Moonlighting as Campaign Managers
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Tags: 2008 Presidential Election, Blackwater, Burson-Marsteller, Ethics Reform, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Mark Penn
Tags: 2008 Presidential Election, Blackwater, Burson-Marsteller, Ethics Reform, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Mark Penn
During the first three months of 2008, the race to determine who will become the 44th President of the United States has had no shortage of compelling stories. To simply review the peaks, valleys, turns and twists would likely be worthy of a separate post.
Instead, I'd like to focus on the individuals who have been at the helm of two of the campaigns: McCain campaign manager Rick Davis and the recently demoted (or not?) Clinton "chief strategist" Mark Penn.
We've already gotten an up-close look at Rick Davis on Clearly New Mexico, so perhaps we should start with Mr. Penn.
Mark Penn has been a Clinton family confidant for the better part of twelve years. Originally recruited by former Clinton advisor turned Fox News analyst, Dick Morris, Penn started out by providing polling and strategic consulting services to the 1996 Bill Clinton reelection campaign. Since then, Mr. Penn assisted with the 2000 Hilary Clinton U.S. Senate campaign and (up until today) the Hillary presidential operation.
Pretty straightforward consulting resume, right?
Not so fast.
It seems while Mr. Penn was crafting the image of "experienced" candidate for Senator Clinton, he and his public relations firm Burson-Marsteller were developing an interesting client list.
To begin with, the firm took on the private security company Blackwater USA.
Following the now infamous September 2007 killing of 17 Iraqis at the hands of Blackwater security guards, the company came under heavy public scrutiny. As the presidential race began to heat up this past fall, Blackwater hired Burson-Marsteller to assist with the "public relations" aspects of Congressional hearings on the incident.
If that were not enough, it was revealed on Friday that Mark Penn met with Columbian officials. The purpose of the meeting was to strategize about how to push a Columbian free-trade agreement through Congress.
This came after the Clinton campaign made a whole lot of hay about NAFTA in rust belt areas of Ohio last month in an attempt to lock up votes in that state's primary election. Talk about a PR nightmare.
Rick Davis
Rick Davis, campaign manager for John McCain's presidential run, has perhaps even more interesting connections.
Barb at Democracy for New Mexico provided an excellent summation of Mr. Davis' close ties to both the telecommunications industry and sketchy Russian businessmen (some would say oligarchs). As a partner in the D.C. lobby firm Davis, Manafort & Freedman, Mr. Davis often spent time as both lobbyist and campaign manager to Senator John McCain. This is hardly the straight talk voters have heard so much about.
With the lobbying activities of Rick Davis and public relations activities of Mark Penn, I can't help but wonder how they keep their work, let alone their messages, straight with their respective presidential campaigns. With the overpowering odor of conflict-of-interest hanging in the air, these two figures seem to view it all as simply business as usual in the corridors of power.
Instead, I'd like to focus on the individuals who have been at the helm of two of the campaigns: McCain campaign manager Rick Davis and the recently demoted (or not?) Clinton "chief strategist" Mark Penn.
We've already gotten an up-close look at Rick Davis on Clearly New Mexico, so perhaps we should start with Mr. Penn.
Mark Penn has been a Clinton family confidant for the better part of twelve years. Originally recruited by former Clinton advisor turned Fox News analyst, Dick Morris, Penn started out by providing polling and strategic consulting services to the 1996 Bill Clinton reelection campaign. Since then, Mr. Penn assisted with the 2000 Hilary Clinton U.S. Senate campaign and (up until today) the Hillary presidential operation.
Pretty straightforward consulting resume, right?
Not so fast.
It seems while Mr. Penn was crafting the image of "experienced" candidate for Senator Clinton, he and his public relations firm Burson-Marsteller were developing an interesting client list.
To begin with, the firm took on the private security company Blackwater USA.
Following the now infamous September 2007 killing of 17 Iraqis at the hands of Blackwater security guards, the company came under heavy public scrutiny. As the presidential race began to heat up this past fall, Blackwater hired Burson-Marsteller to assist with the "public relations" aspects of Congressional hearings on the incident.
If that were not enough, it was revealed on Friday that Mark Penn met with Columbian officials. The purpose of the meeting was to strategize about how to push a Columbian free-trade agreement through Congress.
This came after the Clinton campaign made a whole lot of hay about NAFTA in rust belt areas of Ohio last month in an attempt to lock up votes in that state's primary election. Talk about a PR nightmare.
Rick Davis
Rick Davis, campaign manager for John McCain's presidential run, has perhaps even more interesting connections.
Barb at Democracy for New Mexico provided an excellent summation of Mr. Davis' close ties to both the telecommunications industry and sketchy Russian businessmen (some would say oligarchs). As a partner in the D.C. lobby firm Davis, Manafort & Freedman, Mr. Davis often spent time as both lobbyist and campaign manager to Senator John McCain. This is hardly the straight talk voters have heard so much about.
With the lobbying activities of Rick Davis and public relations activities of Mark Penn, I can't help but wonder how they keep their work, let alone their messages, straight with their respective presidential campaigns. With the overpowering odor of conflict-of-interest hanging in the air, these two figures seem to view it all as simply business as usual in the corridors of power.
