Another Disappearing Republican Front Group

Remember the way that Thor Hearne tried to hide any traces of his American Center for Voting Rights, just as the media started to realize that it was a Republican front group designed to popularize ideas with no basis in reality, but which would be key tools to Republican dominance?

Well, the same is happening with Italia Federici’s organization,  Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy. The Hill reports that the organization is all but disappearing.

But, if the council’s website is any indication, it couldn’t surviveher guilty plea in federal court last month for obstruction and taxevasion. Federici’s sometime-boyfriend, former Deputy InteriorSecretary J. Steven Griles, was also sent to prison last week for 10months.

A visit to the group’s site now yields: “This site is temporarily unavailable.”

Foryears, the site had served as a source of talking points for those outto defend the environmental record of President Bush and Congress, whenit was run by Republicans. It cited philosophical ties to TheodoreRoosevelt and proclaimed, “President George Bush has made great stridesin protecting and improving the quality of America’s land, air andwater.”

For those who like to track disappearances, here’s the website. I think Sierra Club ought to see if it can buy the domain name–just as ACORN was gifted Hearne’s old site.