Forgeries

Officials receive letters from individuals and groups imploring them to vote this way or that. Some of them are well-written and convey reasonable arguments. Then there are the other kind.

Virginia Rep. Tom Perriello (D-5th) received a letter recently and something struck the staff as strange. A search of previous mail found several letters that said pretty much the same thing. All of the letters came from organizations representing minority groups; all urged Perriello to vote against the American Clean Energy and Security Act, commonly known as cap-and-trade. They were forgeries, intended to suggest that groups generally affiliated with Democrats opposed the party's energy program.

We concur with the sentiments of our fellow Media General paper in Charlottesville, The Daily Progress, which said: "Call it what it is: Deception. Lying. Fraud. Whoever forged letters to Rep. Tom Perriello is guilty, ultimately, of defrauding democracy . . . .The forgery ultimately damages democracy. It renders us all just a bit less confident in the workings of our government, and of our fellow citizens . . . .Democracy depends on a social contract among all of us to play by certain rules of fair conduct. Abusing those rules may, or may not, achieve the aim of the moment, but it will surely defeat the goal of honest government."

We remain skeptical of cap-and-trade, but subterfuge only undermines the opposition's case.

Editor's note: Recent years have seen an increase in communications of doubtful provenance. Individuals will lift language from an Internet diatribe, attach their name to it, and send it to the letters section by e-mail. Left and right alike engage in the dishonesty. We might as well rage against the wind.