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https://www.mediamatters.org/facebook/facebook-allowed-pro-trump-pac-run-hundreds-ads-false-information-about-joe-biden

pro-Trump PAC America First Action ran at least 397 ads on Facebook and Instagram since July 24 featuring a video that falsely suggests Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden supported efforts to defund the police. While Facebook finally removed many of the ads on August 4, a number of them had already run for over 10 days, earning more than 5.7 million impressions -- and the false information will still be allowed in other posts on the platform.

The false claim that Biden supports defunding the police has been repeatedly promoted by President Donald Trump and right-wing media, seemingly meant to inspire fear about supposedly radical policies among centrist voters. 

PolitiFact, which is one of Facebook’s trusted fact-checking partners, fact-checked the video in America First Action PAC’s ad on July 29, five days before Facebook reportedly removed the ads:

The 15-second ad, from conservative super PAC America First Action, selectively edits a clip from Biden’s interview with liberal activist Ady Barkan. While the text on the screen reads, “Defund the police?,” Biden is seen on a TV saying, “Yes. Absolutely, yes.”

Using Facebook Ad data from the Dewey Square Adwatch tool set, Media Matters found 397 ads that America First Action PAC ran with versions of the misleading video since July 24. The PAC spent at least $87,900 on these ads, most of which specifically targeted Wisconsin, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania -- states which are part of Trump’s reported priority list. At the time of publication, at least 17 of the ads are still active on Facebook [pix]

[pix: six of 397 Facebook ads from America First Action PAC with false information about Joe Biden]

Facebook has repeatedly allowed political ads with misinformation to run on its platform. In fact, Media Matters has previously reported on hundreds of Facebook ads with misinformation and hate speech from the Trump campaign, including 529 ads with false claims of voter fraud and 88 ads with an infamous Nazi symbol; and hundreds of misleading ads from pro-Trump PACs, including Judicial Watch and The Committee to Defend the President.

Facebook has reportedly considered banning political ads leading up to the 2020 U.S. election, but that move wouldn’t prevent organic posts containing political misinformation from spreading on the platform.

Case in point: Even though Facebook removed America First Action PAC’s ads after they were fact-checked and labeled as false information, a Facebook spokesperson reportedly told Fox News that “the videos can, instead, run as original content on the group's page.”

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no lnx many, video

https://www.energyandpolicy.org/ohioans-for-energy-security/

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Who’s behind Ohioans for Energy Security’s ad campaign to scare voters?

Dave Anderson  •  August 28, 2019

Ohioans for Energy Security, a new entity blanketing Ohio with a wave of television ads defending the bailout of FirstEnergy Solutions, is brought to you by the same people who campaigned for the controversial bailout plan.

The group formed last month in Ohio as a for-profit Limited Liability Corporation. It just launched a $1 million ad campaign designed to scare voters away from signing petitions toplace a referendum on House Bill 6 on the 2020 ballot. The bill in question, passed by the Ohio General Assembly and signed by Governor Mike DeWine in July, will force Ohio consumers to pay to bail out uncompetitive nuclear and coal plants in Ohio. It also rolls back Ohio’s life-and-money saving clean energy standards, which helped to support 112,000 jobs in the Buckeye State.

“In the coming weeks, don’t give your information to the Chinese government,” Ohioans for Energy Security tells visitors to its website. “Don’t sign their petitionallowing China control over Ohio.”

Ohioans for Energy Security’s website tells voters to call its hotline to report petition gatherers. Petition signatures for statewide referendums are submitted to the Ohio Secretary of State and Attorney General, not the Chinese government.

Ohioans for Energy Security points to several reports that the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has been among the banks that financed several new gas projects in Ohio developed by Clean Energy Future, a company that opposed HB 6. 

The Columbus Dispatch reviewed those reports and concluded that “the group behind the commercial offered no evidence that such a plot exists.” It didn’t find “any evidence that the Chinese government intends to play a role in the possible repeal of House Bill 6.”

The Cleveland Scene writes that the group’s “bonkers” first ad “continues with even less tenuous grasps on the issues surrounding HB 6.”

Ohioans for Energy Security doesn’t mention that the broad-based opposition to HB 6 includes consumer advocates, environmentalists, free market groups, health experts, and manufacturers, as a quick review of opponent testimony on the bill will show.

The pro-bailout group also doesn’t mention Securities and Exchange Commission filings that show the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China has committed many millions of dollars to FirstEnergy Corp., the parent company that spawned FES.A March 2018 declaration by Charles Moore, FES’s chief restructuring officer, also included the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China on a list of “interest parties and significant creditors” in FES’s bankruptcy case, under the subheading “Banks, Lenders, UCC Lien.”

Ohioans for Energy Security is led by the spokesperson for another pro-bailout group backed by FirstEnergy Solutions

Carlo Loparo is listed as the president of Ohioans for Energy Security on political issue ad disclosures on file with the Federal Communications Commission. Loparo also serves as the group’s public spokesperson.

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Loparo is also the spokesperson for the Ohio Clean Energy Jobs Alliance (OCEJA), a coalition “powered by FirstEnergy Solutions” that launched last fall with the help of the utility’s outside lobbyists and public relations consultants, and campaigned in support of HB 6. 

Loparo is the president of the Columbus-based Loparo Public Relations, and boasts 25 years of experience in “media relations, strategic message development and crisis communications,” according to his firm’s website.

Amy Natoce, the vice president of Loparo Public Relations, was the political director for Dave Yost’s successful campaign for Ohio Attorney General. Yost will soon decide on whether to approve of revised summary language for the referendum petition, a first step toward getting the referendum on the ballot in 2020. Attorneys representing FES and Generation Now, Inc., a dark money group that spent millions on ads supporting HB 6, have been targeting Yost’s office with letters opposing the effort to put the issue on the ballot. 

Ohioans for Energy Security’s first ad uses stock footage, features employees of FirstEnergy Solutions

“Don’t sign your name to a plan that kills Ohio jobs, harms Ohio communities, and endangers our energy independence,” Ohioans for Energy Security’s first ad tells viewers as stoic headshots of several individuals flash on screen.

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The ad doesn’t identify those individuals, but at least three of the individuals appear to be recycled from stock footage that had previously been used in a 2017 Ohio ballot initiative ad around prescription drug prices. 

Image from 2017 prescription drug ballot initiative ad

Image from 2017 prescription drug ballot initiative ad

Image from 2019 Ohioans for Energy Security ad

Image from 2019 Ohioans for Energy Security ad

Image from 2017 prescription drug ballot initiative ad

Image from 2017 prescription drug ballot initiative ad

Image from 2019 Ohioans for a Secure Energy Future ad

Image from 2019 Ohioans for Energy Security ad

The 2017 ad which used the same stock photos, called “Step Forward,” no longer appears online, though Ballotpedia references it in a database of ads from the 2017 prescription drug initiative campaign. A copy was provided to the Energy and Policy Institute.

That 2017 ad was funded by “Ohio Taxpayers for Lower Drug Prices,” which employedRex Elsass, a Republican operative and the owner of Strategic Group for Media.

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Some of Ohioans for Energy Security’s ad contracts on file with the FCC name as the buyer Strategic Media Placement, also owned by Elsass. The same firm made ad buys for Generation Now. 

The Ohionans for Energy Security ad also includes several employees of FirstEnergy Solutions who also appeared in earlier ads supporting HB 6, produced by the dark money group Generation Now, Inc. Some also appeared in videos produced by the FES-backed Ohio Clean Energy Jobs Alliance.

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A screenshot of a Generation Now Facebook ad featuring Matt Messenger, who the ad did not not disclose is a project manager at FES’s Perry nuclear power plant.

Ohioans for Energy Security first ad features a similar image of Messenger, without disclosing his name or employer

Back in June, the Energy and Policy Institute asked a spokesperson for FES at Sitrick and Company why the utility’s employees were appearing in Generation Now’s ads, and if it was funding the group’s efforts. The spokesperson said he would “be happy to look into this and get back to you,” but then never responded with any further information.

A monthly fee statement filed in FES’s bankruptcy case later revealed that Sitrick & Company staff discussed EPI’s inquiry with “D. Griffing” and the “Dewey Square” team. David Griffing is the vice president of government affairs for FES. The Dewey Square Groupis a lobbying firm that has received nearly $800,000 for its work on FES’s bailout campaigns in Ohio and Pennsylvania, which included work on the launch and operations of the Ohio Clean Energy Jobs Alliance.

Excerpt from Sitrick & Company’s filing in FES’s bankruptcy case discussing EPI’s inquiry regarding FES employees working with Generation Now

Links to Generation Now’s ad firm and a pro-Householder PAC backed by Murray Energy

The server for the group’s website – www.ohioansforenergysecurity.com – also hosts the websites of Elsass’s Strategy Group Company and Front Porch Strategies.

It also hosts a site – LarryHouseholderFightsforus.com – supporting Ohio’s Republican House Speaker Larry Householder, whose rise to the speakership was backed by FirstEnergy and Generation Now. Householder then led the drive to pass HB 6. The pro-Householder site is paid for by the Michigan-based Hardworking Americans Committee, which spent over $450,000 on ads opposing Householder’s Republican primary opponent Kevin Black in 2018. 

Federal Elections Commission data shows the Hardworking Americans Committee received $50,000 in 2018 from the PAC of Murray Energy, a coal producer that stands to benefit from HB 6.

The Hardworking Americans also received $50,000 that year from Political Education Patterns, the PAC for the Cleveland-based International Union of Operating Engineers Local 18. IUOE Local 18 doled out $295,000 to Generation Now in 2018 and 2019, according to FEC data. Mark A. Totman, the union’s VP, serves as one of Governor Dewine’s appointees to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Nominating Council, where he represents organized labor.

Updated at 7:30 ET on Aug. 28, 2019 to include information about Ohioans for Energy Security’s use of stock footage in its ad.

Posted in: Coal, FirstEnergy, Ohio Clean Energy Jobs Alliance Tagged in: carlo loparo, coal bailout, firstenergy solutions, generation now inc, hb 6, larry householder, loparo public relations, nuclear bailout, ohio clean energy jobs alliance, ohio secretary of state, ohioans for energy security, rex elsass

Posted by Dave Anderson

Dave Anderson is the policy and communications manager for the Energy and Policy Institute. Dave has been working at the nexus of clean energy and public policy since 2008. Prior to joining the Energy and Policy Institute, he was an outreach coordinator for the climate and energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. He is also an alumnus of the Sierra Club and the Alliance for Climate Protection (now the Climate Reality Project). Dave’s research has helped to spur public scrutiny of political attacks on clean energy and climate science by powerful special interests, such as ExxonMobil and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). His work has been cited by major media outlets, such as CBS News and the Wall Street Journal, and he has served as a speaker on panels at national solar industry conferences. Dave holds a MA in Political Science from the University of New Hampshire, where he also received a BA in Humanities.

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https://www.energyandpolicy.org/firstenergy-lobbyists-behind-testimony-supporting-bailout-bill/

A lobbying firm paid by FirstEnergy Solutions appears to have played a role in writing the testimony given this week by multiple supporters of abill to bail out the bankrupt utility’s nuclear power plants that’s now before the Ohio House.

The bill in question, HB 6, would ultimately cost Ohioans $300 million annually, $180 million of which would go to FirstEnergy Solutions’ struggling nuclear power plants.

It would also effectively kill Ohio’s renewable energy and energy efficiency standards, and could result in subsidies for coal and natural gas power plants, all under the auspices of a new Clean Air Program.

EPI downloaded digital copies of the written testimony by bill proponents that was posted on the Ohio House website after a committee hearing on Wednesday, and viewed the “Document Properties” for each of the PDF files. The name “Christopher Curry” – was found in the “Author” field of seven of the testimony files.

[pix/ doc]

Curry is a Washington, D.C.-based employee at the Dewey Square Group, a lobbying firm to which FirstEnergy Solutions disclosed making over $800,000 in payments in a bankruptcy case filing last month.

Carlo LoParo, a spokesperson for the Ohio Clean Energy Jobs Alliance, provided the following statement to the Energy and Policy Institute (EPI) on Thursday, after the hearing on the bill:

As has been reported in the past, the Dewey Square Group works on behalf of FES and the Ohio Clean Energy Jobs Alliance to advocate for keeping the state’s nuclear plants open. The Alliance played a key role in mobilizing strong support for House Bill 6 at yesterday’s hearing before the House Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, including providing a suggested framework and consolidating, converting to PDF’s, and submitting testimony to the committee.

The Ohio Clean Energy Jobs Alliance that LoParo referenced is “powered by FirstEnergy Solutions,” according to the group’s website. Outside lobbying and public relations firms employed by FES helped to launch the Alliance last fall. The group has :{purchased over:(style="background-color:#ffffff;"):}::{ $220,000 in Facebook ads:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}: since its launch, all paid for by FirstEnergy Solutions.  

Larry Householder, the Republican speaker of the Ohio House who is backing HB 6, denies that the bill is a bailout for FirstEnergy Solution. FirstEnergy’s Political Action Committee and employees contributed nearly $1.2 million during the 2018 election cycle in Ohio, with most of that campaign money going to Republicans, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Curry’s name appeared in the metadata of the written testimony by the following bill proponents who testified at Wednesday’s hearing:

Curry also conferred with Sitrick & Company, a Los-Angeles based public relations firm representing FirstEnergy Solutions, about “FES messaging and talking points” in March, according to another bankruptcy case filing.

He worked on the launch of the Ohio Clean Energy Jobs Alliance last fall, other documents filed in the FirstEnergy Solutions bankruptcy case reveal.

Curry previously worked on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016. A petition supporting the inclusion of nuclear power in New York’s clean energy standards that summer lists Curry as the organizer.

Curry has also work with the Dewey Square Group as a lobbyist forExelon in New York and Pennsylvania, according to FollowtheMoney.org.

Curry is not currently listed as a lobbyist in Ohio.

Posted by Dave Anderson

Dave Anderson is the policy and communications manager for the Energy and Policy Institute. Dave has been working at the nexus of clean energy and public policy since 2008. Prior to joining the Energy and Policy Institute, he was an outreach coordinator for the climate and energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. He is also an alumnus of the Sierra Club and the Alliance for Climate Protection (now the Climate Reality Project). Dave’s research has helped to spur public scrutiny of political attacks on clean energy and climate science by powerful special interests, such as ExxonMobil and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). His work has been cited by major media outlets, such as CBS News and the Wall Street Journal, and he has served as a speaker on panels at national solar industry conferences. Dave holds a MA in Political Science from the University of New Hampshire, where he also received a BA in Humanities.

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Dewey Square Group

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The Dewey Square Group (DSG), founded in 1993, is a public affairs firm with specialties in "grassroots" and "grasstops" campaigns, strategic communications, coalition building, state and local affairs, international practice, and political campaigns. [1] In August 2006 it was bought by the WPP Group. [2]

DSG, which works extensively with Democrats, routinely partners with Feather Larson & Synhorst DCI, a Republican-leaning lobbying firm. [3] In 2003, DSG merged its international operations with London-based Morgan Allen Moore. The Washington DC-based newspaper Roll Call (Feb. 13, 2003) has called DSG "the powerhouse public affairs firm with close ties to just about every important Democratic politician in the country."

In 2005, DSG had unaudited revenues of $12.5 million and gross assets of $2.9 million. In August 2006, the firm was acquired by the WPP Group. In 2005, PR Week reported that the firm "will continue to operate independently within WPP, according to a press release." [4]

In 2007, the firm launched "DSG LATINovations," led by former Democratic National Committee Communications Director Maria Cardona and former Congressional Hispanic Caucus Executive Director Maria Robles Meier, along with Cynthia Jasso Rotunno and Carissa Fana. In a press release, the firm said that DSG LATINovations would "help the public and private sectors build relationships with, navigate and successfully tap into the distinct and growing communities throughout" the U.S. Hispanic population. [5]

Contents [hide]

History

DSG describes itself as a "preeminent grassroots management firm" with "a national network of state operatives experienced in implementing effective strategies to generate local support for public policy issues." [6] According to the Washington Post, DSG "has been paid by General Motors Corp., the American Insurance Association, AT&T Corp., Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association and Microsoft, among others, to drum up support from voters for legislation the companies advocate." [7] Other clients include Northwest Airlines, UnitedHealth Group, the Alaska Oceans Program and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. [8]

DSG's campaign services include: CampaignOffice.com, campaign internet support; Dewey Square Fusion, a "cost-effective way for political campaigns to mine" consumer information gathered by companies and marketers for "more nuanced" messaging and communications targeting [9]; the Dewey Hub, telephone messaging services; and the Share Group, a full-service direct marketing firm. [10]

"Grasstops" lobbying

DSG's approach to lobbying "attempts to get prominent local citizens and organizations to lobby on behalf of interest groups. Unlike conventional lobbying, the technique does not require the firms' principals to meet with or even talk to lawmakers. ... The method is considered effective because lawmakers usually do not even know that they've been lobbied." [11]

The New York Times (Sept. 30, 1998) described the phenomenon of grasstops lobbying: "Because mass mobilizations have become so prevalent, a number of firms have become experts in a technique known as 'grass-tops' lobbying, aimed at mobilizing an elite as opposed to the masses. The goal is to figure out to whom a member of Congress cannot say no: his chief donor, his campaign manager, a political mentor. The lobbyist then tries to persuade that person to take his client's side. If the method works, the member of Congress may never know that a person contacting him had been revved up by a lobbyist. To pull off this feat, Washington lobbying and public relations firms keep databases of organizers across the country, most of them with backgrounds in politics."

In December 1997, CNN noted DSG's new lobbying style: [12]

Richard Pinsky, a former campaign operative for Pat Robertson and Bob Dole, works as a political detective. His job: to locate and bring into the lobbying fold what are known in the trade as "once close tos." On assignment from lobbying firms based in Washington, Pinsky is paid to find key individuals who were once close to lawmakers who are undecided on the legislation of the moment. He then ferrets out which of these confidants are willing to make the case to Sen. X or Rep. Y. In the argot of the multi-billion-dollar influence industry, Pinsky is doing grasstops--as opposed to grassroots--lobbying, since he avoids hoi polloi and zeroes in on those few people whom lawmakers know and whose opinions they trust.When Pinsky was hired recently by the Dewey Square Group, a public relations and political consulting firm, to rally support for "fast track" legislation, he called an old ally, former Republican Gov. Bob Martinez. Martinez, in turn, discussed the issue with fellow Tampa resident and Democratic Congressman Jim Davis. Davis, an impressionable freshman, is now a firm yes on the free-trade measure. Although Davis' spokesman insists the Martinez talk didn't affect the Congressman's vote, the little chat certainly didn't hurt. Nor did any of the casual-but-premeditated contacts made on fast track by another Pinsky recruit, former Florida Secretary of Commerce Charles Dusseau; he wrote to Congresspersons and fellow Democrats Corrine Brown, Peter Deutsch, and Robert Wexler.

The CNN story echoed a Fortune magazine piece (Dec. 8, 1997) around the same time which observed:

Dewey Square is just one of several firms, such as Direct Impact and Lunde & Burger, that now maintain nationwide networks of politically wired operatives who are willing to reach for their Rolodexes in between their election-year gigs to help make ends meet. Campaign professionals like Susan Swecker of Virginia, Ken Benson of Texas, and Tylynn Gordon of Montana are becoming the new breed of influence peddlers. Yet they don't need to register as lobbyists in Washington. They don't even set foot in the city they affect so deeply.

According to the Indianapolis Business Journal (Jun. 7, 2004), DSG partners with local firms in order to maximize its "grasstops" connections. One example is the Democratic, Indianapolis-based Gibson & Leppert, who DSG works with "when national organizations represented by Dewey target federal lawmakers from Indiana."

Kerry campaign 2004

Several DSG staff joined Senator John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign as advisers or staff, including Jill Alper, Minyon Moore, Jeremy Van Ess, Anne Sheridan, Charles M. Campion, Charles A. Baker III and Michael J. Whouley. [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]

DSG provided "broad-gauge political advice to John F. Kerry" for some time; "Whouley received $14,000 in expenses for swooping into Iowa this year and helping to pull off a come-from-behind victory for Kerry in the caucuses there," reported the Washington Post. (Kerry, following his Iowa win, referred to his adviser as "the magical Michael Whouley."[18]) The Worcester Telegram & Gazette (Jul. 24, 2004) wrote that Whouley and fellow DSG staff Joseph A. Ricca "did as much as any operative on the ground in Iowa to swing the upset for Mr. Kerry," including gaining the support of John Mauro, a politically powerful Polk County supervisor, and the endorsement of Christie Vilsack, the wife of Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack. The Boston Herald (Sept. 12, 2004) noted, "Top Dewey Square officials such as Chuck Campion and Charles Baker are also longtime Kerry advisers." The Boston Globe (Jul. 28, 2004) reported that DSG partner Charles Baker had raised $64,000 for the Kerry campaign, with Chuck Campion's and Michael Whouley's help.

During the Democratic National Convention in Boston, DSG hosted a cocktail party that received media attention when Maria Shriver, a Kennedy family member whose Republican husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger, had recently won California's gubernatorial recall election, wrote Associated Press (Jul. 26, 2004). The convention party, co-sponsored by DSG, Pepsi and Harpoon Brewery, "honor[ed] the Massachusetts and North Carolina delegations - the home states for Kerry and his vice presidential running mate, Sen. John Edwards," and cost an estimated $80,000, according to Associated Press (Jul. 25, 2004).

Other Democratic campaigns

Other Democratic presidential nominees worked with DSG staff during the 2004 primaries: Nick Baldick managed John Edwards' presidential campaign (and was New Hampshire state director for the Gore campaign in 2000), DSG's Kiki McLean was a volunteer spokeswoman for Joseph I. Lieberman, and DSG's John Lapp ran Dick Gephardt's Iowa campaign.[19][20] Former Howard Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi, in response to an offer of help from DSG's Baker, asked, "You're with Edwards, you're running Kerry, Alper and Whouley are floating around. My question is, how does that work? Do you guys talk to each other?" [21]

According to the Boston Globe, DSG's Jill Alper "was instrumental in Jennifer Granholm's narrow victory in 2002 as Michigan's first elected female governor." [22]

In 2000, DSG's Catherine "Kiki" Moore ran Al Gore's campaign press office in Washington DC. "Her firm, which has received at least $ 10,000 in consulting fees from the Gore campaign, has lobbied for Visa, MasterCard and Northwest Airlines," reported The Nation (Nov. 15, 1999).

It's common practice for corporate lobbyists to work with political campaigns, writes the Washington Post, since "heavyweight lobbyists are often made or broken by their performance as consultants to major-party candidates. Winning the White House is not essential; merely playing at the top level is credential enough." [23]

In 2004, the Democratic National Committee paid DSG nearly $200,000, mostly for "political consulting." [24]

In September 2007, DSG's David Barnhart was named Iowa caucus director for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign. [25]

Ties with 527 groups

DSG "consults for two of the big Democratic 527s while top officials - walled off from that work, the firm says - play key roles for Kerry and the Democrats."[26] According to the San Jose Mercury News (Sept. 5, 2004), the closest DSG-Kerry-527 connections are through the 527 group America Coming Together. DSG has served as a paid consultant for both the Kerry campaign and ACT; DSG partner Minyon Moore "has advised the Kerry campaign and is on the executive committee of [ACT]." According to the Washington Post (Jul. 30, 2004), ACT "hired a phone-bank operation owned by the Dewey Square Group."

These ties have prompted criticism that the 527 groups, which cannot by law coordinate with candidates' campaigns, are in effect doing so through shared personnel. But Roll Call (Aug. 30, 2004) notes, "When Republicans were drawing up an FEC (Federal Election Commission) complaint against ACT... they decided to keep Dewey Square out of it because when GOP officials looked into it, they found that the firm did 'have the proper firewalls set up.'"

The other 527 with DSG ties is Stronger America Now; DSG's Melanie Hudson is the group's director. Stronger America Now's purpose is "to accept donations in order to make disbursements to indirectly influence the selection, nomination, election or appointment of an individual to a federal, state, or local public office or office in a political organization, without expressly advocating the election or defeat of a clearly identified candidate for such an office," according to Lobbyist.info. The Center for Public Integrity reports that the group raised and spent more than $1 million, mostly on ads, as of October 21, 2004. [27] [28] The Los Angeles Times wrote that "Stronger America Now has run ads in Wisconsin that attack ties between Bush and the Saudi royal family. ... The group, which a Democratic source said was funded by trial lawyers, also has run ads in Dayton, Ohio, that criticize Bush as a tool of big corporations and defend Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards, a North Carolina senator." [29]

According to the Center for Public Integrity, DSG has received payments from four different 527 groups since 2000: The Partnership for America's Families (now associated with Americans Coming Together), Communications Workers of America Non-Federal Separate Segregated Fund, the Gore/Lieberman Recount Committee, and the National Conference of Democratic Mayors. [30] The same database shows DSG contributing $2,500 in 2003 to another 527 group, the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund. [31]

Political donations

"In 1999 and 2000, people working for Dewey Square donated $58,000 to Democratic political candidates, from Gore to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and five of the 10 U.S. House members in Massachusetts," reported the Boston Globe. In 2003 to May 2004, "donations from Dewey Square employees ballooned to $124,000. They were spread across seven of the 10 Massachusetts House members and four of the 10 contenders for the Democratic nomination, as well as party candidates throughout the country." [32]

Other activities

Faking letters to the editor, on Medicare Advantage

The editor of the Halifax-Plympton Reporter, in Marshfield, Massachusetts, reported receiving a letter to the editor in early 2009 urging "that people contact their congressman about the Medicare Advantage program," a "sort of privatized health plan paid for via the recipient's Medicare. Reportedly, there's some interest in doing away with the program." The actual, physical letter was in the name of a local resident, but it didn't mention any of the local Congressional delegation, which the newspaper's editor, Matthew Nadler, found strange. So, he called the local resident who had supposedly written and mailed the letter. "He had no idea what I was talking about," Nadler reported. Then, "I got a phone call Monday from a young man who said he was calling on behalf of the letter's non-writer. I told him what happened, and I think I had some pointed words about what was a pretty sleazy use of an elderly person. I asked the caller who he was and who he worked for. Which, not surprisingly, I suppose, he declined to tell me." However, Nadler could see his phone number, and traced it back to the Dewey Square Group. Nadler noted that DSG's "Web site doesn't list their clients, but it doesn't take a genius, or a newspaper editor, to figure out they've been hired by someone with an interest in keeping Medicare Advantage in business." The firm's site "promises 'grassroots' communication," he added, but "it looks more like Astroturf from here." [1]

Another Massachusetts paper, The Eagle-Tribune reported receiving similar fake letters to the editor. The tip-off for them was when Noah, really "an intern at the Boston office of the Dewey Square Group," called about one of the letters, claiming he was the letter writer's grandson. But the woman whose name was on the letter doesn't have a grandson named Noah, and didn't send the letter. Dewey Square carried out the fake letter campaign "under the banner of 'The Coalition for Medicare Choices,'" also "bringing seniors to 'Medicare Advantage Community Meetings,' featuring 'free food' and 'door prizes,' with congressmen and senators, and offering them sample letters to Congress or local newspapers." Dewey Square's Mary Anne Marsh claimed, "No one's trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes." Instead, she suggested that "the time that elapsed between the meetings when the seniors saw the letters and the letters' arrival at the newspaper may have clouded some memories." The campaign came after Democratic proposals, backed by President Obama, to cut funding to Medicare Advantage and use "the savings to expand health care coverage for all." [2]

Driving public support for GM

In February 2009, the Detroit News reported that General Motors had hired DSG's Michael Whouley. "Whouley's addition comes as even some of the companies' allies in Washington have raised questions about GM's political and public relations strategy. ... Last week, when GM CEO Rick Wagoner met with members of Congress, he did not mention that the company would ask for up to $16.6 billion in new federal aid, according to several sources familiar with the discussions. The size of the request surprised even some of the company's staunchest defenders. ... Whouley is widely considered to be one of the Democratic Party's best organizers of grass-roots campaigns, focusing on building field organizations and get-out-the-vote operations for election campaigns. His hiring is likely a signal that GM wants to increase efforts outside Washington to build political support." [3]

Anti-people meter people

In 2004, DSG was hired by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Corp for their "campaign to block Nielsen Research from changing the TV ratings system," according to the National Journal (Sept 13, 2004). DSG worked with the Glover Park Group and Grassroots Enterprise, Inc. on the "lobbying, advertising and grassroots campaign designed to persuade black and Hispanic lawmakers to pressure Nielsen to scrap the new ratings system." DSG's Minyon Moore and Esther Aguilera "coordinated the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, respectively," for the campaign against Nielsen's updating their handwritten media log system. The argument given was that "African-American and Latino viewers in New York would be undercounted by electronic People Meters," according to New York Daily News (Apr. 8, 2004). But Roll Call (Apr. 7, 2004) reported that News Corp. "fear[ed] the loss of millions of dollars in advertising revenue under the new ratings system." ("Nielsen," noted Roll Call, "counters that the new system increases ratings for black and Hispanic households.")

At a meeting of Black and Hispanic members of Congress organized by Moore, "Rick Ramirez of Fox Entertainment News told the minorities that the new system could cut in half minority ratings for some shows. The next day, the CHC wrote a letter to Nielsen to 'express our concerns about the potential impact that the implementation of Local People Meters would have on ratings for minority-focused television programs.' A day after the letter from the Hispanic lawmakers was delivered, 17 members of the CBC sent their own letter to Nielsen charging that the new ratings system would 'disproportionately undercount minority viewers' and lead to the 'wholesale cancellation of minority programming'," reported Roll Call.

In May 2005, Maria Cardona joined DSG and worked on the Don't Count Us Out campaign, along with the United Health Care, Countrywide Mortgage and Democratic National Committee accounts. Cardona, who previously worked with the New Democratic Network and Democratic National Committee, focuses on "Latino organizations and communities" ("People and Organizations," Campaigns & Elections, May 2005).

Shut up and drink soda

In late 2003, DSG's J. Patrick Baskette was "traveling with ( Coalition for a Healthy and Active America statewide coordinator Ana) Cruz in parts of Florida to promote the coalition and generate interest in its programs," according to the Orlando Business Journal (Nov. 14, 2003). The Journal wrote, "Although sodas are frequently identifled as a nutritional problem for youngsters, it was Coca-Cola Enterprises that provided the seed money for the group to come to Florida." According to the Lobbyist.info database, Baskette is DSG's lobbyist for Coca-Cola.

As such, the effort appears to be an obesity-related PR campaign. Far from suggesting that overweight children should drink less soda, Cruz told the Journal: "Each area of the country is different as far as its needs and the way you can plan effective programs for children." Baskette remarked, "There is no silver bullet solution to the problem of obesity. We want to provide as many solutions as possible to address this very serious problem."

Aiding an ailing Arthur Andersen

In early 2002, following the collapse of Enron and the accounting firm Arthur Andersen's (now called Accenture) federal indictment for obstruction of justice, in connection with its audit of Enron, Arthur Andersen "hired Dewey Square Group of Boston, a public relations company, to help it organize its efforts to lobby support from Congress and other high-ranking leaders," reported the Washington Post (Mar. 29, 2002).

Of the Andersen campaign, the Post wrote, "The Justice Department is so bombarded with calls from Arthur Andersen LLP employees and their families that it has set up a hot line to take messages. ... The accounting firm's employees aren't just organizing rallies and printing T-shirts expressing their indignation at the indictment. They are also ginning up a grass-roots protest campaign that includes e-mails, letters and phone calls to anyone in government they think might listen. ... Andersen officials estimate that the firm's partners, employees and families have sent more than 20,000 letters and e-mails to Congress alone and are working to set up meetings or have scheduled meetings with 23 members of Congress."

The Washington Post article describes one letter "written by a 10-year-old to his father," an Andersen partner, which read in part, "Dear Dad, I hope that you will be able to find a new job if your business is shut down. . . . Please let me know when you know what is going on with Andersen v. the Justice Department." The letter was forwarded to President Bush and the head of the Justice Department's criminal division, Michael Chertoff.

Lobbying for dead people

On August 23, 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported, "Letters purportedly written by at least two dead people landed on the desk of Utah Atty. Gen. Mark Shurtleff earlier this year, imploring him to go easy on Microsoft Corp. for its conduct as a monopoly. The pleas, along with about 400 others from Utah citizens, are part of a carefully orchestrated nationwide campaign to create the impression of a surging grass-roots movement." ("Another letter came from 'Tuscon, Utah,' a city that doesn't exist," noted the Times.)

The letter drive was carried out by two Microsoft-funded front groups, called Americans for Technology Leadership (ATL) and Citizens Against Government Waste. According to the Los Angeles Times article, "To assist it in the grass-roots campaign, Microsoft turned to two of the nation's top political advocacy groups: Boston-based Dewey Square Group, co-founded by Al Gore campaigner Michael Whouley, and Phoenix-based DCI/New Media, led by Republican strategist Tom Synhorst."

Even some actual residents asked to send letters as part of the pro-Microsoft campaign said they were misled: "Some residents who fielded ATL's calls believed the states themselves were soliciting their views, according to the attorneys general of Minnesota, Illinois and Utah. When a caller started asking Minnesotan Nancy Brown questions about Microsoft, she thought she was going to get help figuring out what was wrong with her computer," reported the Los Angeles Times. When told about the Microsoft-funded campaign, one Minnesota resident who sent a form letter to the state's attorney general told him, "I sure was misled."

Against amendments banning same-sex marriage

Also in 2004, the Washington Post (Jul, 26, 2004) reported that DSG was working for a new organization, the Campaign to Protect the Constitution (with funding from Human Rights Campaign), to organize "grass-roots efforts against constitutional amendments [banning same sex marriage] in key states."

For tort reform

Also in 2003, Business Week reported that DSG "is leading the grassroots mobilization in states such as Washington, Connecticut, Louisiana, Nevada, and Rhode Island, where there's a shot at swaying fence-sitting Dems" in favor of the Class Action Fairness Act, a bipartisan measure supporting limited tort reform.[33]

Miscellaneous

The Public Affairs Council website lists DSG as a past participant in its "National Grassroots Conference."[34]

DSG staffer Mary Anne Marsh has appeared on the Fox News show "The O'Reilly Factor" as a Fox News Political Consultant. Boston Magazine (May 2003) called Marsh a "Democratic political pundit with a hotshot national rep, this spin doctor gets quoted on issues in papers all over the country, and she's appeared on Fox News, CNN, NBC, and MSNBC."

Clients

According to the Center for Responsive Politics "OpenSecrets" website, in the first quarter of 2008 DSG reported lobbying income from AT&T, Barnes & Noble, Bloom Energy Corp, Coca-Cola Co, Countrywide Financial, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Mentor Network, Reach Out & Read National Center, and Shields MRI. [4]

"Citigroup's interests also are focused on Beacon Hill, [Boston,] where it employs a well-connected Democratic lobbying firm, Dewey Square Group," noted the Boston Globe in March 2007. The Globe article was about controversy surrounding Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick's advocacy on behalf of Ameriquest Mortgage, "which has frequently been accused of predatory lending." Ameriquest was seeking "urgent financial assistance" from Citigroup. [35]

The Lobbyist.info database lists the following as DSG clients in 2004: AARP (American Association of Retired Persons), Allegiance Healthcare Corporation, American Insurance Association, Americans for Technology Leadership (ATL), Blue Cross Blue Shield, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Collegiate Funding Services, Countrywide Mortgage Corporation, Diageo, DuPont, General Motors Corporation, Grocery Manufacturers of America (GMA), Internet Tax Moratorium Coalition, Mortgage Insurance Companies of America, National Education Association of the U.S., Purdue Pharma, Starbucks Coffee Corporation, United Health Group, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. [36]

According to the San Francisco Business Times, in 2003 DSG helped the San Francisco Unified School District "to overcome its self-esteem problems by telling its story."[37]

The Center for Responsive Politics' lobbyist database lists the following DSG clients by year (lobbying contract amount listed in parenthesis, when available): [38]

The U.S. Senate Office of Public Records also lists the International Fund for Animal Welfare as a DSG client in 2001-2002, for "grassroots and public affairs consulting." The Senate records also indidate that DSG lobbied for the Digital Equipment Corp. on "regulatory issues," for MasterCard and Visa on "bankruptcy reforms," for AT&T on "telecom and telecom related issues," for Stone & Webster on "amendments prohibiting commercial lightwater [nuclear] reactors from producing tritium and related matters," for the Uniform Standards Coalition on the "establishment of uniform standards for securities litigation," and for Northwest Airlines on the "U.S./Japan Air Passage Agreement." [39] The Boston Globe (Dec. 8, 1999) wrote that AT&T had retained DSG for lobbying on the issue of internet service providers seeking "'open access' to the Internet through broadband cable television systems."

The Boston Herald (Jan. 17, 2000) reported that DSG's Michael Whouley "set up two special meetings with administration officials for Northwest, which was engaged in a high-stakes battle with other airlines over lucrative Japanese trade routes." The article mentioned several other DSG campaigns:

"Dewey Square earned $ 513,000 for a seven-week lobbying blitz focused on building grass-roots support for USA-NAFTA, group pushing for congressional approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement. In 1995, Dewey Square was paid $ 892,017 lobbying for The Accounting Coalition, an industry group of accounting professionals seeking help in the huge legislative battle over securities litigation reform, another Clinton priority. Other Whouley clients included an accountants trade group and a business industry association seeking to make permanent the most-favored nation status enjoyed by China."

"Under previous Mayor Emanuel Cleaver, [Kansas City, Missouri] paid the Dewey Square Group about $75,000 in 1998-99 for Washington lobbying," reported the Kansas City Star (Jul. 15, 2000).

The Boston Herald (Nov. 20, 1997) explained in more detail DSG's work for the following clients:

In 1997, DSG's Florida office worked for Tampa General Hospital, "to reach 'grass-roots' constituencies" concerned with plans to turn the public hospital "into a private medical facility," reported the Tampa Tribune (Apr. 17, 1997). DSG's staffer on the hospital account, Karl Koch, said the community "would suffer if Tampa General failed but benefit if it survives, even if private." The Tribune story noted that DSG also assisted Wal-Mart "in overcoming local opposition to a construction of a store in Plainville, Connecticut."

The Hartford Courant (Jan. 12, 1995) further described the DSG-organized "Citizens For Wal-Mart" campaign: "A group of Wal-Mart supporters emerged from a shy silence Wednesday and vowed to fight for what they say will be a 'golden opportunity' to give Plainville tax dollars and jobs. While Wal-Mart opponents wielded Stop-The-Wal signs in the snow, 26 residents met at the local Howard Johnson Lodge to plot strategy, urging each other to write letters to newspapers and speak up at meetings in favor of the huge discount store. ... 'Open support is contagious,' said Joe Ricca, whose development consulting firm, Dewey Square Group, was hired by Wal-Mart's developer to organize support for the store, proposed for Northwest Drive, off Route 177."

"The Wampanoag Tribal Council has confirmed the selection of Charles Campion and his firm, the Dewey Square Group, as lead consultant on the continuing effort to build a casino in New Bedford," Massachusetts, reported the Boston Herald (Sept. 20, 1996).

The Legal Times (Apr. 6, 1988) listed DSG's Jon Patrick Baskette, Charles Campion and Michael Whouley as lobbying for the "Visa coalition to reform bankruptcy system" on "Bankruptcy reform."

Senior staff

From their website and other sources, as noted:

In January 2006, The Hill reported that Maria Robles Meier "executive director of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus for the past three years, is departing to join the Los Angeles office of strategy giant Dewey Square Group," to "help the firm strengthen its national emerging-markets division." [42]

Contact info

1001 G Street, NW, Suite 300E,

Washington DC 20001

Tel: 202-638-5616

Fax: 202-638-5612

Web: http://www.deweysquare.com/Home.htm

With seven offices in Washington DC, Boston MA, Tampa FL, Sacramento CA, San Francisco CA, Los Angeles CA, and London, England.

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References

  1. ↑ Matthew Nadler, "'Grassroots' letter campaign smells of fertilizer," Halifax-Plympton Reporter (Marshfield, Massachusetts), March 27, 2009.
  2. ↑ Ken Johnson, "Elderly used as front in letter-writing campaign: 'Grass-roots' effort looks more like Astroturf," The Eagle-Tribune (North Andover, Massachusetts), April 13, 2009.
  3. ↑ Gordon Trowbridge and David Shepardson, "GM hires veteran political consultant: Michael Whouley, a Democratic Party organizer, is expected to rally for public support for automaker," The Detroit News (Michigan), February 20, 2009.
  4. ↑ "Lobbying: Dewey Square Group (2008)," Center for Responsive Politics, OpenSecrets.org, accessed June 2008.
  5. ↑ Brian C. Mooney, "Bay State leaders showcase influence in Denver: Kennedy, Kerry, Patrick among orators," Boston Globe, August 26, 2008.

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