Henry, D

2012 coventions:

DNC Convention Strategies

In October 2011, a new <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-convention-firm-announces-expanded-democratic-team-131052568.html">start-up business was born</a>, its corporate lobbyist parents naming it <a href="http://dncconventionstrategies.com/index.php">DNC Convention Strategies</a>.

"We help our clients get the most bang for their convention buck," DNC Convention Strategies <a href="http://dncconventionstrategies.com/whatWeDo.php">explains on its website</a>. "Whether your goal is to connect with important decision makers, get the voters and the media to focus on your agenda, or simply to host a great event, we'll help you maximize the impact of your investment."

This isn't their first time around the block, either.

"In 2008, we worked with dozens of Fortune 50 companies, national trade associations, non-profit groups, top political officials, and state delegations," <a href="http://dncconventionstrategies.com/whatWeDo.php">the website goes on to proclaim</a>. "We managed events ranging from 30 person, high end dinners to 1,000+ person extravaganzas. Our team members have produced some of the most memorable convention events going back to as early as 1984."

DNC Convention Strategies is the child of <a href="http://conventions2012.com/">Conventions 2012, LLC</a>, which was <a href="http://www.sunbiz.org/scripts/cordet.exe?action=DETFIL&inq_doc_number=L11000078426&inq_came_from=NAMFWD&cor_web_names_seq_number=0000&names_name_ind=&names_cor_number=&names_name_seq=&names_name_ind=&names_comp_name=CONVENTIONS2012&names_filing_type=">registered in Florida in July 2011</a>, according to the Florida Department of State's Division of Corporations. Its brother, born to the same mother, is <a href="http://gopconventionstrategies.com/">GOP Convention Strategies</a>. One of the Managers of this new-fangled LLC is ROQ Strategies, LLC, according to the <a href="http://www.sunbiz.org/scripts/cordet.exe?action=DETFIL&inq_doc_number=L11000078426&inq_came_from=NAMFWD&cor_web_names_seq_number=0000&names_name_ind=&names_cor_number=&names_name_seq=&names_name_ind=&names_comp_name=CONVENTIONS2012&names_filing_type=">incorporation form</a>.

<a href="http://www.sunbiz.org/scripts/cordet.exe?action=DETFIL&inq_doc_number=L11000078426&inq_came_from=NAMFWD&cor_web_names_seq_number=0000&names_name_ind=&names_cor_number=&names_name_seq=&names_name_ind=&names_comp_name=CONVENTIONS2012&names_filing_type=">ROQ</a> and <a href="http://dncconventionstrategies.com/contact.php">DNC Convention Strategies</a> share the same address: 400 North Capitol St., Ste. 382B in Washington, DC. The glue that binds them together is veteran lobbyist <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/lobbyist.php?id=Henry%2C%20Darrell&id=Y0000019557L&year=2012">Darrell Henry</a>, who's both the <a href="http://www.roqstrategies.com/bio.html">Founder and Principal of ROQ</a> and <a href="http://dncconventionstrategies.com/whoWeAre.php">one of eight team members </a>of DNC Convention Strategies. Among other things, Henry served as a <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/lobbyist.php?id=Y0000019557L&year=2005">lobbyist for the American Gas Association</a> from 2000-2005.

"While it violates the rules for a corporation to host a party honoring a member of Congress, lobbyists have evaded this rule by setting up front groups, like GOP Convention Strategies and DNC Convention Strategies to do their bidding," Craig Holman of Public Citizen's Congress Watch told TruthOut.

Other important, well-connected DNC Convention Strategies <a href="http://dncconventionstrategies.com/whoWeAre.php">lobbyist luminaries</a> include Mark Lindsay, Anne Fabry, Michael Lewan and LeeAnn Petersen.

Lindsay is an important Beltway power broker, having served on the <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/rev_summary.php?id=70843">Obama Transition Team</a>, turning that position into a full-time job as a corporate lobbyist, <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/lobbyist.php?id=Y0000038230L&year=2009">primarily for the pharmaceutical industry</a> for a lobbying firm of his creation, <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/firmsum.php?id=F27455&year=2009">White House Consulting, Inc</a>.

He was also the <a href="http://www.sethhettena.com/2010/former-clinton-official-mark-lindsay-is-educating-congres-on-minared-star/">center of a scandal</a> surrounding time he spent lobbying for a $1.4 billion contract awarded to supply jet fuel to the Manas Airbase in Kyrgyzstan. The company he was lobbying for, Mina Corp/Red Star, was under Congressional investigation for having sent "payments to the family of a corrupt former Kyrgyz president," <a href="http://www.sethhettena.com/2010/former-clinton-official-mark-lindsay-is-educating-congres-on-minared-star/">according to a story</a> by investigative reporter Seth Hettena.

<a href="http://dncconventionstrategies.com/fabry.php">Fabry</a> is a <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/rev_summary.php?id=16425">long-time corporate lobbyist and Democratic Party insider</a>, having served in the <a href="http://www.martindale.com/Anne-Saunders-Fabry/46059584-lawyer.htm">Finance Division of the Democratic National Committee </a>(DNC) in the 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000 presidential campaigns. She also is the former <a href="http://www.martindale.com/Anne-Saunders-Fabry/46059584-lawyer.htm">President</a> of the <a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Progressive_Policy_Institute">Progressive Policy Institute</a> (PPI), the think-tank wing of the <a href="http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/Democratic_Leadership_Council">Democratic Leadership Council</a> (DLC). Ralph Nader has described the DLC as a "<a href="http://www.nader.org/interest/080103.html">soulless</a>" entity, due to its support of the agenda of Big Business.

"A member of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's Business Council, she continues her long relationship with the moderate pro-business democratic community as an active member of the New Democrat Coalition's Keystone Group and The Blue Dogs in the House, as well as the Third Way and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee," explains her <a href="http://dncconventionstrategies.com/fabry.php">biographical sketch on the Convention Strategies website</a>. Both the <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20050401152248/http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/info_on_any_recipient.php?recipientID=449">PPI</a> and <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20040805032539/http://www.mediatransparency.org/search_results/info_on_any_recipient.php?recipientID=2355">Third Way</a> are heavily funded by the right-wing, heavily corporate-subsidized <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Lynde_and_Harry_Bradley_Foundation">Bradley Foundation</a>.

Fabry's career has marched in lockstep with that of <a href="http://dncconventionstrategies.com/lewan.php">Lewan</a>.

"He created and led the Democratic Leadership Council's Washington Steering Committee which resulted in DLC Convention activities in 1996, 2000, and 2004 and initiated a Member dinner series and senior staff lunch program," <a href="http://dncconventionstrategies.com/lewan.php">explains the Convention Strategies website</a>. "He was also a founder of the New Democratic Coalition, the Senate Mod Squad and the Third Way."

Lewan "is considered one of the architects of the moderate, business-oriented wing of the Democratic Party," <a href="http://www.brownrudnick.com/people-detail/lewan-michael">according to his biography on the Brown Rudnick website</a>, where he currently works as a lobbyist with Fabry. <a href="http://www.brownrudnick.com/people-detail/lewan-michael">Lewan serves as a Principal of Government Law & Strategies</a> there, while <a href="http://www.brownrudnick.com/people-detail/fabry-anne-saunders">Fabry works as Director of Government Law & Strategies</a>.

Prior to this, the two of them <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/firmlbs.php?id=F26637&year=2004">worked together</a> at <a href="http://www.brownrudnick.com/people-detail/lewan-michael">Michael Lewan Company</a> from 2000-2004, "which specialized in developing and executing public policy strategies for corporate, trade associations and not for profit clients." Fabry served as Lewan's <a href="http://www.brownrudnick.com/people-detail/fabry-anne-saunders">assistant</a> when Lewan was Sen. Joe Lieberman's (I-CT) <a href="http://www.brownrudnick.com/people-detail/lewan-michael">Chief-of-Staff from 1989-1993</a>.

Importantly, but easy to overlook, <a href="http://www.brownrudnick.com/people-detail/fabry-anne-saunders">Fabry is also</a> "on the management team organizing the popular Convention Baseball events at both the Democratic and Republican Conventions." Convention Baseball events are a can of worms of their own worth exploring.

LeeAnn Petersen: Convention Baseball LLC/Convention Sports and Entertainment Group LLC

<a href="http://dncconventionstrategies.com/leeAnn.php">LeeAnn Petersen</a>'s claim to fame is baseball.

Not a baseball player herself, she is a key organizer of baseball outings at DNCs past and present, <a href="http://www.eventtransportation.com/corp_quotes.htm">having organized an outing in 2008 in Denver</a> when President Barack Obama stepped up to accept his nomination for the first time and <a href="http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/02/10/3732306/delegates-to-play-ball-at-knights.html?story_link=email_msg">now in 2012 in Charlotte</a>.

She sometimes goes by the name LeeAnn Strother, as is evident by her <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=35717169&authType=NAME_SEARCH&authToken=I6R8&locale=en_US&srchid=9c374eb3-3338-45af-884a-2316985fc70d-0&srchindex=3&srchtotal=93&goback=%2Efps_PBCK1+Strother111121_Y111_false_1_R151151_true1_us%3A972222222222222222222&pvs=ps&trk=pp_profile_name_link">LinkedIn profile</a>. Petersen's husband is Dane Strother, who works as the head of the lobbying firm Strother Stategies. <a href="http://arkansasnews.com/2010/04/13/halter-makers-of-attack-ad-have-ties-to-lincoln">Strother worked on behalf </a>of Wall Street-friendly U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) to ensure that her more progressive opponent, Bill Halter, lost a primary in 2010.

For the Conventions, Petersen has slyly circumvented the lobbying ethics laws by creating an LLC called Convention Baseball LLC, now known more broadly as Convention Sports and Entertainment Group LLC. <a href="http://www.gobignetwork.com/business-profiles/23839/convention-baseball-group-llc">Incorporated in Delaware</a>, corporate contributions to this LLC cost <a href="http://dncconventionstrategies.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Baseball-Event-CHA.pdf">from $2,500-$50,000</a> for the upcoming baseball outing and earn lobbyists inside access with politicians. The more you pay, the more lobbyists you're allowed to bring with for the fun.

Petersen will also play host to a <a href="http://conventions2012.com/downloads/PinehurstConventionGolfClassic.pdf">golf outing</a>, <a href="http://dncconventionstrategies.com/downloads/C2012EventsDNC.pdf">nightly parties</a> at an undisclosed venue, among <a href="http://dncconventionstrategies.com/downloads/C2012EventsDNC.pdf">several other events</a>.

The baseball junket will be held "in honor of the Illinois delegation" to the DNC, and features a <a href="http://dncconventionstrategies.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Baseball-Event-CHA.pdf">Host Committee </a>of Petersen, Liz Sears Smith, Daniella Landau and Patricia Daley on the lobbyist side of the coin, as well as Illinois politicians U.S. Rep. Louis Guitierez and U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson on the politician side of the coin.

The Illinois connection is no accident: it's the headquarters of the <a href="http://www.barackobama.com/contact-us/">Obama for America</a> presidential campaign for 2012. It's also the place where his former Chief-of-Staff now serves as Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, and where three of the four lobbyists on the Host Committee hail from.

This Host Committee roster says much about the Democratic Party's agenda both past and present.

<a href="http://www.wexlergroup.com/daniellaLandau.html">Landau</a> is a long-time high-level Democratic Party consultant and public relations operative. Formerly an <a href="http://www.wexlergroup.com/daniellaLandau.html">employee of Wexler & Walker</a>, in May she <a href="http://influencealley.nationaljournal.com/2012/04/scoop-senior-wexler-walker-off.php">started her own</a> lobbying firm, <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/firmsum.php?id=F25828&year=2012">Hannegan Landau Advocacy</a>, alongside veteran lobbyist, <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/rev_summary.php?id=14538">Tim Hannegan</a>. Tim is the <a href="http://influencealley.nationaljournal.com/2012/04/scoop-senior-wexler-walker-off.php">grandson</a> of former <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_E._Hannegan">DNC chairman Robert E. Hannegan</a>.

She's also a former employee of DC public relations behemoth, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Burson-Marsteller">Burson-Marsteller</a>, where, while there, "she helped coordinate message and communications strategies designed to promote successful passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement [NAFTA]," one of the hallmark policies of the presidency of Bill Clinton. In a May 2011 report, the Economic Policy Institute reported that NAFTA has been <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/12/nafta-job-loss-trade-deficit-epi_n_859983.html">responsible for the loss of over 750,000 jobs</a> in the U.S.

Digging deeper, one can also see that she's the <a href="http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-1332387071.html">ex-wife</a> of the aforementioned Dane Strother, the same Dane Strother who's now married to LeeAnn Petersen of Convention Baseball fame. At one point in her life she was known as <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/lobbyist.php?id=Y0000024580L&year=2001">Daniella Landau Strother</a>, according to the Congressional Lobbying Database.

Patricia Daley, sometimes referred to as "Patty" is part of the "<a href="http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2011/02/comparing_the_daley_machines.html">Daley Machine</a>," a second of cousin of former Obama Administration Chief-of-Staff William Daley. William Daley is the brother of former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, whose mayoral stint was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/06/national/06chicago.html?pagewanted=all">mired in corruption</a>. Richard M. Daley was <a href="http://www.suntimes.com/news/elections/3958856-505/chicagos-polls-close-its-time-to-count.html">replaced</a> by current Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2011. William Daley, who at the end of 2011 had a <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/12/president-barack-obama-wealth.html">net worth of $28.7 million</a>, formerly served on the <a href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/bill-daley-made-8-7-million-from-jpmorgan-last-year/">Midwest Chairman for JPMorgan Chase</a> and was on the <a href="http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20110110/NEWS07/110119986/william-daley-resigns-from-abbott-boeing-boards">Board of Directors of Abbott and Boeing</a>.

Patricia is also a power broker herself and a <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/revolving/rev_summary.php?id=14882">long-time lobbyist</a>, currently manning the ship of <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/firmsum.php?id=D000033019&year=2012">Daley Policy Group</a>.

<a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/liz-sears-smith/42/814/685">Sears Smith</a>, like Daley, is a key cog in the Chicago political machine. She's a <a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/12/emanuel_house_chief_of_staff_s.html">long-time sidekick</a> of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, having served as his Chief-of-Staff during his time as both a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as his time as Obama's Chief-of-Staff in the White House. Emanuel is pejoratively referred to by many as "<a href="http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/Mayor-1-Catches-On-137582313.html">Mayor 1%</a>," a fitting title given his <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/12/president-barack-obama-wealth.html">personal net worth of $11.4 million</a> at the end of 2010 and the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304141204577508482349727396.html">policies</a> he's <a href="http://www.npr.org/2012/06/20/155283669/a-new-union-battle-as-chicago-teachers-mayor-clash">pushed</a> during <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/17/rahm-emanuel-chicago-battle-nato">his time as Mayor</a> thus far.

Before this, "Smith served in the Clinton Administration as a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the International Trade Administration at the Department of Commerce, where she managed 450 staff around the country and a budget of $35 million," <a href="http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/12/emanuel_house_chief_of_staff_s.html">explained the Chicago Tribune</a>. "She was the Finance Director for Chicago '96, the host committee for the 1996 Democratic National Convention and prior to that ran [The Strategy Group]."

Sears Smith <a href="http://www.openleft.com/diary/19781/obama-and-the-left-part-2048">co-founded The Strategy Group with Mike Lux</a>, who is <a href="http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=18">one of the founders</a> of MoveOn.org and now works as a Democratic Party operative for the consulting firm he runs, <a href="http://www.progressivestrategies.net/pages/staff/">Progressive Strategies</a>. Lux <a href="http://www.openleft.com/diary/19781/obama-and-the-left-part-2048">explained in a blog post</a> that the Strategy Group was "one of the closest inner circle firms in the Obama Presidential campaign" of 2008.

For the 2012 DNC, <a href="http://www.whitehousecorrespondentsweekendinsider.com/2012/03/06/dc-power-trio-launches-mlh-strategies-llc/">Sears Smith formed MLH Strategies</a>, "a strategic consulting firm advising corporate clients and individuals on developing and executing strategies [at the DNC]" with her long-time Democratic Party colleagues, Melissa Moss and Holly Page. A dive into the personnel behind this entrepreneurial venture is also insightful in lifting the curtain of the people behind the parties - and the Democratic Party - at the DNC.

MLH Strategies

Sears Smith's partners in her new joint venture are Melissa Moss and Holly Page, both long time influence peddlers and Democratic Party fundraisers.

Moss is the <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=110&dat=19920708&id=E8MLAAAAIBAJ&sjid=2VUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6793,495284">former National Finance Director of the DNC</a>, performing this job at the same time Rahm Emanuel was then candidate Bill Clinton's national finance director in his run for President in 1992. She also formerly <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/1993-05-31/news/mn-41976_1_clinton-campaign/2">served</a> as Field Director of the DLC, as well as Director of the Office of Competitiveness and Private Sector outreach at the Commerce Department.

Her stint at Commerce was mired in deep-seated corruption, as one of the central players involved in what has colloquially been referred to as "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercegate">Commercegate</a>." Long story short, the case revolved around sales of seats on Department of Commerce planes for international trade missions. The goal: raise campaign contributions to the tune of $50,000/seat for the DNC, an act amounting to illegal political bribery.

This scandal resulted in a major lawsuit and legal investigation <a href="http://www.judicialwatch.org/archive/1998/printer_66.shtml">lead by Judicial Watch</a>. Out of the investigation came a legal document on the "<a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2000/jul/13/20000713-011728-2838r/?page=all#pagebreak">trips-for-donations scheme</a>," a testimony that said <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20000815055045/http://www.judicialwatch.org/otherserver/stewartdec.htm">Moss was one of the ringleaders of it all</a>. She has given $12,500 to the Obama campaign for the upcoming election, <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/usearch/index.php?q=melissa+moss&searchButt_clean.x=0&searchButt_clean.y=0&searchButt_clean=Submit&cx=010677907462955562473%3Anlldkv0jvam&cof=FORID%3A11">according to Open Secrets</a>.

Moss' <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-09-28/solyndra-taints-silver-s-stint-as-taxpayers-venture-capitalist.html">husband Jonathan Silver</a> is also a major Democratic Party operative, currently working as a <a href="http://www.thirdway.org/press_releases/172">Fellow at the aforementioned Third Way</a>.

Page, like most others mentioned in this story, is a <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/holly-page/4/18/777">long-time DLC and DNC hand</a>, serving as a fundraiser for Bill Clinton for President in 1992, Director of the National Finance Council of the DNC from 1992-1994, and working for the DLC from 1994-2008, the last five years of which <a href="http://www.kkpnyc.com/htmls/Holly.htm">she served as Executive Vice President</a>.

The "Invisible Government"

What does this all mean?

There's the pomp-and-circumstance of the DNC, which will take place in the Charlotte Convention Center and will be televised and radio-casted around the country and the world. And then there's what Edward Bernays, the father or modern propaganda, once called the "<a href="http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Propaganda/Propaganda_Bernays.html">invisible government</a>," which will be operating behind the scenes at the DNC.

"Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country," <a href="http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Propaganda/Propaganda_Bernays.html">wrote Bernays</a>. "We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of."

When push comes to shove, it's the people behind the parties at the DNC for 2012 that are the true source of power, the heart and soul of the contemporary Democratic Party.  

steve horn truthout

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<h2 class="itemTitle">Merchant of Climate Doubt Hosts the Hottest Parties at the DNC</h2>

Thursday, 06 September 2012 09:25 By <a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/index.php?option=com_k2&view=itemlist&task=user&id=44902&Itemid=252">Steve Horn</a>, <a href="http://truth-out.org">Truthout</a> | Report

Global warming skeptics who fan the flames of controversy over climate change are generally thought to be far right ideologues, associated <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Republican-Brain-Science-Science/dp/1118094514" target="_blank">primarily with the Republican Party</a>. Nonetheless, a powerful purveyor of climate change denial is holding court this week at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Charlotte.

<a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/lobbyist.php?id=Y0000019557L&year=2012" target="_blank">Darrell Henry</a>, a lobbyist for firms that specialize in promoting climate change denial, will be one of the key players behind the parties - and the Democratic Party - at this week's national convention in North Carolina, home of Duke Energy, a coal industry giant with a huge stake in federal climate policy.

Duke's role as DNC patron was detailed in a <a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/11285-the-people-behind-the-parties-and-the-democratic-party-at-the-dnc" target="_blank">previous Truthout story </a>about the powerful behind-the-scenes forces at this year's DNC; but Henry's role offers unique insight into the politics of global warming.

As mentioned in the previous Truthout story, Henry works for a lobbying firm set up specifically to peddle influence at both the Republican and Democratic conventions through LLCs (limited liability corporations), which skillfully skirt lobbying ethics laws.

From 2000 to 2005, Henry served as the head lobbyist for the American Gas Association (AGA). The shop he currently runs - ROQ Strategies - shares an office with DNC Convention Strategies Group - the child of <a href="http://conventions2012.com/" target="_blank">Conventions 2012 LLC </a>- and sibling to GOP Convention Strategies Group.

Truthout reported in its previous story that this family of newly minted LLC's share the same Washington, DC address - and lobbyist Henry, the glue that holds them together.

Left out of the first installment is the answer to a simple question: What did Henry do between the time he left the AGA and founded ROQ? Enter the "<a href="http://www.merchantsofdoubt.org/" target="_blank">merchants of doubt</a>," a moniker coined by historian Naomi Oreskes to describe the people behind a systematic campaign to cloud public perceptions about the science of climate change.

Henry and the Merchants of Doubt

The merchants of doubt are the lobbyists, scientists and public relations flacks cashing in climate change denial, a well-oiled propaganda machine <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jul/01/exxon-mobil-climate-change-sceptics-funding" target="blank">bankrolled by the oil and gas industry</a>. From 2006 to 2008, Henry was one of them, on the payroll of Policy Communications Inc. - a firm that, according to DeSmogBlog, played a sophisticated "<a href="http://desmogblog.com/policy-communications-inc-astroturf-shell-game" target="blank">astroturf shell game</a>."

The game worked like every other political shell game works: Various fronts were created to mask what was a propaganda campaign for the oil and gas industry. Here's an example:

In 2007, the<a href="http://www.westernclimateinitiative.org/history" target="_blank"> Western Climate Initiative </a>(WCI) was created by the Governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington, all of whom "signed an agreement directing their respective states to develop a regional target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions (and) participate in a multi-state registry to track and manage greenhouse gas emissions in the region," according to the WCI website.

The response to the WCI followed an often-repeated pattern. As <a href="http://desmogblog.com/western-climate-initiative-under-attack" target="blank">DeSmogBlog noted </a>sardonically, "like ants to a picnic, you can bet some industry-funded front group is bound to show up whenever there is serious talk about reducing carbon emissions." And show up the ants did in droves, in the form of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Western_Business_Roundtable" target="blank">Western Business Roundtable </a>(WBR).

Though dues-paying members are no longer posted on WBR's web site, a Way Back Machine search from January 2006 shows <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20060105213254/http://www.westernroundtable.com/membership/memberlist.asp" target="blank">dues-paying members </a>such as Arch Coal, Marathon Oil Corporation, Peabody Energy and Royal Dutch Shell. The listed address in an <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20081024075007/http://www.westernroundtable.com/" target="blank">October 2008 </a>Way Back Machine search, was the same address and phone number that is now DNC Convention Strategies Group and ROQ: 444 N. Capitol St., Suite 216, essentially next door to the national lobbying headquarters of the American Gas Association.

The WBR, though, was merely a front group - actually, a front group of a front group - for another lobbying firm: <a href="http://desmogblog.com/policy-communications-inc-astroturf-shell-game" target="blank">Policy Communications Inc</a>., the original registrant of the WBR web site, upping the ante of the shell game to a whole new level. The doors for Policy Communications are <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/firmsum.php?id=F24275&year=2012" target="blank">still open</a>, according to Open Secrets. The money spent lobbying was much higher during Henry's time at Policy Communications than it is today, maxing out at a <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/firmsum.php?id=F24275&year=2008" target="_blank">grand total of $360,000 </a>spent on it in 2008.

Big money from the merchants of doubt is routinely accompanied by conspiracy theories. Policy Communications'/WBR's president and CEO, Jim Sims, for example, <a href="http://www.iceagenow.com/Climate_Science_Debate.htm" target="_blank">has stated of climate change, </a>"It is fashionable these days to say that the 'debate is over' on the science underlying climate change. But in the arena of science, a debate continues to rage on many aspects of this issue."

Who is Sims? He "served in the White House in 2001 as President George W. Bush's director of communications for the National Energy Policy Development Group," which helped forge the administration's National Energy Policy, according a <a href="http://puc.sd.gov/energyconf/speakers/sims.aspx" target="_blank">biographical sketch</a>.

It was this group, riddled with<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/15/AR2005111501842_pf.html" target="blank"> oil and gas corporate executives</a>, that crafted the "<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Halliburton_Company#The.22Halliburton_loophole.22_for_Methane_Gas_Drilling" target="_blank">Halliburton Loophole</a>," which makes the chemical stew that's in fracking fluid for shale gas extraction a "trade secret" to average citizens, exempting the oil and gas industry from both the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act when they perform hydraulic fracturing for shale gas.

Aside from being a lobbyist for an oil and gas industry front group, Henry is also a former Chairman of the National Energy Resources Organization (NERO), another group funded by the usual suspects: The American Petroleum Institute, ConocoPhillips, EnCana, Duke Energy (<a href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/11285-the-people-behind-the-parties-and-the-democratic-party-at-the-dnc" target="_blank">major sponsor of the DNC</a>; its CEO Jim Rogers sits on the DNC Host Committee, and the company has lent a floor of its corporate headquarters to the Committee), General Electric and others.

Importantly, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Dittus_Communications" target="blank">Dittus Communications </a>is also a <a href="http://nationalenergyresources.com/membersponsors.htm" target="blank">corporate member of NERO</a>, which itself does public relations work for the shale gas industry's public relations machine, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Energy_in_Depth" target="_blank">Energy in Depth</a>.

Climate Denial Drives Destructive Energy Policies

During his time working under the watchful eye of Sims, Henry lobbied for many policies with a common thread: All were environmentally destructive, at least to those looking at the situation through a scientific lens, as opposed to the lens of the merchants of doubt.

In 2007, Henry lobbied against any provisions of the Clean Energy Act of 2007 that would decrease domestic energy production. Later that year he lobbied on behalf of three bills calling for greater domestic energy production - at any ecological price.

Then in the first quarter of 2008, Henry and Friends lobbied on behalf of "responsible implementation" of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the one that includes the"Halliburton Loophole." The oxymoronic nature of such a statement to those citizens whose water has been contaminated with <a href="http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/intelligent-energy/toxic-fracking-fluids-revealed-in-congressional-report/5698" target="_blank">toxic fracking fluid</a>, but don't know what chemicals they were actually contaminated with due to the fact it's a "trade secret," could only leave them laughing - or crying.

At the end of 2008, Policy Communications, Inc./WBR lobbied policymakers by "educating them on the costs vs. benefits of domestic regulation of greenhouse gases," while also pushing for increased domestic production of oil and gas, an end to the moratorium for drilling on the outer continental shelf and a beginning of extreme <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/does-red-leaf-s-ecoshale-technology-greenwash-oil-shale-extraction" target="_blank">oil shale production</a>.

Connect the Dots

Lobbyists like Darrell Henry are among many people behind the parties - and the Democratic Party - at the DNC. Perhaps this is why President Obama, who is up for a second four-year stint at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and will receive the Democratic Party's nomination for President on Sept. 6 in Bank of America Stadium, has mirrored the Sarah Palin "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drill,baby,drill" target="_blank">drill baby drill</a>" approach (and the Romney approach) to oil and gas extraction in his "all of the above" energy policy.

Couple this with a new-fangled Democratic Party platform calling for expedited processing of oil and gas pipelines like the Keystone XL of Tar Sands Action/Tar Sands Blockade fame and an "all of the above" energy policy being touted by the Party at large, and soon it becomes quite clear for those with eyes to see that the people behind the taxpayer- and corporate-sponsored parties are also the people behind today's Democratic Party.

The planet is burning, but the hot parties have only just begun here in Charlotte at the DNC.