Bergman gp Wollenberg

===<a>https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/05/11/pr-company-tries-hide-links-new-pro-fossil-fuel-investment-group</a>
month,<a href="http://priceofoil.org/2018/04/25/is-fossil-fuel-industry-secretly-behind-a-new-campaign-against-fossil-fuel-disinvestment/" target="blank"> Oil Change International </a>and <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/04/25/fossil-fuel-industry-secretly-behind-new-campaign-against-fossil-fuel-divestment" target="blank">DeSmog</a> reported on the formation of a new organization, The Institute for Pension Fund Integrity (IPFI), which had published its first “white paper” on “getting politics out of pensions.”

The white paper pushed back against the growing global movement to

end investment in fossil fuels. As we reported, the headline on the <a href="https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b17tvdfr7bvcc8/new-pensions-group-says-forget-about-climate-change" target="_blank">Institutional Investor</a> website summed up the main finding of the report: “New Pensions Group Says Forget About Climate Change.”

The images in the report (like the image above) are symbolically

deliberate: They are of police, construction workers in hard hats,

firemen, pensioners and teachers. To the reader these are meant to

represent hard working folk whose pensions are threatened. But is the

report speaking on their behalf?

As we reported, the author of the report and founder of the IPFI is Christopher Burnham, a former Treasurer of the State of Connecticut, and former <a href="http://ipfiusa.org/leadership/" target="_blank">United Nations</a> Undersecretary. “Whois” records reveal that Burnham set up the IPFI’s website on March 22. Two days later records show that Burnham was still showing as the registrant name.

However by April 9, the contact for the website had been changed to Fred Wollenberg from the <a href="https://twitter.com/BergmanGroup" target="_blank">Bergman Group</a>, which calls itself a communications company which specializes in new media, publishing, and direct marketing.

<img alt="Fred Wollenberg IPFI Whois record" src="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/IPFI-fred-wollenberg-whois.jpg" style="width: 810px; height: 646px;" />
Screen shot of Whois listing of IPFI website showing Bergman Group affiliation.

Why this is interesting is that according to his <a href="http://bergmangroup.com/team/" target="blank">biog on Bergman’s website</a>, Wollenberg has developed “speciality marketing” for Exxon as well as the <a href="https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/DCI_Group" target="blank">DCI Group</a>, which was outed last year by <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-16/fossil-fuels-fishy-new-friends" target="_blank">Bloomberg</a> for

being behind another uncannily similar anti-disinvestment initiative

called “Protect Our Pensions.” As Bloomberg reported, Protect Our

Pensions “isn’t what it appears to be […] much of the writing is

actually done by public affairs firms operating in the shadows.”

Well, it seems that the Bergman Group also wants to hide in the shadows.

Our blog was published on April 25. It was entitled: “<a href="http://priceofoil.org/2018/04/25/is-fossil-fuel-industry-secretly-behind-a-new-campaign-against-fossil-fuel-disinvestment/" target="_blank">Is Fossil Fuel Industry Secretly Behind a new Campaign against Fossil Fuel Investment?”</a> At

the time of the blog, the “Whois” record showed that both the

Registrant and Administration Contact for the website was Fred

Wollenberg at 7204 Glen Forest Drive, Richmond, Virginia.

However, at 20:34:59 that evening the “Whois” record for the website

changed. Now both the Registrant and Administration Contacts are

“Domains by Proxy” based in Arizona.

<img alt="Domains by Proxy IPFI Whois record" src="https://www.desmogblog.com/sites/beta.desmogblog.com/files/IPFI-domains-by-proxy-whois.jpg" style="width: 810px; height: 628px;" />
Screen shot of Whois listing for IPFI on April 30, 2018.

The whole point of using a Proxy domain company is to hide who set up

the website. People do it all the time. It’s the online equivalent of

trying to cover your tracks.

So the obvious question is why was the IPFI

so keen to hide the involvement of the Bergman Group or why was Fred

Wollenberg from the Bergman Group so keen to try and wipe away his

electronic fingerprints from the website?

The obvious conclusion is that they don’t want people to know the

link. This may be because Bergman’s clients include Exxon and the DCI Group, it may not.  What we do know is that by trying to hide the connection, both Bergman and the IPFI just made another mistake in setting up what is increasingly looking likely as a fossil fuel front group.....
==
 Pension Fund Integrity (IPFI
<a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/04/25/fossil-fuel-industry-secretly-behind-new-campaign-against-fossil-fuel-divestment">https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/04/25/fossil-fuel-industry-secretly-behind-new-campaign-against-fossil-fuel-divestment</a>Last week a newly formed organization, The Institute for Pension Fund Integrity (IPFI), published its first “white paper” on the topical issue of  “getting politics out of pensions”....