AAUW has received many notes thanking us for taking a strong stand against the recent congressional letter fraud involving us. We appreciate those of you who have written in and commented on AAUW Dialog about the blatantly forged letters that were sent to at least one member of the House of Representatives in AAUW’s name.
To help you track the coverage of the story beyond the simple web searches you might already be doing and to provide you with details, AAUW continues to develop additional web resources as new information becomes available. You can find a link to the press release on our home page; a recent issue of Washington Update, sent to policy leaders, also featured the press release. Or read the blog from our director of public policy and government relations and the feature in Equity Issues in the News that was sent to state and branch presidents and communicators.
An Action Network message is going out to the membership this week to support Rep. Edward Markey’s (D-MA) committee investigation into this matter. Timing is key, since those who have read AAUW’s blog know that yesterday — August 12 — was a deadline for Bonner & Associates to respond to Markey’s letter.
This issue has received quite a bit of coverage in the media, and AAUW has been mentioned repeatedly. The Charlottesville, Virginia, Daily Progress first broke the story with comprehensive coverage, and AAUW did an interview on the topic with the Washington Post last week. There has also been good coverage of this issue in the blogosphere, including Think Progress, Grist, and others. Several of our branches covered the topic in their newsletter as well.
For those who haven’t had the opportunity to read all the information we have been providing, here is a summary from the previous blog post by Lisa Maatz:
It seems that Bonner & Associates, a grassroots lobbying firm hired by [the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity], has used AAUW’s good name — and those of other well-known organizations [such as the NAACP] — in fraudulent letters to members of Congress. They did this under the auspices of the Hawthorn Group and the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity [ACCCE] to further the coal industry’s lobbying against the Clean Energy and Security Act — also known as “cap and trade.” Ironically, this is not even a policy area in which AAUW advocates.
In this act of forgery, an agent of Bonner & Associates manufactured a nonexistent Charlottesville AAUW branch, used the AAUW logo, and sent at least one letter to a Virginia congressman asking him to vote against this legislation. According to press accounts, [Bonner, Hawthorn, and the ACCCE] knew of the fraudulent letters at least two days before the House voted on the cap and trade bill but neglected to inform the House offices about the fraudulent letters until weeks later — well after what proved to be a very close vote.
You can see why we are outraged. But AAUW and our members will not be made into victims. It is very important that we call attention to these unscrupulous practices and protect our good name. We must sound the alarm so that all branches are on the lookout for these types of situations. That is why we are educating our members about what happened and need you to rally with us.
Without support from AAUW members, we would not have the funds to provide the nonpartisan, insightful information on which Congress relies. In addition to the AAUW Capitol Hill Lobby Corps and our volunteer members who join AAUW staff on Capitol Hill every Thursday to represent our members’ interests, AAUW regularly submits testimony and provides materials and information to Congress and the public about issues that affect women and girls. These exhaustive efforts require funding support, and it is wonderful that our members care so much about AAUW’s mission that they contribute to make this possible.
I know that this whole story seems pretty fantastic, but it does underscore what lengths some will go to in order to further their interests. AAUW’s leadership — our board of directors and legal counsel and senior staff — are deeply involved as we consider next steps and options. I am sure you also understand that those details are not something we can discuss openly. We know that it can feel overwhelming to fight this kind of injustice, but this is one time when they won’t get away with it — not if AAUW has anything to say about it.
