salon.com: Hillary Clinton's labor problem

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2007/06/16/hillary_and_mark_penn/index_np.html

Hillary Clinton's labor problem

One of her top strategists is CEO of a union-busting P.R. firm. Doesn't labor deserve more respect?

By Joe Conason

There must be moments when the leaders of America's labor movement mutter the dark lament of the late Rodney Dangerfield, because so often they "get no respect" from the same Democratic politicians who depend on union endorsements and funding. This week they could certainly feel that way, after voicing their "concern" over the actions of a huge union-busting public relations company headed by Sen. Hillary Clinton's top political strategist, Mark Penn -- and getting no satisfactory response.

The prodigious Penn, a pollster and counselor to the Clintons since 1995, has risen to the commanding heights of the public relations and research business over the three decades since he entered politics. Having started in a tiny, two-man polling operation in a New York City mayoral campaign, he is now the CEO of Burson-Marsteller Inc., one of the planet's largest P.R. shops, with corporate clients ranging from Microsoft to Shell Oil and Pfizer. For progressive voters, those connections should raise questions about Penn's dominant role in the Clinton campaign, especially because he has reportedly boasted about the business benefits of his political power.

[papau]

1. link to extensive earlier discussion of this article is below

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3320180