Wolf in Sheep's Clothing

Rent-A-Front: New Group Wages Stealth Battle Against Wall Street Reform. TPM has an article posted today indicating a supposedly grass roots advocacy group, Stop Too Big To Fail, supposedly seeking sane finance reform is actually a front for corporate interests seeking to kill the proposed reform legislation.

But as TPMmuckraker has looked into the group, every indication is that Stop Too Big To Fail is an astroturf operation funded by corporate interests to give the appearance of grassroots opposition to reform.

The group's leader has a long history running a rent-a-front operation: offering up his services to large corporations who are willing to pay top dollar for a "consumers group" that will engage in stealth advocacy on behalf of industry. The group refuses to divulge its funding sources. The respected economist whose support the group touts now says he was deceived.

Referring to itself as a movement, the group has launched a campaign on typically left-leaning websites and blogs. They are, quite literally, trying to fake out readers and sow disinformation in an effort to kill reform. Disgusting.

Here is a little history of the group's past "grass roots" operations:

- Consumers for Cable Choice. That group was funded by big telecoms like Verizon and fought to deregulate the cable industry.
- Consumers Voice, founded in the late 1990s, was "a self-described watchdog fighting against broadband legislation" that was funded by AT&T.
- www.simplecoverage.org, a website funded by mega-insurer Assurant, that says it helps people navigate the individual insurance market.

Do not be fooled.