The Great Fort Collins Pro-Fracking Petition #Fail

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by: Colorado Pols

The signatures were reportedly gathered by consulting company EIS Solutions. Memo to EIS and the Colorado Oil and Gas Association: Astroturfing shouldn’t be this hard! Hell, an intern going door to door with a bag of tacky corporate gifts and some printed propaganda should be able to return to the office with actual petition signatures.

By the end of last week, the association was acknowledging that “mistakes were made.” A subsequent internal audit “identified numerous areas for improvement.” Now association officials are trying to retract the petition. And they are failing…

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An absolutely hilarious story from the Fort Collins Coloradoan today has a familiar twist:

The Colorado Oil and Gas Association says it wants to withdraw an error-filled petition it submitted to the Fort Collins City Council opposing a ban on fracking within the city…

Many of the petition signers were unaware they were representing their business; they later asked to be removed from the coalition. In other cases, COGA was unable to identify some of the signers and verify that some of the businesses it listed as part of the coalition had signed the petition.

“COGA has ascertained we made mistakes in the collection of signatures on a petition submitted to City Council last week opposing a ban on hydraulic fracturing,” COGA President and CEO wrote in an email to the council on Monday. “As a result, we withdraw that petition from the record.”

The Coloradoan's Bobby Magill reports that at least 22 of 55 businesses listed as opposing a proposed ban on hydraulic fracture drilling within the Fort Collins city limits were "inaccurately represented." The best speculation we can offer is that organizers picked these businesses out of a directory of some kind, maybe checking to make sure Republicans owned them or something. Either that, or they are just really good at botching an outreach effort.

The COGA petition drive was led by energy consulting firm EIS Solutions, whose vice-president is former Colorado Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, a Grand Junction Republican.

COGA and EIS Solutions both declined to respond to questions Monday…

As we've reported many times about former Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry (see: "Josh Penry Just Makes Stuff Up," et al.), he may just not be the guy you want for anything subject to, you know, verification. In this case, he's managed to make what we assume is a very well-funded and meticulously planned oil industry campaign to turn back Fort Collins' push to ban "fracking"…into a punchline.

11 thoughts on “The Great Fort Collins Pro-Fracking Petition #Fail”

Gorky Pulviczek says:

February 26, 2013 at 10:04 am

EIS Solutions – "Honesty? We've heard of it."

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scarter says:

February 26, 2013 at 10:24 am

Please don't tell the Grand Junction Sentinel. Penry is their golden boy who can do no wrong.

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1. Curmudgeon says:
  
  February 26, 2013 at 3:40 pm
  
  I wouldn't worry about it.
  
  It's not like Jay Seaton has any interest in real journalism. Or ethics. Or unbiased reporting.
  
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Duke Cox says:

February 26, 2013 at 10:28 am

Thanks for reporting on this, Pols. I was planning a diary when I read this story, but I haven't had the time..so I appreciate you doing it. These lying bastards will stop at nothing to get their way.

It is no surprise that Josh Penry and the oily boys from Mesa County are involved in this farce. They are as unscrupulous as they can be…devotees of the "J.R.Ewing" style of doing business.

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1. roccoprahn says:
  
  February 26, 2013 at 10:30 am
  
  Concur.
  
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ParkHill says:

February 26, 2013 at 3:03 pm

This has been an extremely valuable experience. I mean we know how the Koch brothers and Exxon fund anti-science propaganda groups to convince the public against alternative energy. Now, we can put COGA in the same camp.

At what point does it go beyond greed and corruption to outright anti-democracy?

COGA is obviously an organization designed to push the interestes of the "Colorado Oil and Gass Association." Now we know that they are also a propaganda operation that will stop at nothing to convince the public, cities, counties and the State to support pollution and big oil projects..

How many previous times have they presented their "facts" in public forums?

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1. ArapaGOP says:
  
  February 26, 2013 at 4:07 pm
  
  Plenty of times. COGA works hard to represent one of Colorado's most important industries, and has a great working relationship with Democrats like Gov. Hickenlooper. You should isten to what they say instead of playing gotcha games.
  
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  1. scarter says:
    
    February 26, 2013 at 5:00 pm
    
    If they're that big and important, you would think they would hire a competent PR firm. Looks like they didn't get their money's worth…. that seems to be happening a lot lately.
    
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    1. Duke Cox says:
      
      February 27, 2013 at 4:30 am
      
      If they're that big and important,
      
      While the O&G industry is very wealthy and powerful, they aren't nearly as big as they portray themselves. They ARE NOT one of Colorados largest industries, even though their cheerleaders, like AGOP, like to spread that bullshit.
      
      They do, however, place a great deal of money into the hands of a few people, who get pretty drunk on the power they perceive is theirs. It corrupts those willing to sell their soul to one of the most destructive forces on the planet…fossil fuel.
      
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gaf says:

February 26, 2013 at 9:36 pm

I never, ever could see why Penry was considered a "golden boy" politician, once the R's next great hope. He always struck me as just this bad.

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WestSloper says:

February 26, 2013 at 10:10 pm

O&G's investment in Penry — and McInnis — has never paid off.

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