Bell
SkunkWorks
101
A look behind the curtain.
Connect the dots or be one of the
disconnected.
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Are any of these names
familiar to you: TRAC, APT, Issue Dynamics,
USIIA, New Millennium Research Council, BellSouth,
Verizon, SBC, Pac Bell, United Church of Christ
- Washington is filled with astro-turf, (read fake)
groups that keep telling everyone they represent
the public interest, but in reality represent the
phone companies who pay them well. And Issue
Dynamics, run by Sam Simon, has organized multiple
group for the Bell phone companies, all in an
attempt to make regulators and the press believe
that they have your best interests in mind.
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Issue
Dynamics
Bell
Companies (ILECs) and their amazing
astroturf
machine,
Ionary,
October 2004
It's called
astroturf. Not the stadium rug for which
it's named, but the creation of phony
"grass roots" organizations as public
relations fronts. In the telecom world,
the king of astroturf is Sam Simon, whose
firm, Issue Dynamics Inc. (IDI), describes
its public relations job as "developing a
campaign that gets your messages out
through paid and earned media". "Earned"
media? I wonder if they teach that in
J-school. "Issue Dynamics provides a full
package of professional stakeholder
management services for clients who seek
strategic alliances with stakeholders in
the following segments: consumer, civil
rights, education, disability, senior
citizens, Hispanic, African-American,
Asian-Pacific American, Native American,
small business, rural, state/local
government associations, technology, among
others." Yep, stakeholders for sale! Want
to get support from Left-handed Samoans
against pay cable? Sure, that group can
probably be created for a fee too. IDI
counts the RBOCs among its key clients.
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Leading
Bell Skunkworks Architect --
Samuel A. Simon is a
nationally recognized authority on consumer and
public affairs, with twenty-six years experience at
the highest levels of his profession. Mr. Simon
pioneered the practice of bridging gaps between
industry and non-traditional consumer groups on
public policy, marketing and consumer affairs
issues to achieve win-win solutions for clients.
IDI is a true pioneer in developing public affairs
web sites and grassroots strategies on the
Internet.
- Chairman, Board of
Directors, National Consumers League --- NCL
is a CAC board member.
- Commissioner, Fairfax
County Consumer Protection Commission
--Fairfax is a CAC member.
- Board Member, Call For
Action --- Call for Action is the Chairman of
the CAC Committee
- Chairman of the Board
Telecommunications Research and Action Center
- Recipient, Susan B.
Hadden Pioneer Award, Alliance for Public
Technology (1999) -- Award Given by
APT
- Client
List:
Ameritech, TRAC, APT, BellSouth, Verizon, Bell
Atlantic, Pac Bell, USTA, GTE, New Millenium
Research Council, USIIA, Verizon Wireless, SBC,
National Latino Telecommunications Task Force,
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Alliance
For Public Technology
APT
Sponsors
- BellSouth,
- Intel,
- SBC,
- SBC California,
- TracFone Wireless,
- Verizon
This represents 8 out
of 9 original Bell groups, including GTE, SNET.
APT
Staff SYLVIA
ROSENTHAL, Executive Director --- VP IDI.
As Executive Director of
the Alliance for Public Technology, Sylvia
Rosenthal oversees the management of the
organization and all of its projects, including the
newsletter and the annual Susan G. Hadden awards
program. Ms. Rosenthal is also Assistant Vice
President of Issue Dynamics Inc. where she devotes
her time exclusively to management of APT.
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Snow
job,
Network World, 1/26/98
"IDI's associates help to
organize and manage coalitions with names such as
the "Alliance for Public Technology" and "Keep
America Connected
The literature for each
group lists a different phone number manned by an
IDI employee who answers the phone with the name of
that coalition. It also lists either IDI's street
address or a District of Columbia post office
box.
"The group's chairman, Dr.
Barbara O'Connor, bristled at the suggestion that
the alliance is a front for anything, noting that
it has even held a seat on the FCC's prestigious
Network Reliability Council
.But of the
alliance's $190,000-per-year budget, approximately
$100,000 is supplied by the regional Bell operating
companies, she said. Not surprisingly, last
October, the alliance wrote the FCC in support of
BellSouth's South Carolina long-distance
application and has consistently supported other
RBOC policy positions.
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New Millennium Research
Council (NMRC)
How
to Run a Skunk Works Campaign 101--- IDI enlists
NMRC for promotional services and scholar support
for economic report for client
Issue Dynamics worked
with the New Millennium Research Council (NMRC to
provide support and exposure for release of a
seminal economic study by an economic think tank.
This included recruitment of academic and industry
experts to provide commentary, and generating
earned media pick-up in key national trade journals
and major newspapers.
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"IDI was able to provide the
client with immediate support to finalize the
report, host an event and generate significant
earned media. ...The study was also cited by two
Democratic presidential candidates as a way to
reenergize the U.S. economy."
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New
Millennium Research Council (NMRC)
- The NMRC is an
independent project of Issue Dynamics,
Inc.(IDI),
Behind
the Numbers:Policy groups wage silent war,
BroadbandReports,
9/18/03
The NMRC is a, a consumer and
public affairs consulting firm that specializes in
developing win-win solutions to complex policy
issues. Influencing the Debate The NMRC influences
the policy debate by creating a variety of research
products. These include "quick response" pieces in
reaction to current news as well as longer-term
research.
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Harm
To Competition 101
In order to get rid
of competitors, Verizon hired IDI to create a
fake rally, got the Gray Panthers to run adds, and
even got the Church of Christ
involved.
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WorldCom
Opponents In Sync D.C. Firm Helps Organize Protest,
Washington Post,
6/30/03
Verizon spokesman Eric Rabe
confirmed that IDI is working for the telephone
company. "We are happy to support groups that have
similar views as ours, and Sam is bringing us
together," Rabe said. "...Rabe would not say how
much Verizon is paying IDI. He said Verizon is not
the only company contributing to a "funding pool"
on the WorldCom issue, but he declined to identify
other participants."
According to the Washington
Post,
"
last year IDI
organized an effort by the National Association of
the Deaf, the American Foundation for the Blind and
the American Association of People With
Disabilities to support a bill pushed by the local
telephone companies to relax rules that require
them to share their high-speed networks with
rivals. In a news release issued by IDI, the groups
said they would benefit because the bill would
increase access to broadband for everyone,
including those with disabilities."
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TRAC:
Telecommunications
Research & Action
Center.
- TRAC is a nonprofit,
tax-exempt, membership organization
located...
Board of
Advisors
- Samuel A. Simon,
Chairman
- Rev. Robert Chase,
is Minister and Team Leader of the Proclamation,
Identity and Communication Ministry of the
United Church of Christ.
- Henry Geller has
served on the TRAC Board for nearly ten
years
- Henry Geller of
Counsel to the Alliance for Public
Technology.
- Rev. Dr. Everett
Parker is the founder and former director of
the Office of Comm. of the United Church of
Christ (UCC).
- Dirck A.
Hargraves, Secretary and Counsel serves as
Secretary and Counsel to TRAC. He served as
president of the Alexandria, Virginia Conference
of the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP). He is currently
general counsel and senior consultant with Issue
Dynamics, Inc.
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TRAC Financials,
2002
In
2002, TRAC made $19,600, had $47,000 or
expenses, and owed Issue Dynamics
(liabilities),$122000.
Revenue
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$19,612
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Expenses
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$47,427
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Assets
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$8,823
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Liabilities
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$122,080
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