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.

Issue Dynamics IDI was the first to put up a corporate public affairs site on the World Wide Web for BellAtlantic (1993) Issue Dynamics’ Sam Simon Named New Chair of the National Consumers League, 12/17/02 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," 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.	Leading Bell Skunkworks Architect Samuel A. Simon, Founder and President 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,
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.	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.
TRAC: Telecommunications Research & Action Center. TRAC is a nonprofit, tax-exempt, membership organization located... IRS 1999-2001, statement 4, Schedule A "During the year, TRAC purchased goods and services from an affiliated taxable orgamoizatiomn named Issue dfynamics, inc. Issue Dynamsic, Inc. provider managemetn services as well as overhead costs for fees to TRAC." 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. ================================ Idahoans for Telecommunications Competition - More IDI Skunkworks Consumers in 4 States Could Save $1.7 Billion (see glossy PDF newsletter) "A new study by (TRAC) found that consumers in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Florida and Georgia could save at least $507 million and up to $1.73 billion on local phone and long distance service after one year of increased competition." "The evidence is clear and compelling: open entry for all competitors in the long distance market can result in significant savings for consumers," TRAC Chairman Samuel A. Simon TRAC files at the FCC on Behalf of Verizon, New Jersey. PDF TRAC ESTIMATES NEW YORK CONSUMERS SAVE UP TO $700 MILLION A YEAR ON LOCAL AND LONG DISTANCE CALLING (doc.) Telephone Competition Rings Up Big Savings in New YorkNew Yorkers Save About $220 Million A Year TRAC Urges Industry & Regulators To Speed Up Competition, September 06, 2000 "TRAC, the nation's leading telecommunications focused consumer group, has been publishing long distance rate comparisons for consumers and small businesses since 1984. The two new studies update similar New York surveys in 1999 and 2000. " ================================ TRAC "source" code: "Designed and developed by Issue Dynamics, Inc. For more information see http://idi.net." ============================= Who Paid for this TRAC New Jersey Report and Others? (doc) TRAC lost money every year and didn't even make back it's management running expenses. Who paid for this report? TRAC'S CHAIRMAN HONORED Samuel A Simon, Chairman of the Board of TRAC, the Telecommunications Research and Action Center was honored on February 18th when he was awarded the Susan G. Hadden Pioneer in Telecommunication Access honor. The distinction was announced by William E. Kennard, Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, at a reception hosted by the Alliance for Public Technology.	TRAC's mission for the last five years has been to make the long distance carriers look bad and help the Bell companies enter Long Distance" And it is funded by the Bell companies through Issue Dynamics. Go through the site and look for questioning Verizon, BellSouth or SBC... ======================= TRAC Financials, 2002 In 2002, TRAC made $19,600, had $47,000 orfexpenses, and owed Issue Dynamics$122,000 liabilities. Revenue $19,612 Expenses $47,427 Assets $8,823 Liabilities $122,080  Bogus Data For Bell's Long Distance Entry TRAC created a series of questionable reports for Verizon so that they could enter the long distance markets in various states: --- Used by Verizon in their press releases and filings. Verizon Asks SCC to Support Company's Request To Offer Long Distance in Virginia:Filing Brings Virginians Step Closer to Full Telecom Competition 3/15/02 "A study by the consumer organization Telecommunications Research and Action Center (TRAC) estimated that New Yorkers are saving up to $700 million a year in local and long-distance charges since Verizon began providing long-distance service in the Empire State in January 2000. Another TRAC study forecasted that Pennsylvanians could save up to $452 million in the first year after Verizon began offering long-distance service there last October.". ==================================== Testimony by Economics & Technology (PDF: Contains 1999 IRS Filing, showing losses) "The so called consumer group that released these long distance studies, TRAC, is actually the creation of a Washingon, DC public relations firm who's clients include Verizon, all of the other Bell companies, and the Bell companies' lobbying organization, the United States Telephone Association." "The study's various assertions and assumptions, and the conclusiong based thereon, are demonstrably false" Note: this testimony was for AT&T. However, NNI has independently confirmed the analysis, and ETI is one of the respected, read ethical, telecom research firm. (For Verizon's entry into Long Distance in Virginia, 2002) ================================ Sam Takes the Consumer Groups to Fight For Broadband. Gray Panthers American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD). Black Leadership Forum League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). They jointly signed an ex parte paper to the FCC that says the Bell companies shouldn't have to open their fiber-optic networks to competition. $50,000 to the Black Leadership Forum $205,500 to LULAC AAPD got "major" donations from both Verizon and the Verizon Foundation, but put a Verizon VP on its own board? Is it any wonder that these groups met with Commissioner Martin and staff. Commissioner Abernathy and staff. The Groups' position -- the Bell position. Did these groups disclose that they were funded by the phone companies or did it just look like consumer groups, a black group, seniors, hispanics, and people with disabilities were involved?
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. "Gray Panther Ads Targeting WorldCom Funded by IDI Corporate Crime Reporter, 6/2/03 Earlier this month, the Gray Panthers, a public interest group that defends the rights of senior citizens, took out full page ads in newspapers around the country calling on federal officials to stop awarding federal contracts to MCI WorldCom -- which committed one of the largest corporate frauds in history.At the bottom of the ads, in small type, is this:"This ad was paid for by Gray Panthers." "In fact, the $200,000 spent by the Gray Panthers to place the newspaper ads was raised by Issue Dynamics Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm that represents the Baby Bells in their fight against WorldCom and that specializes in "bridging gaps between industry and consumer groups on public policy issues." "United Church of Christ Stooge for the Baby Bells? UCCtruths.com Gloria Tristani, managing director of the Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ (OC, Inc.) and former Commissioner of the FCC. Source Watch: Issue Dynamics ...its work has angered some consumer activists, who say IDI often does not disclose whom it is working for and argue that IDI's work amounts to astroturf PR.	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." ==================================== Gray Panthers' Corporate Connection, 6/25/03, CommonDreams.org "Over the past couple of years, Issue Dynamics played a pivotal role in turning the National Consumers League from a consumer group into a corporate front group. And last year, Sam Simon, Issue Dynamics' founder and president, was named chair of the board of the National Consumers League."
New Millennium Research Council (NMRC) The NMRC is an independent project of Issue Dynamics, Inc.(IDI), 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. ============================= "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."	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. =================================== Free Ride: Deficiencies of the MCI ‘Layers’ Policy Model and the Need (PDF) Here's how it works. Get a number of "Experts" funded by the Bell companies to use their name and organizations. This one, a respected report by MCI is trashed. Example, Stephen Pociask, President, TeleNomic Research, LLC. bio doesn't mention "former Chief Economist for Bell Atlantic". David P. McClure, President and CEO, USIIA,. Bio doesn't say this "ISP" group works with IDI and Verizon.
	The Everett C. Parker Ethics in Telecommunications Lecture "Sponsored by the United Church of Christ and TRAC". (TRAC/Parker Lecture) Sam Simon Used to Be a Consumer Advocate and Worked with Nader Citizen Action: Chapter 5... through the confusion of telephone deregulation, for example, TRAC published Reverse the Charges: How to Save Money on Your Phone Bill...