Mark Penn: Executive Who Did Deal With Blackwater No Longer At My Company
Top Hillary Clinton advisor Mark Penn has said that the executive at his public relations firm who generated some controversy by taking an assignment for Blackwater is no longer with the firm, and that he himself was not involved in any dealing with the private army.
In his own personal defense, Penn said he hasn't actually been working on the individual cases at the firm, Burston-Marsteller, since he began giving almost all of his attention to the Hillary campaign.
"The Blackwater [client] was actually I think either a nine-day or two week assignment by somebody who had a personal relationship with them, who actually doesn't continue to work at the firm," Penn said during a radio show appearance. "And so there are 2,000 clients. I'm really focused on some of the management, but really my focus is on Senator Clinton's campaign."
The Huffington Post confirmed the departure of Robert Tappan, and also report that Burston-Marsteller say Tappan was not fired. Instead, Tappan left to accept a position as president at another firm.
Exactly, Mark Penn gets it! His firm has 2000 clients, i.e. 2000 potential conflicts of interest, getting in the way of a future President Hillary doing the right thing for the American people.
November 8, 2007 3:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Tappan joins the firm from Burson-Marsteller, where he was president of the D.C. office.
While at Burson, Tappan provided communications counsel for clients, including former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the American Resort Development Association, the government of Colombia and Blackwater USA, the private security company that has attracted some unwanted news attention in recent weeks.
Before joining Burson, Tappan was a senior State Department official. For nearly four years, he was the principal deputy assistant secretary of state for public affairs.
During his tenure with State, he was asked to serve as director of strategic communications for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad in 2004. While there, he led the communications strategy for the CPA.
November 8, 2007 3:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Clinton and her accolates live in the gray cast by the dark of Dick Chee-nee. Clinton is simply a slightly kinder, slightly gentler version.
November 8, 2007 5:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
[Mark Penn muttering under his breath after the Blackwater disclaimer]: "But I'm still busting unions suckers!"
November 9, 2007 10:31 AM | Reply | Permalink