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DDC

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SEE DDC

see API astro

i forgot about these guys

html  Coolican,

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jack g alludes to great astro org co he hired, is it ddc?

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common cause NY

american Petroleum Institute’s State-Level Campaign

API’s increase in New York State spending since 2012 is part of the organization’s national strategy to engage at the

state and local level to convince the public of the safety and economic benefits of oil and gas drilling. In recent years,

American Petroleum Institute has increased its nationwide spending from $185 million in 2010 to $235 million in 2012.

API’s budget is raised primarily through “membership dues” from oil and gas companies but groups incorporated as

501c6 trade organizations do not have to disclose the detailed records of which companies and/or individuals contribute.

In March 2012, API held a series of workshops around the county, including one in Albany, on the “best practices”

of fracking and how these standards “protect human health and the environment.110”

Nationally, API oversees numerous public relations websites including “Energy Citizens”(.org)”, “Energy Nation”(.

org), “Energy From Shale”(.org), “Energy Tomorrow”(.org), “Energy Answered”(.org), and “America’s Energy Forum”(.

com). These sites present themselves as neutral, fact-based sources of information on the energy, although most of

them do disclose in a banner on the bottom of the page that they are sponsored by the American Petroleum Institute.

At the state level, the “America’s Energy Forum” campaign has created separate state websites for 26 states, including

New York’s “Empire Energy Forum,” registered as a domain name in 2011111.

Grassroots Lobbying by American Petroleum Institute: 2012 – July 2013

FIRM RETAINED BY API AMOUNT $ PURPOSE

ADVOCATES, INC. $51,000 GRASSROOTS ADVOCACY / EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

AECOM $85,272 CONSULTANT SERVICES / TECHNICAL EXPERT

BOLTON ST JOHNS $20,000 UPSTATE OUTREACH

DDC ADVOCACY $288,784 GRASSROOTS ADVOCACY / RALLIES / WEBSITE

ERIC MOWER & ASSOCIATES $15,150 PUBLIC RELATIONS ADVISOR

HOMETOWN ENERGY GROUP $6,000 GRASSROOTS ADVOCACY / EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

MERCURY PUBLIC AFFAIRS $124,512 MEDIA CONSULTANT

MULTI MEDIA SERVICES $39,985 TV COMMERCIAL

XRM LLC $146,709 CONSULTANT SERVICES / TECHNICAL EXPERT

TOTAL: $777,412

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clean creatives 9 22

DDC

Dominion Energy / Exelon / API (American Petroleum Institute) / EEI (Edison Electric Institute) / Americans For Job Security / AGA (American Gas Association) / U.S. Chamber of Commerce / National Association Of Manufacturers / ACCCE (American Coalition Of Clean Coal Energy)

https://www.desmog.com/**2022/08**/26/fti-consulting-fossil-fuels-work-climate-disinformation-house-natural-resources-subpoena/

a powerful Washington, D.C., consulting and PR firm, with a long history of waging influence campaigns for fossil fuel corporations, is under scrutiny by a congressional committee as part of a broader investigation into the decades-long efforts by the oil industry and its allies to block action on the climate crisis.

FTI Consulting, a billion-dollar firm that has a global presence, is not a household name. But it has been instrumental in an array of oil industry campaigns meant to sow doubt about climate change, attack climate scientists, and play up the benefits of fossil fuels.

Last year, a House committeeheld hearings in which members of Congress questioned oil executives on their role in peddling climate disinformation. But in June of this year, a separate committee, the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, sentletters to five PR firms — Story Partners, DDC Advocacy, Blue Advertising, Singer Associates, and FTI Consulting — requesting all documents related to their work running influence or marketing campaigns for oil, gas, and coal companies and their trade groups. The PR industry has been a critical but often overlooked player in the history of climate denial, as DeSmog hasreported. 

“For decades, fossil fuel companies and associations have engaged in public relations campaigns to downplay the threat of climate change and the central role fossil fuels have played in causing it,” the committee’s June letter stated. “Fossil fuel companies and trade groups have partnered with PR firms to use a variety of questionable tactics to undermine legislative and regulatory environmental initiatives.”

Two months after the request, FTI still had not turned over documents. The Committee grew impatient with the stonewalling, and on August 17, it fired off anotherletter, stating that “FTI has not wavered in its blanket refusal to provide even the most basic information about its clients or descriptions of the grounds for its refusal beyond the vaguest assertions of confidentiality and privileges.”

It then went on to warn: “FTI has provided no indication that this obstruction of congressional oversight will come to an end voluntarily. Unless FTI Consulting produces all responsive documents by 5:00 PM on August 24, 2022, the Committee will be forced to consider all of its options for obtaining this information, including, but not limited to, authorizing and issuing a subpoena.”

“Through its past client work and present refusal to cooperate with an ongoing congressional investigation, FTI Consulting is engaging in climate obstruction,”Christine Arena, a former VP at Edelman, who has tried to expose the PR industry’s role working on behalf of its fossil fuel clients, said in a statement to DeSmog. “Refusing to cooperate with the House Natural Resources Committee suggests that FTI knows it has something to hide, yet believes it is beyond reproach. Its flagrant disregard for the negative consequences of disinformation undermines the reputation of the PR and ad industry as a whole.”

A “Permanent Campaign Strategy”

FTI’s work for its fossil fuel clients goes far beyond creating billboards, online ads, or TV commercials, as a run-of-the-mill PR firm might do.

“You only hire a PR company when you have a problem to solve. And you hire an FTI when you’ve got real problems. You need dirty tricks. This is not just like selling a hamburger,” Kert Davies, founder and director of Climate Investigations Center, told DeSmog. “This is designing an influence campaign. It’s like designing a whole intelligence operation.”

The head of FTI’s Strategic Communications for the Americas is a man named Brian Kennedy, who was the communications strategist for drilling contractor Transocean, which owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that exploded in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. Kennedy, who “is best known for his expertise in crisis management,” as hisbio on the FTI website says, headed up Transocean’s PR work during the disaster and in the litigation that followed.

The campaigns waged by FTI for its fossil fuel clients are extensive and wide-ranging. As the New York Timesreported in 2020, FTI helped set up regional astroturf websites for its oil industry clients, such as Texans for Natural Gas, New Mexicans for Economic Prosperity, Citizens to Protect PA Jobs, Western Wire, and the Arctic Energy Center. The websites artificially created the appearance of grassroots political energy, and shared misleading “news” that downplayed environmental damage from fracking while simultaneously promoting the benefits of pro-drilling policies.

“FTI remains a major, major contractor to the fossil fuel industry. They run front groups, fake news channels, they pose as reporters, they write reports about activists.”

– Kert Davies

The most high-profile climate denial project FTI is involved in is Energy In Depth (EID), a pro-fracking constellation of websites that spreads industry talking points. Ostensibly a project linked to the Independent Petroleum Association of America, EID — which promotes fracking, attacks climate scientists and environmental activists, and plays up the benefits of fossil fuels — was jointly launched with FTI back in 2009.

The website wasn’t just a project of small and medium-sized independent oil producers. In 2011, DeSmogrevealed that Energy In Depth had the early backing of some of the largest oil companies, including BP, Anadarko, Halliburton, Chevron, Shell, XTO Energy (owned by ExxonMobil), and several other oil companies and trade associations. Without that financial backing from major oil companies, the project “would not be possible,” according to a 2009memo DeSmog found.

In 2019, Huffington Postreported that the Independent Petroleum Association of America spent close to $2 million annually on Energy In Depth. That amounts to roughly afifth of the trade group’s budget.

“We know some of the contracts FTI has with various trade associations,” Davies said. “But the truth is, we don’t know the half of it.”

Earlier this year, DeSmog published a 2015 FTI presentation in which the firm bragged about its deep connections with the oil industry and trumpeted its work on behalf of its fossil fuel clients. FTI’s presentation highlighted its work, through Energy In Depth, at “debunking” peer-reviewed studies that link fracking to water contamination, as well as providing “facts” to media about how methane emissions from oil and gas were in decline.

A screenshot from FTI Consulting’s 2015 presentation.]

Energy In Depth acts as “a public-facing clearinghouse” and a “permanent campaign strategy” for the oil industry, Melissa Aronczyk, a professor of journalism and media studies at Rutgers University, told DeSmog in an email.

“FTI works for oil and gas clients by trying to shut down the conversation about climate-related problems before they happen – or especially, before they become a problem for their clients,” Aronczyk said.

The firm took the lessons learned with Energy In Depth around the world. FTIboasted at an industry conference in Brazil in 2014 that Energy In Depth had the ability “to say, do and write things that individual company employees cannot and should not.”

In another instance that has not previously been reported, FTI gave a presentation at a 2012 industry conference in Canada, in which it shared its experience “generating pro-gas news” in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania, and how the firm intended to do the same in Quebec. At the time, the gas industry was facing publicopposition to fracking in the Canadian province, and FTI, via Energy In Depth, wanted to shift public opinion in the industry’s favor. That included proactively creating pro-gas news in the media, as well as a sponsored trip for Quebec farmers to travel to fossil fuel-rich Alberta to learn about how shale gas is produced.

A screenshot of a 2016 Earth Day message from Energy In Depth, a fracking industry project of FTI Consulting and the Independent Petroleum Association of America.]

“FTI remains a major, major contractor to the fossil fuel industry. They run front groups, fake news channels, they pose as reporters, they write reports about activists,” Davies said. “They do all manner of strategic communications work to defend the honor of fossil fuel companies and trade associations.”

The House Committee has also sent a letter to a separate PR firm called Story Partners. Established in January 2010 by well-known PR executive Gloria Dittus, Story Partners has also run multiple influence campaigns for the fossil fuel industry in recent years. The firm led the American Petroleum Institute’s Vote for Energy campaign, which sought to equate drilling for oil and gas with jobs. Story Partners also ran campaigns for Venture Global LNG, a Gulf Coast LNG export company. And it also helped Noble Energy defeata ballot measure in Colorado that would have increased setback distances between fracking operations and homes and businesses, a measure that would have encroached upon Noble Energy’s assets.

As it happens, Gloria Dittus previously founded Dittus Communications, which was acquired by FTI in 2005. In 2009, the Energy In Depth website was registered by “FD Dittus Communications,” a unit of FTI, according to the website’s registration.

According to a Story Partners spokesperson, “Gloria Dittus left FTI Consulting in early 2009 after the 2005 sale of Dittus Communications was finalized to Financial Dynamics (FD) and fully integrated into FTI Consulting at the end of 2008. Any Energy in Depth work was outside her tenure and likely launched following her leave from FTI.”  Story Partners did not respond to questions from DeSmog about their role running climate disinformation campaigns for fossil fuel companies.

Arena said that FTI is among a small group of “pariah” PR firms that “do not represent the majority of the PR and ad industry, but they are our industry’s biggest reputational liability.”

[twt ca]

"But the bigger point here is that these are deceptive practices that no ethical marketing firm should engage in, for any client. They muddy public understanding and suppress the truth by design and should therefore be repudiated by the PR and ad industry at large,” she added. “The silver lining here is that this moment of reckoning has the potential to change the communications industry for the better.”

Ultimately, FTI’s mission has been “to preserve the reputation of the fossil fuel industry as it has come under pressure around climate change,” Davies said. Referring to FTI’s direct involvement in spreading climate disinformation, he added: “In doing so, you are now part of the effort to hide the truth.”

In a statement to DeSmog, Matthew E. Bashalany, a spokesperson for FTI Consulting, said: “Our company takes the Subcommittee’s request very seriously.  We continue to be in regular contact with subcommittee staff as we progress our efforts to be responsive to the chair’s request in a manner consistent with our legal obligations to preserve our clients’ confidentiality and privileges. FTI Consulting is called upon by clients in dozens of industries globally, including those involved in traditional, renewable and alternative energy development, and we are committed to ensuring that all professional services we deliver align with our firmwide position to support action to address climate change.”

It is unclear what will happen next, but the House Committee could subpoena documents or have executives appear before the congressional panel. The August 24 deadline came and went, and now the firm faces a potential subpoena. In an email to DeSmog on August 25, a day after the deadline, a spokesperson for the Committee said: “The Committee has not yet gotten an adequate response from FTI.”

Another spokesperson for the Committee told DeSmog, “stay tuned.”

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desmog on API

Energy Citizens

Starting in 2009, the API led a coalition called “Energy Citizens” and held rallies opposing the Waxman-Markey Climate Bill, targeting states “whose Democratic Senators aren’t strong supporters of a stringent bill, such as […] Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Mark Begich of Alaska.” [25]

According to *Newsweek*, API asked regional companies to urge their employees to participate in planned protests.A leaked memo revealed that “The objective of these rallies is to put a human face on the impacts of unsound energy policy and to aim a loud message at [20 different] states.” [26]

“Energy Citizens” is also supported by the National Association of Manufacturers (:{NAM:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}:), American Farm Bureau, American Highway Users Alliance, National Black Chamber of Commerce (:{NBCC}:), Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, FreedomWorks,[hot air tour?] American Conservative Union, Americans for Tax Reform, and Council for Citizens Against Government Waste. [27]

According to O’Dwyer’s Magazine, in a February 2010 article titled “The Politics of Climate Change,”

“The group has loudly protested the EPA’s decision to have greenhouse gas emissions regulated under the Clean Air Act. API members include Chevron, ConocoPhillips,Exxon Mobil, GE, Halliburton and Shell.” [28]

Template fliers for the “Energy Citizens” rallies warned that “Climate change legislation being considered in Washington will cause huge economic pain and produce little environmental gain.” They additionally claimed the Waxman-Markey Climate Bill would “cost 2 million American jobs, raise gasoline and diesel prices up to $4.”

The :{EPA:(style="box-sizing:border-box"):}: estimated the bill would cost :{U.S.}: households “about a postage stamp a day,”while the Energy Information Administration projected annual “energy bill costs could rise between $26 per household to $362 by 2020.” [29]

The companyDemocracy, Data & Communications (DDC), wrote in a case study that it “has actively partnered with the American Petroleum Institute (API) for years, designing, executing, and managing all facets of their key national advocacy program” and was “asked with creating an on-the-ground campaign focused on raising the prole of Energy Citizens in support of natural gas production from the ‘Marcellus Shale’ formation in Pennsylvania.” [64]

DDC said it helped to convene two roundtable meetings with local congressional representatives for the Energy Citizens campaign, as well as get 170 letters of support published and sent to Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale Commission. According to IRS tax filings reviewed by DeSmog, API paid DDC $29.3 million for its work between 2011 and 2015, *DeSmog* reported. [65]

DDC has also worked with the tobacco company Phillip Morris on a website fighting against tobacco regulation. DDC is also an Associate Member of the**Edison Electric Institute (:{EEI}:),**which has also paid DDC at least $1.8 million since 2012 for PR work according to the IRS. [65]

EnergyTomorrow.org

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Cristina Minasian Public affairs and strategic communications professional

• Vice President, Client Relations (Feb '14→?)

Sara Fagen former White House Political Director for President George W. Bush

• Partner ('11→?)

B R McConnon CEO for DDC

• Founding partner, Chairman, and CEO

Bill Toye Account manager, DDC Advocacy

• account director

Jim Gianiny President, DDC Advocacy

• President

Jim Murphy DDC Advocacy’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer

• Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer

Tom Benjamin Executive Management Team at DDC Advocacy

• Executive Management Team

John D. Brady DDC Advocacy

• Client engagement

James Lake Jr. EVP, DDC Advocacy

• executive vice president (Feb '14→Jan '16)

Marcela Luna Graphic designer

• Graphic designer (Aug '07→Jan '13)

Owners

John D. Brady DDC Advocacy

• Owner (Jul '97→?)

Kerry McConnon DDC Public Affairs

• Partner (Aug '96→?)

Services/Transactions

America's Health Insurance Plans Health insurance trade association and lobbying group

• Service/Transaction

American Petroleum Institute Oil and natural gas industry association

• Service/Transaction · 4,089,200 USD ('11)

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pac

B R McConnon CEO for DDC

• 6 contributions · 6,916 USD ('05→Jan 25 '12)

John D. Brady DDC Advocacy

• 3 contributions · 4,879 USD ('05→'11)

Sara Fagen former White House Political Director for President George W. Bush

• 1 contribution · 2,000 USD ('11)

https://littlesis.org/person/40887-B_R_McConnon

Jeb Bush Former Governor of Florida

• 2 contributions · 5,400 USD (Jun 24 '15)

Mitt Romney U.S. senator from Utah, former Massachusetts governor

• 2 contributions · 5,000 USD ('12→Jul 24 '12)

Romney Victory

• 1 contribution · 5,000 USD (Jul 24 '12)

John S. McCain III US Senator and Representative from Arizona

• 3 contributions · 4,600 USD ('08→Apr 14 '08)

Max Baucus former US Senator and Representative from Montana

• 2 contributions · 4,600 USD ('07→Nov 29 '07)

Mark Pryor US Senator from Arkansas

• 1 contribution · 2,500 USD (Oct 24 '13)

George W Bush 43rd US president, ex-governor of Texas, son of George H W Bush

• 1 contribution · 2,000 USD (Jun 17 '03)

:{Pfizer Inc. PA:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}:C

• 1 contribution · 2,000 USD (Jun 19 '07)

Updated over 2 years ago

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TypesPerson, Business Person
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AliasesBernard R McConnon III

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guest post by Matt Kasper crossposted from Energy and Policy Institute.

The nation’s largest electric utilities have been relying on a political consulting shop to portray their efforts to attack rooftop solar as having support from the “grassroots” for at least the past year.

The consulting group, DDC Consulting, has carved out a niche for itself at conjuring up “astroturf” — or faked grassroots efforts. Indeed, the firm’s website says that it specializes in designing, managing, and executing advocacy campaigns that “shape public opinion, sway decision-makers, and affect outcomes in the legislature, the press, the board room, and the public eye.” DDC was just exposed as the PR firm behind an effort to portray imagined support for natural gas pipelines, this time funded by the American Gas Association.

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Read more

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syngenta:

A "First-Strike" PR Team

Around the time of the New York Times investigation of atrazine levels and growing health concerns, according to e-mails discovered in the Holiday Shores suit, Syngenta CP had put out a request for proposals for a new PR effort.

According to the solicitation, Syngenta was seeking firms experienced with a "first strike" mentality and with managing "third party" spokespeople to carry Syngenta's message when it did not want those messages to be seen as coming from the corporation. It also listed (PDF) its top two primary audiences as "media" and "potential jurors." (The Holiday Shores case was pending in Illinois; the Jayne Thompson firm had been hired a few years earlier and would continue to be part of Syngenta's PR operation along with the new PR team being solicited.)

WHWG responded with a$498,000 base proposal that included funding for the "grassroots mobilization" firm DDC Advocacy, which has been described as a big player in the "astroturf" world of making corporate initiatives look like they are the result of wide and deep grassroots support.

A PR Team Known for Attacking Trial Lawyers

DDCreportedly has also co-chaired an astroturfing "roundtable" with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which is funded by the biggest global corporations in the world (WHWG has also spearheaded PR campaigns for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce). DDC has also worked on astroturf campaigns in the cyber-world against lawyers who represent injured Americans and in support of so-called "tort reform"that would limit the rights of Americans harmed or killed through corporate neglect or greed.

WHWG's proposal to Syngenta on atrazine also included Quinn Thomas Public Affairs, which was specifically touted for its success in "engaging" lawyers who represent American consumers and in fighting public interest groups through "aggressive third party activity." WHWG said Quinn Thomas' tactics had succesfully slowed or reversed "activist momentum."

...

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bs

B.R. McConnon is the founding partner, Chairman, and CEO of DDC Advocacy, the country’s largest full-service advocacy firm.

In this role, B.R. contributes long-term strategic direction and provides counsel to DDC Advocacy clients. Under his leadership, DDC Advocacy ranked 72nd on the Inc. 500 Fastest-Growing Private Companies list for 2002, and twice received the Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 500 award for North America, including top 10 in Virginia.

Prior to DDC Advocacy, B.R. worked as a tax and trade Policy Analyst for Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE), where he was responsible for editorials and policy statements. After an assignment as a campaign organizer, he became the Finance Director for a number of ballot initiatives in Illinois and California. This opportunity allowed B.R. to become intimately familiar with the technological aspects of raising money, campaign organizing, compliance reporting, and lobbying.

Upon returning to Washington, D.C., B.R. spent five years working with political software and database firmsbefore founding DDC Advocacy (formerly Democracy Data & Communications) in 1996.

B.R. is active in several outside business ventures and charities, including serving on the board of the J Street Cup, a charity that he founded to raise funds for the Fisher House at Walter Reed Army Hospital, the American Heart Association, and the Bishop Ireton High School Alumni Association.

B.R. received his B.A. in Government and International Relations from Georgetown University.

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An entrepreneur with a keen eye for integrating data and technology,Sara Fagen is one of the nation’s leading political and issue strategists.  Sara offers considerable insight and expertise to some of the world’s most influential brands, corporations, and trade associations. She is adept at helping clients leverage the full potential of technology, politics, and communications to achieve results with efficiency, maximizing their marketing and advocacy dollars.

Sara honed her skills while serving as asenior aide and White House Political Director for President George W. Bush.  She also played a pivotal part in the President’s 2004 re-election campaign, in which she served as a senior strategist directing opinion research and paid media.  After the campaign, theWall Street Journal called her a “data whiz,” saying, “As a top strategist for the 2004 Bush-Cheney re-election efforts, Fagen helped perfect political micro-targeting.”

Sara became a Partner at DDC Advocacy in 2011 after the company acquired BlueFront Strategies, a prominent issue advocacy firm she founded in 2008.  Sara now creates customized strategies for the firm’s clients, integrating cutting-edge targeting and other data-driven approaches to help them win on the issues that are important to them.

In 2008, Sara co-founded Resonate Insights, a leading big-data audience insights and media company.  She also serves on the board of CentraForce, a cross-media research company revolutionizing how audiences are defined, reached, and brought to the point of action.

Sara’s commentary can be seen on CNBC, where she is a regular contributor.

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EXCLUSIVE: Health Insurance Lobby’s Stealth Astroturf Campaign Revealed

Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that AHIP — the multimillion dollar lobbying juggernaut for the health insurance industry — has mobilized 50,000 employees to lobby Congress to defeat the public option. ThinkProgress has learned that AHIP’s grassroots lobbying is being managed by the corporate consulting firm Democracy Data & Communications. DDC has made a name for itself as one of the most effective stealth lobbying firms. Earlier this summer, DDC was caught by reporters using a front group called “Citizens for a Safe Alexandria” to attack the Obama administration for seeking to prosecute Guantanamo Bay prisoners in Alexandria, VA.

According to the server-information hub Domaintools.com, the AHIP grassroots outreach website AHIPAdvocacy.org is hosted on a server owned by DDC. Though DDC conceals the hosting of its other websites using a service called DomainsByProxy, ThinkProgress has obtained a list of the domains hosted on DDC servers. A review of this data shows that DDC maintains the grassroots outreach websites for large health insurance companies, but also for big tobacco and Koch Industries:

– phillipmorrisusaactioncenter.org (Altria)

–:{ tobaccoissues.com (Altria)

– kochpac.com (Koch Industries)

– aetnavotes.com (Aetna)}:

– healthactionnetwork.org (WellPoint)

– humanapartners.com (Humana)

– ahipadvocacy.org (AHIP)

DDC is a firm that promises “high impact” outreach programs to not only influence the grassroots, but “change attitudes for the long term.” As the Washington Post explains, DDC pays over 500 contract workers to “spend much of their day telephoning people around the country and asking them to sign letters to Congress that press for legislation.” The firm helped orchestrate “grassroots” support for President Bush’s push to privatize Social Security, and helped manage online efforts for the right-wing attack group Freedom’s Watch. DDC is headed by B.R. McConnon, a former**associate of Jack Abramoff’s** lobbying partners, and a**former employee**of the Koch-funded astroturf organization known as Citizens for a Sound Economy.

Citizens for a Sound Economy — which has also received funds from private health insurers in the past and played a critical astroturf role in killing reform under Clinton — eventually split, with one wing forming Americans for Prosperity in 2003, and another forming FreedomWorks in 2004. Both organizations, which are still funded by the Koch Industries empire, were instrumental in organizing the anti-Obama tea party protests, and have been spreading misinformation and anger at the current health reform effort. Americans for Prosperity’s anti-health reform front group, Patients United, has hosted speakers comparing the House health reform bill to the Holocaust.

Curiously, DDC servers also host anti-health reform letters from the **Chamber of Commerce** and Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA), as well as continual news updates about the reform debate. All three documents are under a subsection titled WellPoint.

Given the stealthy nature of astroturf lobbying firms, it is difficult to discern the extent to which DDC is managing AHIP’s efforts. UnitedHealth, another large insurer, was caught recently using a call center todirect people to a radical tea party:{anti-health reform protest}: outside of the offices of Rep. Zach Space (D-OH).

Already, the health insurance industry has flexed its muscle to water down reform. After spending millions on lobbying, advertising, and direct contributions to lawmakers, the Senate Finance Committee made a major concession allowing insurers to reimburse only 65% of medical bills (down from the 76% proposed requirement). And indeed, although AHIP has made grandiose promises of self regulation, many insurers have recently broke promises made by AHIP President Karen Ignagni. On June 16, despite Ignagni’s pledges of commitment, insurance executives from UnitedHealth Group, Assurant, and WellPoint specifically refused to “commit” to ending the controversial practice of rescinding coverage after an applicant files a medical claim.

With DDC’s stealth lobbying assistance, AHIP may well kill the public option too.

Update At the Wonk Room, Pat Garofalo reports that DDC also maintains an anti-Employee Free Choice Act website supported by the :{Independent Women’s Forum:(style="background-color:#fff200"):}: (IWF). The IWF, which is running anti-health reform ads, is another Koch Industries-funded front group that for a five year period operated out of the same office as Americans for Prosperity. DDC not only serves the health insurance industry, but plays a vital role for the constellation of Koch front groups.

http://thinkprogress.org/2009/08/27/ahip-lobbying-publicoption/

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see  press suppression:

WHWG responded with a $498,000 base proposal that included funding for the "grassroots mobilization" firm DDC Advocacy, which has been described as a big player in the "astroturf" world of making corporate initiatives look like they are the result of wide and deep grassroots support.

A PR Team Known for Attacking Trial Lawyers

DDC reportedly has also co-chaired an astroturfing "roundtable" with the :{U.S. Chamber of Commerce}:, which is funded by the biggest global corporations in the world (WHWG has also spearheaded PR campaigns for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce). DDC has also worked onastroturf campaigns in the cyber-world against lawyers who represent injured Americans and in support of so-called "tort reform"that would limit the rights of Americans harmed or killed through corporate neglect or greed.

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UnitedHealth Group Incorporated is a large U.S. health insurance company with about 70 million customers. Brands include AmeriChoice (manages various Medicare and Medicaid options), Ovations (specializes in people aged 50+), UnitedHealth Group International (in Europe, Latin America, and Asia), and UnitedHealthcare (consumer-oriented health benefit plans). [1]

Top competitors are Aetna, Blue Cross, and WellPoint. In 2006, UnitedHealth had revenues of US$71.5 billion with profits of US$4.1 billion. [2]

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^SW

DDC Advocacy, founded in 1996, is a public affairs firm offering strategic planning and technology. It specializes in "helping clients strengthen their voices in the policymaking process by transforming organizations' human and economic assets into powerful political resources."[1][2]

DDC Advocacy states on its website that it has "expertise in grassroots, PACs, membership development, fundraising, voter election—all the ways in which stakeholders and allies join together to make a difference."[3]

DDC Advocacy is a member of the Public Affairs Council[4] and is listed as a vendor with the National Association of Business Political Action Committees (NABPAC).[1]

Contents

About DDC Advocacy: Alfred Street Partners, LLC

Alfred Street Partners "purchased a majority stake in Democracy Data & Communications in 1997, one year after its founding. DDC Advocacy was built on the idea that technology-based services were overlooking the public affairs departments of corporations, trade associations, and interest groups. In 1997, DDC had revenues of $264k and an operating loss of $156k. By 2004, revenues eclipsed $14 million and operating profits surpassed $2.8 million. The company reached #72 on the 2002 Inc. 500 list. DDC Advocacy includes nine of the Fortune 10 among its clients."[5]

In the political action committee banned soft money business

Jonathan D. Salant reported February 21, 2006, that General Motors was "one of 66 companies and associations that [had] hired Democracy Data & Communications ... to help them increase donations to their PACs." According to CEO B.R. McConnon III, DDC's PAC department only had two clients prior to the ban on soft money.

"Democracy Data advises its clients to talk about the importance of lobbying and how the PAC helps those efforts. 'Companies want to have a political presence that reflects the size and strength they've established in the marketplace,' says Holly Pitt Young, a Democracy Data vice president," Salant wrote.

In the e-voting & election software business

Democracy Data & Communications is an approved vendor/service provider for "Electronic Filing in California" by the California Secretary of State.[6]

DDC is among those listed by the Maryland State Board of Elections as a private vendor of filing software.

In the astroturfing business

Based on posts left on newsrack blog, Thomas Nephew reported August 22, 2006, that Democracy Data & Communications (DDC) was in the astroturfing business and had been involved "sotto voce [in] Bush administration P.R. campaigns for its Medicare and 'No Child Left Behind' education initiatives."

In the February 28, 2006, Daily Kos, Mark G. Levey wrote: "Democracy Data & Communcations is a big player in the astroturf community. They host the website for the Grass Roots Roundtable, and they co-chair it with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The board of directors is a regular Who's Who of American industry. They're a big player at the Public Affairs Council, and they've earned a reputation as the place to go for astroturf campaigns."

Levey first came across DD&C LLC in October 2005, "when they were putting pop-up ads against John Edwards in AOL Instant Messenger. This was for their The Truth About Trial Lawyers site for the November Fund ... a tort-reform astroturf campaign bought and paid for by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. (Yes, the government was running ads against the Democrats. ...) ... A quick google on their name brought up their site, and a May 2004 post by Mark Kleiman on a very similar campaign on behalf of No Child Left Behind."

Levey next "started noodling around their DNS", which led to the discovery that DDC "owned the whole 151.200.70.* netblock" and the further discovery that DCC then owned the following domains:

To this Levey asked "is it even legal for the US Chamber of Commerce and Democracy Data & Communications to even be hosting voteforgeorgewbush.com? One has to wonder whether this service was counted toward the FEC campaign contribution limits? Well, it turns out someone was interested.[7] B.R. McConnon, President of Democracy Data & Communcations was subpoenaed to testify before a Senate Committee probing his company's relationship with Jack Abramoff's convicted protege, Michael Scanlon."

Nephew added on August 22, 2006, that the "current list for that particular block appears to be smaller now, and appears to change periodically -- or maybe the 'dnsstuff.com' utility for looking at that block only gets a random dozen or so at a time, I'm no expert on this kind of thing.

"At any rate," Nephew wrote, "as of the other evening 151.200.70.81 is the IP address for votefornuclear.com, voteforthemeritshop.com (builders association twist on 'open shop'), ustvotes.com (UST tobacco corporation voting site) and other organizations that generally funnel interested parties towards a voteforbusiness.com Chamber of Commerce mothership.** One that doesn't is the Social Security 'reform' group compasscoalition.com (Coalition for the :{Modernization and Protection of America's Social Security}:), which asserts

"'The only viable solution is to modernize Social Security. Modernization would not affect people who are currently in or near retirement. Instead, it would offer younger workers a chance to invest a portion of their payroll taxes in personal savings accounts (PSA). Modernization would be a victory for all Americans and offers many benefits, such as higher retirement payments and personal ownership of PSAs that can be passed on to heirs.'

"Sure," Nephew wrote, "if you ... and Big Tobacco ... and all the rest of the wonderful folks inhabiting this IP address say so," which is what he "saw under 151.200.70.81", although "not a confident Internet sleuth, DDC still appears to own the whole 151.200.70.* IP address range. That leaves a bunch of other 4 number codes to sift through, but there's clearly a bit of a political pattern already."

In the spreading the seeds of democracy business

On March 1, 2006, Democracy Data & Communications, the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) conducted an international conference entitled Expanding & Strengthening Democracy: The Role of Technology the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, DC, a convention of "scholars, practitioners, and politicians from the U.S. and abroad to discuss the impact of technology on democratic processes and institutions."[8]

The conference featured a "live satellite hook-up with representatives from NDI and IRI speaking from Baghdad, about the role of technology in Iraq's democratic development."[8]

The Breakfast Keynote Addresses were delivered by Jim Kolbe, (R-AZ) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA), U.S. House of Representatives.[8]

Googling "DD&C LLC"

A September 4, 2006, Google search for DD&C LLC found the following sites "Hosted & Developed by DD&C, LLC":

Staff

The staff for DDC can be found on the listing on its corporate website.

Former staff include Jeffrey Morris, who was a Senior Field Manager from 2008-2010.[9]

Contact details

DDC Advocacy

44 Canal Center Plaza, Suite 200

Alexandria, VA 22314

Phone: 703 684-9690

Fax: 703 683-9626

Website: http://www.ddcadvocacy.com/

email: info AT ddcadvocacy.com or use webmail form

Resources and articles

Related SourceWatch articles

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 NABPAC
  2. ↑ Lobby Search
  3. ↑ Democracy Data
  4. ↑ PAC Member Directory
  5. ↑ Alfred Street Partners Ventures
  6. ↑ CA Secretary of State Approved Vendors
  7. ↑ The Hill
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Statelists
  9. ↑ Jeffrey Morris, Jeffrey Morris, LinkedIn online profile, accessed January 19, 2012

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