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Monday, April 07, 2008
Rich Galen :: Townhall.com Columnist
Conflict of Interest
by Rich Galen
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One of the problems in modern-day Washington is trying to decide who works for whom and on what basis.

So as not bury the lead, Mark Penn has been relieved of his duties as the Chief Strategist and More of the Presidential campaign of Hillary R.(!) Clinton.

Here's the background.

Penn was not paid by the campaign. His polling firm, Penn Schoen & Berland, is paid by the campaign. His polling firm is owned by the mega-PR firm of Burson-Marsteller. Burson-Marsteller is a unit of Young & Rubicam which, in turn, is owned by the WPP Group.

Penn is the CEO of Burson in addition to having been the Chief Guru of the Clinton campaign.

According to a long backgrounder in the Washington Post by Anne Kornblut last year, Penn

"receives no compensation directly from the Clinton campaign and that his salary from Burson-Marsteller, which he declined to reveal, is contingent upon his management performance for the corporation overall, rather on than specific fees from the campaign."

It is one of the many oddities of the campaign finance laws that campaigns have to disclose to which vendors, and for how much, they write checks; but vendors are under no obligation to disclose who is on their payroll or how much they are paid.

According to the FEC, Penn's firm was paid $3.1 million in March and is owed $2.4 million bringing the grand total for this campaign to over $10 million.

Why is this important?

Because the work of Mark Penn and the work of Burson-Marsteller got tangled up last week when Penn met with the Ambassador to the US from Columbia

One of Burson's clients, it turns out, has been the country of Columbia which is in serious negotiations for a Free-Trade Agreement with the United States. I have been involved in this sort of thing and it is the PR firm's job to convince people that this is not only a good idea, but the passage of this agreement is the most important issue facing the Congress this year!

Susan Davis, writing in the Wall Street Journal,

"Hillary Clinton has been railing against free-trade agreements. Clinton pointedly told the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO: 'We've got to have new trade policies before we have new trade deals. That includes no trade deal with Colombia while violence against trade unionists continues in that country."

Oops. Continued...
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About The Author

Rich Galen has been a press secretary to Dan Quayle and Newt Gingrich. He currently works as a journalist and writes at Mullings.com

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Reply # 1
Date: Apr 8, 2008 - 1:02 PM EST
Subject: Micro this Case
You might work for only one firm and seemingly you have only one interest.

That overlooks the a fact of life that each individual has an innate hidden personal agenda.

For example a Lady has served on a Civic Association Board as a loyal member for 25 years.

However her presence on that board assured that the common land behind her house which is for the common good is not used for the common good but to be left in such a briar patch state no one can venture upon it.

A Muslim can desecrate the building with prayer rugs and rooms and foot baths in rest rooms that no one else could do i.e. a personal agenda

You do not just get a loyal employee you get the whole package.

A quote by the media of a company person is not without personal bias

Nothing gets me more than a ruling in a particular ACLU case that in fact a bunch of Gay Lawyers endorsing hate speech relative to Gays and Islam Terrorists.
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Reply # 2
Date: Apr 8, 2008 - 7:54 AM EST
Lovely paradox
But more importantly, these exploits are a wonderful commentary on the nature of politics.

You would imagine you want a team that believes as you do, same direction, same purpose, same focus.

But nowadays, positions don't matter. Nowadays, what you believe in your heart has nothing to do with what you say out your mouth.

Give me a leader like Reagan who leads from his heart and his convictions. Not someone who is lead by a ring in their nose chasing after the most money.

Political prostitutes are scattered all over the political spectrum these days. On both sides of the isle. They have no backbone, they have sold their souls to the highest bidder, and they no longer are servant to the American people, but serve the almighty buck.

If you ask me, all of our politicians needs to be flushed down the toilet and replaced by the lowliest of our citizenry. Surely they could do a much better job, and show what it means to truly serve.

I know, pie in the sky.
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