Fox News is currently running a broadside aimed at Penn by Dick Morris, a former aide to President Clinton and now a thorn in the side of both Bill and Hillary. The piece, on FN's website, is called "Conflict of Interest: Burson-Marsteller and Hillary Clinton's Alliance."Morris wrote:
"As a campaign strategist, Penn needs and speaks constantly with both Clintons and with other key policy advisors. He is in a unique position to influence what the candidate supports or opposes--not only during the campaign but also later in a Clinton Administration. And he has ample opportunity to weigh in on issues that are vital to Burson-Marsteller's clients."
That attack follows a summer swipe at Penn (sub req'd) by labor leaders for B-M's "anti-worker, anti-union" campaign on behalf of uniform maker Cintas. That work predated Penn whose father was a labor organizer.
Penn, author of "Microtrends," (an enlightening book), surely understands that media coverage of his B-M job will swell. It could trigger its own microtrend, meaning that if one percent of the media focus on Penn/B-M, the rest of the journalism universe will follow.
The B-M chief sees no conflict between his political and corporate work. Yet as he wrote in Microtrends:
"Often people are just too close to the situation to see the real facts--and it takes an objective look to tell them what is really going on."Penn is a talented pollster. He would better off sticking with Hillary and relinquishing B-M duties.