You may remember Rick Berman from such corporate farces as, "Pesticides: Kids Love 'Em!" and "Second Hand Smoke: You Have Two Lungs for a Reason." Now get ready for the latest episode in Rick Berman's corporate hackery: planting a former employee and Wal-Mart lobbyist as a "Democrat against the Employee Free Choice Act."

Here's Ken Silverstein in Harpers today on the discovery of the plant:

The Orlando Sentinel ran an item Monday, "Growing Number of Dems Opposing EFCA," which cited a political consultant named Joe Kefauver and another local political official -- "both longtime Democrats who supported Obama" -- as being stern opponents of EFCA, with Kefauver adding that support for organized labor shouldn't be the only "litmus test for being a good Democrat." The article was instantly posted on a website run by Berman's Center for Union Facts.

What the article didn't mention is that Kefauver has long and close ties to Berman. The most recently available public disclosure forms list Kefauver as both a director of Berman's Center for Consumer Freedom, and as a compensated "director of development" for Berman's Employment Policies Institute Foundation. Berman and Company has also paid Kefauver's firm for consulting services.

Up until early-2007, Kefauver was in charge of all of Wal-Mart's state-level lobbying efforts in Florida. "Joe was responsible for prioritizing and developing the company's legislative and political agenda, their interaction with Governors, Attorneys General, Mayors and legislative leaders, as well as executing the company's aggressive store expansion program," says his firm's website. Wal-Mart is one of the vocal corporate opponents of EFCA.

Oops. Better luck next time, Rick.

Thanks to SouthernStudies.org for the find.

Image of potted plant used under Creative Commons license from Flickr user erix!