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MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow called out Washington, DC public affairs firm Shirley & Banister again last night on air (begin clip at 3:12), this time for connections to a pop-up advocacy group called the League of American Voters, broadly dedicated to holding politicians accountable.

The League of American Voters is represented by the “very very able, very very connected conservative PR firm Shirley & Banister…who howls like a wounded animal anytime we mention their existence on television,” the talk show host pointed out. The League now has an ad featuring Fred Thompson speaking out against the end of the Bush tax cuts.

Maddow’s main beef with firms like S&B, DCI Group, and Rick Berman’s firm are not that the tactics are illegal but that they’re used to “gin up fear and raise money.”