Well, not me personally. That would be one miss Mary McFate -- aka Mary Lou Sapone, a "research consultant" who specialized in infiltrating activist groups on behalf of corporate clients.

Since the mid-1990s, Sapone, under her maiden name McFate had worked her way up the food chain of no less prominent a public interest group than the Brady Campaign against hand gun violence, where she held a board position.

Of course, it wasn't her deep commitment to the cause that brought her there - it was a check from the National Rifle Association (which apparently came to Sapone via security firm, Beckett Brown International).

Crazy stuff, right? In point of fact it happens all the time, but rarely are these kinds of operatives outed in such noisy and embarassing fashion. You can read all about Mary Lou over at Mother Jones.

-- MDT

Labels: corporate espionage, Mary Lou Sapone, NRA