House Unearths a 14th Forged Letter from a Lobbyist

By David A. Fahrenthold

Congressional investigators today said they have turned up a 14th forged letter that was sent to a Congressional office criticizing the House's climate change bill, this one appearing to come from an American Legion post in Rocky Mount, Va.

The letter, sent to the office of Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.), asks Perriello to "make sure the Waxman-Markey bill includes provisions to promote American energy independence, while protecting already cash-strapped constituents from increases in electricity prices." It concludes, "Thank you for listening to concerns of vets in your district."

But the letter actually appears to have been faked by a Washington lobbying firm working for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a Congressional spokesman said today. The lobbying firm, Bonner and Associates, has conceded that an employee forged letters to three Congressional offices, including Perriello's, in the run-up to a vote on the climate bill. That employee has been fired, the firm said.

"We have confirmed [that the letter is fake] directly with the person whose name was forged," said Eben Burnham-Snyder, a spokesman for the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, which is investigating the forgeries. The committee is chaired by Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), who along with Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), sponsored the bill. It passed the House in June, with Perriello voting yes.

Lisa Camooso Miller, a spokeswoman for the coal group, said that it had brought the letter to the committee's attention in the first place, after an internal investigation could not confirm it was legitimate. But she said the group is still not certain the letter is fake, even after talking to the person whose signature is on it.

"At the end of that conversation, it was unclear whether the letter was in fact false," Miller said. She reiterated that the coal group finds the forgeries "inexcusable."

"This type of misrepresentation has no place in any policy debate," Miller said.

A message left for an official with the Rocky Mount American Legion Post, Charles Santrock, was not immediately returned.