NYT: A Top Clinton Aide Draws Criticism From Unions

[Omaha Steve]

Source: New York Times

A Top Clinton Aide Draws Criticism From Unions

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Published: June 5, 2007

The presidents of two large labor unions have written to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to complain that Mark Penn, her pollster and chief strategist, is chief executive of a public relations firm that is helping a company fight a unionization drive.

In the letter sent Friday, which a labor official released yesterday, James P. Hoffa, president of the Teamsters, and Bruce Raynor, president of Unite Here, wrote that they did not want to see Mrs. Clinton or the Democratic Party embarrassed by the anti-union activities of Mr. Penn’s firm, Burson-Marsteller, one of the nation’s leading public relations companies.

“If Hillary is pro-worker and pro-union, she will certainly take steps to rein in Mr. Penn,” Mr. Hoffa said in an interview. “He cannot serve two masters, working for a pro-union candidate and working for anti-union companies.”

In the letter, Mr. Hoffa and Mr. Raynor said, “It is with distress that we write you today,” adding that they valued Mrs. Clinton’s positions on many worker-related issues.


Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/us/politics/05labor.html?_r=2&ref=politics&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

[StudentsMustUniteNow]

1. "We need more H1Bs!"

Pro-union? No. Pro-Corporate? Yes.

Vote at your own risk.

[brentspeak]

2. This Penn guy sounds like your typical neo-liberal trash

[Wilms]

3. Why would she want to have anything to do with a guy like that?

:shrug: