor the achievements of you and other concerned physicians like you.” The missive invites doctors to “represent” their state “as a consultant on Rep. Tom Price’s [R-GA] ‘Physicians’ Council for Responsible Reform,’” but a call to the “Council” suggests that the NRCC’s real goal is to scare physicians and add legitimacy to Republican efforts to stall reform. Download a copy of the letter HERE.
Rather than seeking “critical input” or “guidance” from doctors “who are respected by their peers”, the “Council” warns doctors about the “very real threat of Washington interfering even more with doctor’s efforts to provide the best possible care for their patients” and explains that the physicians on the Council have already agreed to “a free market type thing.”
And finally for the [not altogether funny] comic relief:
[…] post: here they go… Tags: Congress, country, party, politico, president, race, search, […]
I’ve just read in the NYTimes this morning that GE and Fox higherups had a meeting and they have agreed to stop the feud with Keith Olbermann and Bill O’Reilly. It seems Fox and others disrupted meetings and O’Reilly supporters wrote letters critical of Countdown and MSNBC and the big bosses have said it is going to stop the feud. Keith who is on vacations has said on one of the blogs that he hasn’t agreed to anything. I read where t Bone Pickens was invited to a Senate Democrat caucus lucheon in DC. Pickens walked over to Sen. Franken who was seated talking to someone when Pickens introduced himself to theSenator and Franken blasted him for paying for the swiftboat ads againist John Kerry during his presidential race. Kerry did not attend the luncheon. I have to agree with Bugliosi about the right wing. If you haven’t seen Bill Moyers journal of PBS.org interview with Wendall Potter about the Health Insurance companies, it’s a good interview. Potter was a former top executive of Cigna before he became a whistleblower about the health insurance industry. Potter reveals what the industry did to derail public health insurance during the Clinton administration and what they are doing now in Obama’s administration. How do we stop this?