Astroturfing

The Boston-based, Democratic-aligned Dewey Square Group gets caught red-handed by The Eagle-Tribune, according to this report. (Definition of the term here.)

UPDATE: A Dewey Square Group employee tells me that the seniors in question did sign the letters, and that Dewey Square Group has signed copies of them. In response to the Eagle-Tribune story, the group said:

More than 190,000 seniors in Massachusetts have Medicare Advantage health plans and we have worked with 22,000 Massachusetts members of the Coalition for Medicare Choices to help save the program that provides them with important affordable health care benefits that are within their limited budgets. Commitment to quality work conducted in a professional manner is an unwavering standard for Dewey Square Group. 

We take seriously any concern about our business practices, and in this case a concern about contact with Massachusetts seniors, so we immediately reviewed our internal practices and we are confident that we have acted in good faith.

We apologize for the unfortunate error in judgment on the part of a college intern and we take responsibility for that management.  We have taken internal actions to make sure this does not occur again.  It was regrettable, unnecessary and unrepresentative of the work we have done.