Democracy, Data & Communications, known as DDC Advocacy, is one of the most widely contracted firms within our analysis of trade association contracts.
DDC has seen a boost in contracts in recent years; the American Petroleum Institute (API) started contracting DDC in 2011, and has paid them a total of $43.3 million through 2017. American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity first contracted DDC in 2015 and continued the relationship into 2016, paying them a total of $1.5m. Edison Electric Institute and the National Association of Manufacturers also contract DDC for PR services.
Between 2008 and 2017, DDC received $54.8 million total from the trade association contracts that CIC analyzed.
DDC is widely known for creating front groups for their clients, that do not always disclose the funder. In 2017, it was revealed by Desmog Blog that DDC was behind the Your Energy America campaign, a front group paid for by Dominion Energy and the American Gas Association (AGA) to overstate support for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project.
Additionally, a recently uncovered trove of DDC front group websites, covering an array of issues, were found to be hosted at the same IP address. One of the sites hosted at this address, AllianceForJobsandEnergy.com, is a front group funded by the US Chamber of Commerce and other Virginia organizations to oppose climate change “cap and trade” legislation. Another US Chamber funded site hosted at the same location, ExploreOffshore.org, promotes offshore drilling on the US East Coast.
An excerpt from the Alliance for Jobs and Affordable Energy website, a front group for the US Chamber.
This IP address also hosts many other defunct Energy Citizens webpages, indicating an overlap or inheritance of the API Energy Citizens work that Edelman started. Several other pop-up campaign organizations apparently created by DDC were found, including groups that oppose the Hours and Scheduling Stability Act, a bill that would improve retail and food service workers benefits and rights.
Read more about DDC at Sourcewatch
Read more about DDC at DeSmog
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