Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton\'s Chief Strategist, Angers His Neighbors

Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton's Chief Strategist, Angers His Neighbors

Huffington Post   |   February 27, 2008 08:26 AM


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Hillary Clinton pollster Mark Penn has recently been criticized by Clinton loyalists like Leon Panetta and Harold Ickes for leading her campaign down the wrong path. A report from in the NY Post today shows how he is also raising ire in his DC neighborhood.

NY Post: Hillary's Chief Strategist Mark Penn angering DC neighbors.

Hillary Rodham Clinton's pit-bull pollster and chief strategist Mark Penn has his Washington, DC, neighborhood in an uproar. He recently started multimillion-dollar renovations on his house on O Street in Georgetown, but didn't alert anyone beforehand, said one local. "It includes an underground garage and home office. His yard is an ugly, huge gaping hole that looks like the descent into hell. Then he put a Port-a-Potty on the lawn." Close neighbors include Lloyd Cutler, former White House Counsel to Bill Clinton, and his wife, Polly Kraft. A Clinton campaign rep did not return our call or e-mail.

Washington Post: "Is Penn building a tunnel underneath the lot between his two houses on O Street NW?"


 
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- 2belinda I'm a Fan of 2belinda 4 fans permalink
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Our neighborhood is a bit (!!) sensitive to construction noise, dust and turmoil.
Now that said 1. he's going to need an underground entrance to his house if he continues to destroy HRC's White House ambitions and 2. what else is he going to do with all of those new millions he just "earned". 3. it's a pretty deep hole - looks like it's where they intend to bury the bodies when this fiasco of a campaign is over...

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:55 PM on 02/28/2008

and this has exactly what to do with Hillary? He's renovating his house and that's somehow Hillary's fault because? Ah, consider the source. The New York Post, Faux Nooz's print outlet in Hillary's backyard.

Mmmm, yeah.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:22 PM on 02/28/2008

Not only is this story irrelevant to anything that Mr. Penn has done politically, it doesn't have its facts straight. For example, Mr. Penn's neighbors could not include the distinguished attorney and former White House counsel Lloyd Cutler, because Cutler passed away in 2005.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 07:38 PM on 02/27/2008

Penn's neighbors' angst is nothing compared with Dick Cheney's new neighbors at a McLean, Virginia fortress he's quietly building as a post-White House bunker.
http://chickaboomer.blogspot.com/2008/02/dick-cheneys-field-of-schemes.html

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:55 PM on 02/27/2008

is it healthy to HATE a Fat P(ig)enn

Because i really do

yes I do
Yes I do
Yes I do

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 07:13 PM on 02/27/2008
- KQuark I'm a Fan of KQuark 267 fans permalink
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Mark Penn says thank you Hillary for filling the old family coffers. Hillary, I putting in a golden toilet in your honor since that is where I flushed your campaign. Hillary, I am putting a statue of you crying on my front line because when you cried before the New Hampshire primary that was the high point of your campaign. Hillary I am sending you a bill for two dozen donuts, six lattes and one million "Solutions We Can Believe In" signs for $81,124.34­. Pay me before you pay those small businesses in WI, NY and MA as per our agreement, because I need a new Humvee to hold all the cash you made me.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 06:17 PM on 02/27/2008
- serena1313 I'm a Fan of serena1313 47 fans permalink

Just when you think politics could not get any sleazier:

Mark Penn has a personal stake in both Hillary's campaign and McCain's campaign.

McCain's top adviser, Charlie Black, is affiliated with Mark Penn. Both have close ties to the WH including Karl Rove!!

Anyone think this is a conflict of interest?

"Penn is the CEO of Burson-Marsteller, a DC public relations (PR) firm. Burson-Marsteller owns a subsidiary, BKSH. BKSH is run by Charlie Black. Black is a longtime Republican politico, and a top adviser for John McCain for President. And, as Think Progress notes, while Black is a volunteer on the McCain campaign, he views Mcain as his client and continues to take a paycheck from BKSH."

"A host of prominent Republicans fall under Penn's purview. B-M's Washington lobbying arm, BKSH & Associates, is run by Charlie Black, a leading GOP operative who maintains close ties to the White House, including Karl Rove, and was a partner with Lee Atwater, the consultant who crafted the Willie Horton smear campaign for George H.W. Bush in 1988. In recent years Black's clients have included the likes of Iraq's Ahmad Chalabi, the darling of the neocon right in the run-up to the war; Lockheed Martin; and Occidental Petroleum. In 2005 he landed a contract with the Lincoln Group, the disgraced PR firm that covertly placed US military propaganda in Iraqi news outlets.

"Black is only one cannon in B-M's Republican arsenal."

Clinton's staffers believe Penn should have been fired long ago.

Penn, I read today, comes from the same school of thought as Karl Rove.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:46 PM on 02/27/2008

This bloated toad looks like a right-wing talk show host.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:32 PM on 02/27/2008
- nikto I'm a Fan of nikto 18 fans permalink
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Mark Penn is just GOP scum in Democratic disguise.

I think he dropped out of Karl Rove's anus into the toilet and then crawled out to pollute the Democratic party.

Mark Penn is just scum.

Scum.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:19 PM on 02/27/2008

Such a nice post from one of Obama's "uniters".

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:09 PM on 02/27/2008
- research I'm a Fan of research 274 fans permalink

NEWS: people's property looks like hell during renovations. Further studies required?

Noise.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 03:21 PM on 02/27/2008

Can the Obama Post stop with negative Hillary stories. I realize you guys have drank the kool-aid but showing a little objectivity would help in healing our party when your second coming gets the nomination.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:42 PM on 02/27/2008
- yrerbendr I'm a Fan of yrerbendr 3 fans permalink

I admire the way you approach healing the party in these comments: "kool-aid" and "second coming" are metaphors that are used derivisely. Expressing your contempt is legitimate, but then don't talk about healing. Perhaps you need to heal your wounds first.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 04:28 PM on 02/27/2008
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And stupid comments like yours don't help either, hypocrite.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:10 PM on 02/27/2008

I'm no Hillary or Marc Penn fan, but if he's got the proper construction permits, his neighbors should just chill. Construction projects are part of life - and temporary.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:37 PM on 02/27/2008
- PaulLoeb I'm a Fan of PaulLoeb 11 fans permalink

Oh well. He'll always have Blackwater

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:26 PM on 02/27/2008

You have to wonder why Clinton hired someone who represents so corps/industries she purports to be against - Blackwater, Exelon (whom Clinton criticized Obama for taking donations) and pushing NAFTA in South America (with the cloud of NAFTA in Mexico hanging over her head). Out the gate it seems like several conflicts - and that Mr. Penn might not be on the same page -- and maybe not a good indicator of whom Clinton might appoint to her Cabinet and administration.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:06 PM on 02/27/2008

Someone who can do multi-million dollar renovations on a multi-million property doesn't really qualify as a "man of the people."

This is one of Hillary's chief weaknesses- it is too easy to see her as a tool of the corporate elite.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 02:36 PM on 02/27/2008

News alert to the NY Post: Lloyd Cutler died in 2005.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:53 PM on 02/27/2008
- SonnyBono I'm a Fan of SonnyBono 21 fans permalink

So I died in 1998, but it is nice to be remembered.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 09:22 AM on 02/28/2008

I still think Hillary's biggest mistake in this election was hiring Norm to be her campaign manager. I mean, sure, everyone wants to have a beer with the guy, but c'mon.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 01:39 PM on 02/27/2008
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