Ashley Turton and the searches for information on her- like the Adfero Groups.

I have posted previously on Ashley Turton, here and here and today I see that the PR Firm Adfero Group stopped by today to look at the result of their search on Ashley Turton.



They seemingly did not stay long but the name was curious since they are out from the Swamp, I decided to look a bit at who they are.

The first hit I found is from the DESMOBLOG which states they are:

25 August 09
New "Grassroots" Pro-Coal Group backed by K-Street PR Firm

"The Federation for American Coal, Energy and Security (FACES of Coal)." the latest "grassroots" organization to join the public conversation on behalf of the coal industry, appears to be a project of the K-Street public relations firm, the Adfero Group, one of industry's most accommodating voices in Washington, D.C.

The FACES website, which includes no contact information, is registered to Adfero.

[Update: since we posted this article, the website registration for facesofcoal.com has been updated overnight and Adfero's name has been wiped, however - thanks to research by one of our most loyal readers, Frank Bi, a cross-reference with Adfero's IP address still shows facesofcoal.com running on their server.]

FACES describes itself as "an alliance of people from all walks of life who are joining forces to educate lawmakers and the general public about the importance of coal and coal mining." But Adfero's client list includes Koch Industries and the US Chamber of Commerce, two leaders in the fight to confuse, distort and deny the science of climate change - and especially to block government action that might affect their bottom line.

FACES' coming-out press release claimed the new group consists of, "Some 70 different organizations and individuals representing a broad cross-section of people and communities throughout the Appalachian region are the coalition's first members. Any individual, business or organization can join FACES of Coal."

But Adfero doesn't specialize in spontaneous public advocacy. It specializes in crafting a "custom-tailored message" and then recruiting "key contacts" who can slam that message home. Here, from Adfero's own website, is their own version:

"At the end of the day, it's all about relationships. From policymakers to homemakers, people respond best when the message is delivered by someone they know and trust.

"That's where traditional grassroots outreach comes in. Adfero is able to tap an impressive network of national, state and local contacts to deliver your custom-tailored message. We’ll identify and recruit local constituents, opinion leaders, community activists or political operatives to engage in activities designed to get attention and results. We have access to key contacts on the ground who can conduct intercepts with elected officials at speeches, rallies, local town hall meetings and other events."

Interesting, and even more so when I found the following link in the comments there.

This may seem trivial, but the logs have been full of search hits about Ashley Turton and some examples are the Executive Office of the President, the CIA (on a Blackberry no less), DHS and other 3 Letter Agencies, the BATFE, several K-Street Groups (like Adfero), and others just seemingly interested.

The major media has been very quiet about Ashley Turton's death and the unusual circumstances and the fine folks at FreeRepublic are posting some interesting information in the threads (1, 2, 3).

Go, read, learn and ask some questions as this is becoming curiouser and curiouser.