Astroturf has a new engine.
In Knox County, Tennessee, a surveillance company called Flock Safety spent the summer trying to hold onto its network of licence plate reader cameras, installed for the sheriff’s office. As residents turned against the cameras, a nonprofit called Neighbors for Strong Communities appeared to defend them. It sent text messages from local area codes. It offered to help residents produce emails to their commissioners. It presented itself as a local effort.
The local part was the thinnest. According to reporting by Matt Sledge at The Intercept, the nonprofit was incorporated in Washington, D.C., in June. Its incorporation papers list directors including several political consultants and at least one former registered lobbyist. The page on its website devoted to Knox County carries an image of a man with six fingers…