Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, up for election Oct. 19, has "a peculiar hatred for sharing information" and shows "outright hostility" to the press, said the New York Times Aug. 16. Perhaps the Canadian PR Society will look into this.
The article, by Stephen Marche of Toronto, novelist and Esquire columnist, says Harper has "simply removed the give" from the "usual give-and-take between the press and politicians, the hurly-burly of any healthy democracy."
He has refused to take part in the usual national TV debates with opponents, Marche notes.
The worst of the nine-and-a-half years of Harper's reign is that "all this secrecy and informational control have been at the service of no larger vision for the country," he writes.
Harper's major foreign policy goal was the Keystone Pipeline which he failed to deliver, says Marche. The Canadian dollar has also fallen, he notes. Current value vs. the U.S. dollar is 76 cents. It was once worth well over $1.
Canadian PR Society Asked for Comment
We have emailed elected officers and staff of the Canadian PR Society to see if they have any comment on the Marche article.
Among them are CPRS president Renee McCloskey, director Everett Martin, who describes himself as "a passionate ambassador for ethical PR," and executive director Karen Dalton.
 McCloskey |
Part of the email is as follows: "Perhaps Renee or Karen will have a comment on this. As Karen knows, no officer or staffer of PR Society of America has talked to me since 2005. The reason is that the six O'Dwyer products are in competition with the Society's products. It won't let us exhibit at its national conferences nor let any O'Dwyer staffer join.
"Members even suspected of giving us the annual audit or other financial reports are suspended without a hearing. VP-PR Stephanie Cegielski was told her services were no longer required a month ago but there is nothing about this on the Society website nor will they answer any questions."
I notice that Everett Martin is a "passionate ambassador for ethical PR." However, members of CPRS, PRSA and practically every other PR group are hidden from view by the press although reporters' contacts are sold by numerous services. Newspapers like the New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Newsday, etc., require reporters to post their e-mails at the end or beginning of stories.
WHB "Work" Session Is Tonight
A story we're covering now is accusations that officials in Westhampton, N.Y. "hide behind lawyers."
We are still looking for an answer to the question of when or if there will be a public meeting on the eruv, an Orthodox Jewish religious boundary.
The transcript of the Aug. 6 "regular" meeting of the WHB board, at which public comments are allowed but trustees are under no obligation to reply shows Mayor Moore wondering, "What do you want me to do?" and "I don't know what you want me to do." Finally she said, "But perhaps it would be more helpful to the community to hear it at a meeting, to have an update to the extent possible."
What we and many other residents want is a stout defense against charges that we are "bigots" (New York Post) or anti-Semitic or against people practicing their religion. Our honor and integrity have been challenged and the only thing WHB is saying, according to counsel Brian Sokoloff, is that there is one letter to the East End Eruv Assn. that "says nothing." Where is the outrage, the indignation?
We should be able to express that. There is no law against talking about legal decisions. The decisions in favor of eruvim have many logical holes such as comparing eruvim markers to lost pet signs and directional signs as was done in the Tenafly, 2002 Appeals decision:
We will be at the meeting tonight and the trustees can talk to us or anyone or not. They have the legal prerogative to do that. Neither the eruv nor a possible public meeting on the eruv are on the agenda for tonight.
Comment Sought from Marriott
Comment is also being sought from Marriott, whose hotels have been the scene of a PR Society of America boycott against the O'Dwyer Co. for the past four years with indications this will be the fifth year of the boycott.
Rad Lang of the Atlanta Marriott Marquis has offered the O'Dwyer Co. space on the tenth floor when the PRSA exhibit hall is either on the second floor or below street level. We are being blocked from showing nearly 3,000 attendees our six products that benefit from 47 years of coverage of the PR/media industries by the O'Dwyer Co.
Stephanie Cegielski, VP-PR of PRSA, who has participated in enforcement of the O'Dwyer boycott for the past three years, was told she was no longer working at the Society as of Monday, July 27.
Two others who enforced the boycott, former president Bill Murray and former VP-PR Arthur Yann, are no longer with the Society. Murray quit as of June 1, 2014, with six months to go on his contract. Yann died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 47 on June 13, 2013.
Perhaps the Society will change its anti-competitive, anti-American stance to the O'Dwyer Co. The Federal Trade Commission on Aug. 13 announced that it will take new action against "unfair methods of competition." We are contacting FTC about this. Perhaps they will look into PRSA's violation of its charter which calls on it to help all in the PR industry and not just members.
New CEO of PRSA as of Jan. 1 is Joseph Truncale. PR manager is Rosanne Mottola. 212/460-1464. Highest elected official is Kathy Barbour of Acosta.com.
We have emailed Tricia Primrose, the new global chief communications and PA officer of Marriott, succeeding Kathleen Matthews, who is running for the House of Representatives from Maryland.
We have asked Primrose to look into this situation which is a black mark on the name of Marriott. The Atlanta Marriott Marquis should be the epitome of Southern graciousness.
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