If you still don't know what astroturf is, it's bogus grass roots efforts designed by corporations to present the illusion that a company policy has broad public support. Using fake consumer groups, co-opted (read: paid off) minority and disability groups and think tanks, lobbyists and PR firms are paid to create a sort of "sound wall" of bogus public applause for corporate political positions. This pseudo-grass roots support is then trotted before lawmakers and seeded in the media to suggest anti-consumer policy has consumer support.

While we're sure astroturfers and the people who pay them would describe what they do in polite terms such as "community outreach" or "blogger relations," the reality is that astroturf is unethical propaganda used to screw consumers. One of the biggest names in the telecom astroturf field is Sam Simon. Simon and his company Amplify Public Affairs (formerly "Issue Dynamics") have their fingers in a huge array of artificial consumer groups and other lobbying organizations, the majority of which are used by AT&T and Verizon to crush competition, eliminate consumer protections, and pass bad regulation.

One of the biggest tricks in Simon's and Issue Dynamics bag is to use existing, pseudo-legitimate organizations to preach cable and telco policy positions. Back in 2003 Simon reportedly paid seniors rights group the Gray Panthers to help Verizon attack Worldcom. In more recent years, everyone from minority to deaf disability groups have been given funds to preach against things like net neutrality, and for things like the elimination of price controls, or laws that legalize broadband cherry picking. Sound pro-consumer to you?

Apparently, cash for a new events center often outweighs any pesky moral pangs formed by supporting policies that are against your constituents' best interest. Simon, meanwhile, uses his connections to these groups (and his brief stint working for Ralph Nader) to help build up his artificial consumer street cred with the myriad of public affairs groups he works with (see his Bio over at Amplify Public Affairs).

With Simon being at the very heart of a decade of mega-ISP disinformation efforts, imagine our surprise to see that Simon's being given an ethics award by the United Church Of Christ. Well, perhaps more amusement than surprise, given the Church Of Christ is one of the many organizations Simon uses to put corporate words into the mouth of groups that are supposed to be protecting the downtrodden and marginalized. Interestingly, the Church is also giving an award the same day to Consumerist editor Ben Popken, we'll assume to lend legitimacy to the proceedings.

Wait. It gets better. The honor being bestowed is called the Everett C. Parker Ethics in Telecommunications Lecture, an ethics award series coordinated by a group called the Telecommunications and Research Center and the National Consumer's League (NCL). One guess who founded TRAC? Sam Simon. Guess who chaired the NCL? Sam Simon. So, in short, you have the telcom industry's biggest astroturfer, with a history of paying consumer groups to argue anti-consumer positions, essentially giving himself an ethics award.

Update: I sent an e-mail to Consumerist editor Ben Popken to gauge his level of awareness about Simon and his litany of operations. "I didn't know about Simon or Issue Dynamics before people started pointing out the connections, but I think the suggestion that this was some sort of telecom astroturf apple-bobbing party is a stretch," says Popken. We won't press, as being informed of the possibility that you were a prop in a stage show probably isn't particularly enjoyable, and we love Popken's work. Popken and the Consumerist deserve awards.

Still, Popken's response is more than a little disheartening, and speaks to an overall lack of awareness to some of these less ethical policy practices that extend beyond pure astroturf. Given the Consumerist does such great work on consumer issues, it's unfortunate that they aren't particularly keyed in to co-opted policy groups or the damage guys like Simon do to consumer advocacy. Asked for their input, one major consumer group lamented the League as a one time legitimate endeavor that's now a "total front group."