Isn't it Time for Mark Penn to Leave Burson-Marsteller?

My colleague at The Nation, Ari Berman, has done more than any journalist to shine some light on how pollster-strategist Mark Penn, head honcho at PR giant Burson-Marsteller, and perhaps the most important figure in Hillary Clinton's campaign, poses a real dilemma for the candidate. Penn heads a firm that has represented everyone from union busters to big tobacco, and more recently Blackwater. (According to a Marsteller spokesperson, it was a subsidiary, BKSH & Associates, run by GOP operative Charlie Black, which helped Erik Prince prepare for congressional hearings after his employees killed civilians in Iraq).

It would seem difficult to find a more controversial client than Blackwater but Penn's firm has just been retained by Spin Master.

Who is Spin Master? It turns out that Spin Master distributes Aqua Dots, a toy that was recalled last week because it contains a glue ingredient that when ingested is broken down by the body to make GHB, the "date rape" drug, which can cause unconsciousness and even death. (The Consumer Product Safety Commission says the number of children sickened by Aqua Dots has risen from two to nine in the past week.)

Penn has repeatedly stated that he has no direct contact with controversial clients like Blackwater or unionbusters. But what about the good old-fashioned American principles of responsibility and accountability -- principles which his candidate likes to invoke on the campaign trail? As Ari Berman has pointed out, the dilemma for Clinton is that Penn's firm represents many of the interests whose influence she has vowed to curtail. But as kids get sick from poisonous toys, how can Clinton keep in her corner, as her chief strategist, a man who has even limited involvement with a firm like Burson-Marsteller? Isn't it time that Clinton ask Penn to choose: my campaign to make this a safer country or a PR firm which has too many clients undermining that agenda?

Comments

[naschkatze]

What an excellent bit of investigative journalism, Katrina. I'm a great admirer of yours, and I would like to echo the comments above mine that information about Mark Penn, his firm, and Hillary Clinton's relationship with him need to be publicized much more. The public is just unaware of this damaging information. I would hope you get many readers and comments here, but I also hope Arianna will give the story itself some prominence.

[DontSpin]

I worked for a BM subsidiary before joining the State Department, and I can tell you, this group doesn't say no to anyone with cash.

[barkingcat]

"Isn't it Time for Mark Penn to Leave Burson-Marsteller?" you ask.

Absolutely -- in fact, it's way past time.

Some Hillary campaigners stopped by my house the other day and asked me to consider voting for Clinton -- my question to them was similar to the title of your post: "Why is Mark Penn still working at Burson-Marstellar?"

They didn't know what I was talking about -- perhaps an unfair question to ask the grassroots campaigners?

Perhaps.

[Joeseo]

Well, it certainly is time to change American Values then. Corporate and Political clout are interchangeable nowadays. Those values are mythical. They serve only to jar about the typical American worker and voter from his lethargic haze.

Every institution in American society is hapless at fostering those old values. Corporate America rules the government and media. Its agenda superceedes American life entirely.

[LindaJay]

Unfortuntaely, Hillary isn't the only one. We have a long list of democrats in that category, including those who are now in leadership positions in the House and Senate. Without them, PAFTA wouldn't be sneaking through, nor a long list of other bills that stink of corruption and corporate influence. Let's face it, there are few politicians in Washington today who don't reek of corporate greed.

[fightorleave2]

Ms. Vanden Heuvel, why is Hillary involved with Mark Penn in the first place?

That's what I want to know, and I thought you might help unravel the answer, but we are just suckers! Me, not you, of course.

[Countess]

This is the dark side of Mrs. Clinton's campaign that many people refuse to acknowledge. Penn is the worst and perhaps the most important example. He is her top man and I am sure most decent idealistic democrats would be horrified to know who he really is. I hope this post will contribute to an awakening.

[ljsfolly]

What is wrong with the picture? That full range of not such good clients and Hilary in one sentence makes me think she hasn't got her brain in the right place. If the guy wants to be there for his clients that like Blackwater sewage kills people at random and gets away with it the Spin Master company sounds ideal for the guy as the very name tells you much more than anything what they do even though the made the deadly toys or marketed them makes little dif but both companies kill or injure without thought. Hil needs to grow a brain before she might win the nomination because this set up will kill her chances too.

[wm1066]

This is one of many reasons why I can't vote for Hillary. She has joined with the dark forces in America. That might sound trite but I feel its true.

[darukl]

I agree. Time for Clinton's team to chose - do the people's business OR your own business. We have had enough of doing both from this administration.