Clinton's chief strategist: union buster and Blackwater supporter

[geek tragedy]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1007/Client_of_the_day_Blackwater.html

"The firm of which Mark Penn remains president, Burson Marsteller, has raised eyebrows for straying a bit from core Democratic Party issues, with its involvement in an anti-union campaign and for representing a leading, troubled subprime lender.

But ... Blackwater!?

"Burson-Marsteller was brought aboard by the Washington law firms representing Blackwater," the AP reports in a story about the difficulty of defending the military contractor."

Military industrial complex, anyone?

[ElizabethDC]

1. Mark Penn is *not* her campaign manager - he's a "chief strategist"

her campaign manager is Patti Solis Doyle.

[geek tragedy]

2. Will update. But, that's a

distinction without a difference.

[William769]

7. And how's that?

[geek tragedy]

8. Actually, it may be worse.

He's responsible for her substantive statements.

[TeamJordan23]

3. Not a surprise to me. nm

[sniffa]

4. no way, hiLLary's a friend of Labor

:rofl:

[geek tragedy]

5. And she'll get our troops out of Iraq.

Maybe.

[sniffa]

10. oh c'mon now

who knows what 2013 wiLL be Like.

[William769]

6. Thats why she's getting a lot of union endorsments!

:rofl:

[geek tragedy]

12. She gets her union the old-fashioned way . . .

intimidation and threats.

[William769]

13. And I am sure you have proof of that. Right?

[Bluebear]

14. And her health plan has nothing to do with insurance lobbyists or drug firms.

[oasis]

9. "Blackwater supporter". Misleading headline.

But you knew that.

[geek tragedy]

11. Blackwater shill would be more accurate. eom

[w4rma]

16. Blackwater paid Mark Penn's firm very well for that support. (nt)

[MonkeyFunk]

15. How absurd.

So an advisor for Clinton works for a PR firm that has a subsidiary that was hired by a law firm to do a short-term job for their client, Blackwater, and Penn had nothing to do with the account. And the CEO once met Mos Def at a party, and Mos Def was in "The Woodmsan" with Kevin Bacon!

Don't hurt yourself stretching here.

[Bluebear]

17. Is Penn's history as a union buster also absurd?

Hillary Clinton's labor problem

One of her top strategists is CEO of a union-busting P.R. firm. Doesn't labor deserve more respect?

There must be moments when the leaders of America's labor movement mutter the dark lament of the late Rodney Dangerfield, because so often they "get no respect" from the same Democratic politicians who depend on union endorsements and funding. This week they could certainly feel that way, after voicing their "concern" over the actions of a huge union-busting public relations company headed by Sen. Hillary Clinton's top political strategist, Mark Penn -- and getting no satisfactory response.

The prodigious Penn, a pollster and counselor to the Clintons since 1995, has risen to the commanding heights of the public relations and research business over the three decades since he entered politics. Having started in a tiny, two-man polling operation in a New York City mayoral campaign, he is now the CEO of Burson-Marsteller Inc., one of the planet's largest P.R. shops, with corporate clients ranging from Microsoft to Shell Oil and Pfizer. For progressive voters, those connections should raise questions about Penn's dominant role in the Clinton campaign, especially because he has reportedly boasted about the business benefits of his political power.

Smart, skillful and tenacious, Penn is also the ultimate expression of a long-standing trend among political consultants -- that is, claiming to serve the public interest during election years while selling their connections and knowledge to special interests every year. For him and many of his colleagues, the affluence that accrues to influence shapes their attitudes (and their advice to candidates). They tend to reject populism and almost any position that might lead to conflict with their corporate benefactors.

The problem with Penn came to a head over the past few weeks when reporter Ari Berman explored his career and the unsavory history of Burson-Marsteller in the pages of the Nation, including themes that had previously been raised by Mark Schmitt in the American Prospect. (Here I should disclose that I am the director of the Nation Institute Investigative Fund, which provided research support for Berman's article.)

Among the most controversial aspects of Penn's firm's business, from the liberal perspective at least, come under the category of "labor relations," a traditional euphemism for suppressing workers and thwarting their right to organize. Before Penn scrubbed his firm's Web site, it advertised this specialty and noted the firm's capacity to confront "Organized Labor's coordinated campaigns whether they are in conjunction with organizing or contract negotiating." Not the most graceful wording, but the idea is clear enough.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2007/06/16/hillary_and_mark_penn/

[geek tragedy]

20. Her CHIEF STRATEGIST is the CEO of that PR firm.

Mark Penn is her #1 policy and strategic advisor. And his company pimps for Blackwater and busts unions.

Bush's third term.

[MonkeyFunk]

22. All campaigns have lawyers and PR people advising them

If you went through the client lists of all such PR and law firms, for ANY candidate, you'd find clients you don't like.

This is a stupid attempt at a smear by 3-degrees of separation. It's stupid.

[nealmhughes]

18. I've just spent the better of an hour reading about Mr. "Worldwide President" Penn,

and about the most positive thing I could find was his "personal recusal" in taking on management side clients personally during his work as Ms. Clinton's advisor. . . note that he does not recuse himself from the Worldwide money going into the worldwide coffers.

Apparently the worldwide president likes to play Harriman while others get to be Prescott Bush.

His wife is a big wig at the DLC, by the way. . . but to my knowledge she has never been indicted nor convicted of prostitution ever.

[donsu]

19. Hill is nuts if she doesn't get rid of all things Blackwater

nt

[Canuckistanian]

21. kick