Local Senior Center victim of fraudulent letter to Perriello

A congressional investigation has turned up another fraudulent letter sent to U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, this one forged to appear as opposition to climate change legislation by the Senior Center in Albemarle County.

The latest forgery brings the total number of bogus letters sent to Perriello and two other congressmen to 13.

The letters were sent in June and urged the congressmen to vote in opposition to the American Clean Energy and Security Act.

Details of four letters sent to Reps. Kathy Dahlkember and Christopher Carney, both Democrats of Pennsylvania, were also revealed today.

Dahlkemper’s fake letters were made to appear as if they were sent by the Slippery Rock Senior Center in Slippery Rock, Pa.; the Erie Center on Health & Aging in Erie, Pa.; and the Butler Senior Center in Lyndora, Pa. Carney’s fake letter was forged to look like it came from the Dunmore Senior Citizens’ Center in Dunmore, Pa.

U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey, chairman of the committee that launched the probe after the forgeries were revealed by The Daily Progress, said in a statement: “We’ve seen the fear-mongering with our nation’s senior citizens with health care, and now we’re seeing fraud-mongering with senior citizens on clean energy.”

Bonner & Associates, a “strategic grassroots” lobbying firm, sent the phony letters on behalf of a public affairs firm called the Hawthorn Group that had been hired by the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.

Bonner & Associates has not returned repeated phone calls.

The coal industry advocacy group and the Hawthorn Group have said that they terminated their relationship with Bonner & Associates after they were told of the fake letters on June 24 - two days before the House approved the climate change bill by a margin of five votes.

None of the congressmen was notified of the fake letters until two weeks ago.

Read the full story in Wednesday’s Daily Progress.