DCI Group, a PR firm that got its start by creating phony grassroots organizations on behalf of big tobacco, has been outed by ThinkProgress as the  firm behind the new anti-health care Astroturf group, the Coalition to Protect Patients’ Rights (Infamous Astroturf Lobbying Firm Behind New Anti-Health Reform Group).

DeSmog readers might remember DCI from a sleazy set-up job in 2006, when the firm created a YouTube video attacking Al Gore and then posted it claiming that it was the work of an independent 29-year-old. ThinkProgress also itemizes some of DCI’s other adventures, many of which also involve setting up fake “grassroots” organizations that do the bidding of DCI’s big-budget clients.