KETCHUM GETS BIG FLA. RETIREMENT PLAN

The Florida State Board of Administration has awarded Ketchum Inside a multimillion-dollar contract to educate the state's 600,000 public employees about new pension options.

Burson-Marsteller and Fleishman-Hillard were the other finalists in the pitch, Peter Fleischer, director of Ketchum Inside, told this NL. The exact budget for the program has not yet been ironed out, he added.

Ketchum was chosen because of its "depth of experience in human resources communications," said James Francis, chief economist for FSBA.

He said the state went through a very "rigorous selection process." Several dozen firms were considered, according to Fleischer.

Ketchum will inform pension plan participants about the introduction of a defined contribution option to the Florida Retirement System, which ranks as the country's fourth largest public pension system with more than $100 billion in assets.

Ketchum Inside says it focuses on workplace communication and "change management."

IBM'S McMULLEN TO JOIN BANK ONE

Melinda McMullen, VP-communications for IBM Global Services, will join Bank One Corp. Aug. 1 as senior VP-comms. and PA, based in Chicago. She succeeds Gerald Buldak, who retired last month.

Reporting to chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon, McMullen will manage corporate communications, media relations, contributions and community affairs, and the company's home page on the 'Net.

She has put in stints at Ketchum, Burson-Marsteller, American Express and Edelman PR Worldwide.
McMullen joined IBM six years ago in corporate media relations.

Patrice Tanaka & Co. is to receive $1.1 million in fees/expenses from South Africa Tourism, according to a revised contract the firm has just filed with the Justice Dept. Of that amount, $620,800 are estimated fees. PT&Co.'s contract runs through March 31, 2002. The firm's president, John Frazier, signed the pact, which is dated June 22. PT&Co. officially started work for South Africa on March 16...Weber Shandwick Worldwide has picked up Cigna's $1 million PR account in a competition that came down to about a dozen finalists. Mike Fernandez is senior VP-PA. The former U.S. West and Eastman Kodak executive joined Cigna more than a year ago.

PAINE PR TUNES INTO XM SATELLITE RADIO

XM Satellite Radio, Washington, D.C., has selected Paine PR to handle its national and regional PR efforts.

The account will be handled by Paine's Los Angeles office, headed by Daryl McCullogh, with support provided by the firm's New York office, headed by Paul Wood. More than 20 agencies pitched.

Chance Patterson, who is XM Radio's VP of corporate affairs, said Paine PR brings the "powerful combination of relevant consumer experience as agency of record for DirectTV and has a proven track record for the kind of creativity and innovation we need to reach our national audience."

The PR budget was described as "significant" but was not disclosed.

XM will offer up to 100 channels of digital-quality sound and provide coast-to-coast coverage of music, news, sports, talk, comedy and children's programming.

It has a distribution agreement with General Motors to integrate XM radios into GM vehicles starting this year.

New York-based Sirius Satellite Radio is XM's main competitor. Both are public companies.

Mindy Kramer, who is director of corp. comms. for SSR, said the firm is currently involved in a "review process," and should have a decision this week. She joined SSR about 18 months ago from Edelman.

CRT HONORS WRIGHT BROTHERS FLIGHT

Carter Ryley Thomas PR has won a three-year contract to promote the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C. President Mark Raper said the account is worth $900,000.

The Centennial Flight Commission, which was established by Congress in 1999, selected CRT following a competitive pitch.

The Richmond, Va., firm will coordinate activities in the 50 states to honor the Wright Brothers, mark milestones in aviation history and project the future for aviation.

Major highlights are a 17-day "Inventing Flight" celebration planned for Dayton, Ohio,-home of the Wright Brothers-beginning July 2003, and the reenactment of their flight in an identical replica of their plane at Kitty Hawk on Dec. 17.

The Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, NASA and the Experimental Aircraft Assn. will have input into the campaign.

C&W'S WORK FOR PAXIL RAISES CONCERNS

The Washington Post said Cohn & Wolfe's campaign to heighten the awareness of social anxiety disorder, sponsored by Glaxo SmithKline, which makes Paxil, has raised concerns that pharmaceutical companies, traditionally in the business of finding new drugs for existing disorders, are increasingly in the business of seeking new disorders for existing drugs.

The paper said C&W arranged for psychiatrists and patient advocates to appear on TV shows and in articles explaining that the debilitating form of bashfulness was extremely widespread.

C&W's pitch to media said social anxiety was America's third most common mental disorder with more than 10 million sufferers and that 13% of Americans are affected by social anxiety disorder.

But the National Institute of Mental Health told the Post that only about 3.7% of the U.S. population has social anxiety disorder, and the American Psychiatric Assn. said rates vary between 3% and 13%.

As a result of C&W's campaign, media accounts of social anxiety dramatically rose. Most delivered the key message, "Paxil is the first and only FDA-approved medication for the treatment of social anxiety disorder," the Post said.

Blurring the line between normal personality variation and real psychiatric conditions can trivialize serious mental illness, some experts told Post staff writer Shankare Vedantam, who said Glaxo Smith-Kline did not make company officials available for comment, despite repeated requests. The article ran in the Post's July 16 edition.

C&W emphasized in its calls to the media that it spoke on behalf of doctors and nonprofits-not the pharmaceutical company that was paying its bills, Vedantam wrote.

The PR firm's website, however, make's no secret of the fact that it is in the business of marketing, not public health, Vedantam said.

On a previous campaign to promote coverage about the 10th anniversary of Prozac's launch in Britain, the agency said it successfully helped drug maker Eli Lilly spin coverage by offering journalists interviews with "independent Key Opinion Leaders"-doctors, advocacy groups and patients with "suitable debate."

Vedantam said C&W declined to talk about its role in the Paxil campaign, calling the information "proprietary and confidential."

MWW LOBBIES FOR BANNED CHINESE GROUP

Golin/Harris International's MWW Group is lobbying Congress on behalf of the Friends of Falun Gong, a group that converged in Washington, D.C., last week to protest FFG's alleged persecution by the Chinese Government.

MWW has been busy lining up co-sponsors of a Congressional resolution protesting the crackdown on Falun Gong members. These include Democrat Barney Frank and Republicans Dana Rohrabacher, Dan Burton and Iliana Ros-Lehtinen, Bob Sommer, executive VP at MWW, told this NL.

The firm's Washington head, Jonathan Slade, heads the account.

He is assisted by Ellona Wilner, Dana Bostic (a former aide to Sen. Jim Jeffords) and Jon Alexander (an ex-Customs Service staffer).

Falun Gong claims more than 70 million followers. Members want the right to practice a series of exercises, and follow a philosophy guided by "truthfulness, compassion and tolerance."

The group says more than 50,000 of its members have been jailed and tortured in labor camps by the Chinese Government, which dismisses Falun Gong as a cult.

Sommer said the Falun Gong began its march in New York and had stops in Trenton and Baltimore.

MWW's sister firm, Weber Shandwick Worldwide, successfully counseled China on its bid for the 2008 Olympic Games. FFG has accused China of violating the Olympic charter due to its brutal crackdown of Falun Gong members.

TITAN NETWORK ADDS THREE UNITS

The Titan Network has expanded its business model beyond PR with the launch of three units for consulting, communications and advertising.

"We don't consider ourselves just a PR firm any more," Tony DeMartino, co-founder and CEO of the Atlanta-based firm, told this NL. "We are a new type of firm that brings marketing services to the table under one roof."

DeMartino has tapped Scott Marticke, head of Young & Rubicam/Atlanta, as managing director of the Titan Advertising Unit.

Marticke said TTN is concerned with finding the correct mix of marketing disciplines.

Carl Mittelstadt, president of the World Trade Club in Atlanta, will serve on the "front lines" of TTN's consulting unit, DeMartino said, with the unofficial title of "CEO who helps other CEOs."

TTN has also added Geri Wolff, VP of marketing for Carnival Cruise Lines, to conduct market research, sales training and brand strategy for the firm.

TTN's capabilities also include business diagnostics and venture finance consulting.

HAIRDRESSERS BALL RELOCATES TO N.Y.

The International Hairdresser's Ball, an annual trade event for the hair care, fashion and cosmetics industries, will relocate to New York this year and be expanded from a trade show into a public event for consumers, its founder, Michael Abboud, said.

The IHB will be at the Puck Building Nov. 7, and will feature hair care, fashion and cosmetics pros, along with manufacturers and retailers.

This year's event will include the addition of an awards show for hair care, cosmetics and fashion in music, TV, advertising, magazine and photography.

The Ledlie Group, Atlanta, handles PR for the IHB. Info also available at www.hairdressersball.com.

NEWS SPOKESMAN GIVES PR TIPS

Polk Laffoon IV, who is VP-corporate relations for Knight-Ridder, the second largest newspaper group, told the company's top executives, publishers and editors in a memo that reporters who want to do a story on the company "virtually always have an agenda."

Laffoon said because that agenda is not often "friendly," they must "muster whatever facts and figures we can to refute or blunt it."

He cites a June 18 article in The Wall Street Journal by Patricia Callahan to prove his point.

Laffoon said the Journal's front page article was "nobody's idea of a helpful piece. But it was not nearly as strong as [Callahan] would have liked mostly because we threw so much contrary information at her."

Say Nothing

If throwing information is not always the best course of action, Laffoon advises saying nothing at all. "There is nothing the matter with saying `no comment'-often it makes good sense."

If a reporter already has confidential company information from a source on the inside, Laffoon says you may have to confirm/deny/set the record straight.

But generally, Laffoon tries "not to be intimidated, and to remember that what is our business is just that."

Laffoon also warns of the danger of being taken out of context. "Anything I say-any single sentence -can be used in isolation so I have to think: How will this sound standing on its own? If it isn't going to sound good, best not to go there."

He said "throw-away remarks can easily become front and center to the finished piece. When you talk to a reporter, you watch what you say, then think you've got it wrapped up and then-official business seemingly over-you let your guard down. He sounds like your new best friend, so you tell him something informally and...bingo! It's the lead."

When discussing company business, Laffoon believes it's good sense to understand your own motives as well as the reporters', even when talking off the record or on background.

"You still have to think: What am I trying to accomplish?" he said. "Because if you impart something that isn't ultimately flattering to what we're all about, and the reporter uses it as a springboard to get someone else to say it, what has been gained?"

ABC CHANGES PAID CIRCULATION RULES

The Audit Bureau of Circulations has changed its paid circulation rules for magazines and newspapers.

The board's 34 members, which include publishers of magazines and newspapers and advertisers, approved the abolishment of the "50%" rule, which stated that no copy could be counted as paid circulation that was sold at less than half the basic price.

Now, copies sold at any price can be counted as paid circulation.

The ABC board also passed guidelines defining electronic sales of newspapers, allowing publishers to create and sell new, electronic editions of their publications and still have them count as paid circulation.

YEAR BOOK FINDS FEWER DAILIES

The number of U.S. dailies has dropped to 1,480, according to the new 2001 Editor & Publisher International Year Book.

The number of daily papers is the lowest reported in any of the previous 81 annual editions of the Year Book.

E&P said the number of morning dailies increased to 766, while evening papers decreased to 727 for the 12 months ended Feb. 1.

The Year Book also noted 14 dailies started Sunday editions in the year ended Feb. 1, raising the number of Sunday papers to 917, the most since E&P began charting this data in 1919.

Overall Sunday circulation dropped to 59,420,999 in the past year, and daily circulation fell to 55,772,847, said E&P, which uses audited and unaudited figures supplied by publishers.

The Wall Street Journal was the top circulation daily with 1,762,751 copies sold. USA Today, which sold 1,692,666 copies, was in second place.

Rounding out the top 10 daily circulation papers were: The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune, Newsday (Melville, N.Y.), Houston Chronicle and The Dallas Morning News.

The New York Times has the top selling Sunday edition with 1,682,208 copies sold.

EDITOR ASSIGNS CELEBS TO TAKE PHOTOS

Entertainment Weekly will publish another photo issue this fall, featuring photos shot by celebrities.

Peter Bonventre, executive editor of EW, has recruited 20 actors to snap their own self-portraits and to take pictures on the sets of their films, TV shows and plays.

The celebrity snapshots will be laid out on about 10 pages of the planned 60-page special section, which also will include pictures from EW photo shoots and previously unpublished pictures from the Academy Awards and movie premieres.

The section, which will run in the Oct. 5 issue, could become an annual edition.

ESSENCE NAMES NEW EDITOR

Diane Weathers was named editor-in-chief of Essence magazine. On July 17, she succeeded Monique Greenwood, who left to devote her full attention to her family and her businesses.

Weathers was previously senior editor, news features at Redbook magazine and formerly associate editor of Consumer Reports. She also was articles editor of Essence for five years.

(Media news continued on next page)

INSTYLE MAGAZINE IS A TRENDSETTER

InStyle, a monthly magazine, has redefined what's in by pinning together pop cultures and the latest trends, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Marisa Fox, who wrote the article that ran in the July 13 edition of the LA Times, said Martha Nelson, who launched InStyle in 1994, is "sitting pretty as managing editor," attracting both readers and advertisers.

Currently, 1.58 million readers, mostly women, buy InStyle every month, and it will exceed Vogue in ad pages and revenues for the first time, according to Publishers Information Bureau.

Winning Formula

Fox points out other fashion magazines have started imitating InStyle's winning formula of filtering fashion through the lens of pop culture rather than high society and avant-garde, arty layouts.

"It has made the once sacred world of fashion accessible by granting readers a front row view of the red carpet, VIP passes to exclusive parties, pages upon pages of clothing to suit any body type and the keys into the homes and closets of favorite TV, film and pop stars," writes Fox, who notes InStyle was the first magazine to run full-length party pictures of celebrities and pioneered catalog-like service pages.

InStyle's influence even extends to similar celebrity and product layouts in magazines as disparate as Rolling Stone, Child and Town and Country, said Fox.

"Gone are the days of Diana Vreeland, the late Vogue editor, known for issuing style dictums, of fashion catering only to socialites, of ateliers and obligatory linings," said Fox.

"This is the era of cheap chic at Target and fashion becoming entertainment thanks to TV shows such as E's `Fashion Emergency' and cultural happenings like the popular Jackie Kennedy exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art," said Fox.

Publicists also love the "frothy paean to fame and fashion and readily grant exclusive interviews."

Cindy Guagenti, a publicist at Baker, Winokur, Ryder in Los Angeles, likes InStyle because "they don't have an agenda, they're not mean-spirited. You don't have to worry about anything."

Defends Soft Tone

Fox said detractors, however, claim InStyle "shamelessly panders to celebrities and has created a climate where celebrities and their agents set the tone and the parameters of the cover, select photographers and even veto writers who are deemed too critical."

Nelson defends the soft editorial tone. "If someone has broken up or has been in the news, their trials have been well documented by everyone else, from the tabloids to TV to the newsweeklies," Nelson said. "We're a monthly and that's not what we're about. I want to see pages that are beautiful, useful and fun. We're a fashion, service, and lifestyle magazine. So if you have a drug habit, then we probably don't want you in InStyle."

READERS SUGGEST PR IDEAS

Washington Post columnist Bob Levey, who recently asked in his column for PR ideas to help improve the New Jersey Turnpike's image, said "readers came through by the bushel."

A couple of months back, Levey said the superhighway, which is celebrating its 50th birthday, has "PR problems that it has never even dented, much less resolved. The NJT has been mocked and insulted to a fare-thee-well. In its next 50 years of life, it needs to fight back," said Levey.

"So from the land where spin was invented, I invite Washingtonians to help retool the NJT's image," said Levey, who ran some of the ideas in his July 4 column, including one by Burke Stinson, a former PR pro for AT&T, who now teaches at Rutgers Univ.

Stinson said "The Sopranos" is only the latest sign that New Jersey has "in-your-face pride" over its mobster reputation.

"How about signs for 'rumored burial sites of James Hoffa' and the place where a minor character in `The Godfather' was shot?," Stinson suggested.

Another New Jerseyan, Sherrie Smith, said the NJT should promote the grungy cities it passes. Motorists will "decide that they could never live in such an area, which is exactly how we like it," she told Levey.

GIGOT NAMED EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR

Paul Gigot, 46, will succeed Robert Bartley as editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal.

Gigot, who will stop writing his "Potomac Watch" column, will move from Washington, D.C., to New York to become the first new editorial page editor in more than 29 years.

Daniel Henninger will remain as deputy editorial page editor, and Bartley will continue the column "Thinking Things Over."
Gigot will also oversee OpinionJournal.com.

PEOPLE _______________________

Juan Morales, former executive editor at E!Online, was named editorial director of Movieline, the monthly magazine, replacing Virginia Campbell, who resigned after 12 years in the position.

Christie Haubegger has resigned from Latina magazine, which she started five years ago.

Rosalie Baker was named editor of Dig, replacing Stephen Hanks, who started the archeology magazine for children for the Archeology Institute of America, which recently sold it to Cobblestone Publications.

James Warren, who has been the Chicago Tribune's Washington, D.C., bureau chief for the past seven years, was named deputy managing editor/features, and George de Lama, associate managing editor/foreign and national news, was promoted to deputy managing editor/news.

BRODEUR HANDLES ARTIFICIAL HEART

Brodeur Worldwide is helping Abiomed deal with the firestorm of media attention following the successful implantation of its self-contained artificial heart in an unidentified patient in Louisville's Jewish Hospital.

The PR firm, according to staffer Lori McKenna, also has fended off criticism that it is trying to restrict the news flow.

The New York Times made that charge in a July 13 piece called "Artificial Heart Maker Restricts News of Patient's Condition."

"Abiomed has forbidden the surgeons who implanted the device to talk about the patient's condition, citing a need for privacy," wrote Lawrence Altman.

Altman said calls to JH were referred to Abiomed.

He wrote that JH's reticence to discuss the procedure was "surprising" since it has "aggressively sought publicity for the artificial heart implant and an earlier advance, the first hand transplant.

Wanted to Avoid Hype

Abiomed, on its website, posted a response to the Times rap.

The company's goal is to "protect the privacy and confidentiality of patients and their families, to insulate clinicians and Abiomed technical support from unnecessary distractions with an anticipated high level of media attention."

The Danvers, Mass.-based company said it has received "overwhelmingly" positive reviews for its media relations game plan.

"Abiomed and the hospital have received a great deal of laudatory commentary for our restraint and for our avoidance of hype," said its statement prepared with Brodeur.

While Abiomed and the hospital are willing to release "clinically significant information," the overall policy effort has been to "avoid the kind of speculative frenzy that can be associated with the frequent release of details of unknown significance."

The company regrets that the "New York Times and others have suggested motives behind our communications policies without ever discussing their views with Abiomed."

JH officials held a press conference on July 16 and released a picture of the "heart at work," which the Times put on its front page.

They said the hospital and Abiomed are paying the cost for the heart.

VONELLA JOINS OGILVY

Felicia Vonella, the former VP-IR for TheStreet. com, is now Ogilvy PR Worldwide's senior VP-IR.

"I tried out a corporate job, but decided I wanted to return to a PR firm," Vonella told this NL. She selected Ogilvy because it is a "big agency" and "truly has an integrated" IR practice.

The 14-year financial communications veteran made her mark at Dewe Rogerson. She joined DR in 1987, and rose to the director of global IR before leaving in 1999.

MOTIENT TAPS HILL & KNOWLTON

The Reston, Va.-based wireless and satellite e-mail provider Motient has awarded a six-figure PR account to Hill and Knowlton's Washington, D.C.-based technology practice after narrowing a field of nine firms down to three.

H&K will handle corporate positioning, branding, media relations, trade show support and PR as Motient prepares to launch a wireless PDA device in September, Jennifer Grace, senior managing director in the firm's tech practice, told this NL.

Alisa Fogelman-Beyer, senior managing director and tech practice leader, heads the account. Robin Baker, managing director, and Jennifer Shields, A/S, along with Grace, will also work with Motient.

Grace said the original field of nine firms was narrowed to five, and then to three. She said H&K won after a second meeting and pitch with Motient executives.

Motient claims 250,000 users of its services and announced last week total revenue of $23.7 million in the second quarter.

RACIAL SLURS IN BROCHURE CAUSE PR FLAP

The official "Welcome America" brochure, which was produced by the Weightman Group to promote Philadelphia, contained several racial slurs that were hidden in a word search puzzle.

Area media seized the situation, publishing major-length news stories about the offensive puzzle, which appeared in about 450,000 brochures, at a cost to the city approaching $100,000.

The puzzle asked readers to find 11 words associated with America's Birthday. Letters could also be found to spell out "niggah," "jap," "yid" and "jew."

Dava Geurin, a spokesperson for the agency, called the negative slang words, "a completely honest mistake."

A. Bruce Crawley, who is president of Crawley Haskins & Rodgers PR and chairman of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, as well as a member of the Welcome America executive committee, said Weightman will be "very much accountable to ensure that nothing like this was done intentionally." Crawley is African-American.

RF PICKS UP BODY SHOP

The Body Shop has picked Ruder Finn to promote the company's U.S. store expansion.

RF will handle several events and local PR campaigns aimed at increasing awareness and attracting traffic to Body Shop's new locations.

The account team will be led by David Herrick, VP of RF's San Francisco consumer practice, and managed by Deana Lee, senior A/E.

Chad Little, PR manager for The Body Shop, said it was a "natural choice to select" RF because it was impressed by the firm's creative strategy, quality of work and enthusiasm for previous projects.

RF has previously helped launch several of the Body Shop's product lines.

PR OPINION/ITEMS

General Electric CEO Jack Welch's reputation as "America's most admired executive" is assured despite the collapse of GE's $39 billion acquisition of Honeywell.

An informal poll of visitors to the "O'Dwyer PR Daily" website shows that Welch doesn't have to worry about Honeywell. Only 44 the 111 respondents felt that his image would be tarnished because of Honeywell.

So what is Welch, who steps down in September, supposed to do in the meantime? What can he do to add to his golden legacy? How about cleaning up GE's PCBs that are laying under the Hudson River?

That is something Welch has adamantly opposed. GE, however, would get such a PA boost if Welch switched course and said: "GE wants to be the country's No. 1 environmental citizen. We will dredge the Hudson River."

The Environmental Protection Agency wants to dredge 100,000 pounds of PCBs along a 40-mile stretch of the river. It wants GE to foot the estimated $500 million bill. It planned to make a final ruling on the matter next month, but now says it may push off that decision until September.

GE contends the PCBs are best left buried in the bottom of the river.

Welch rightly says GE did nothing wrong in disposing more than one billion pounds of PCBs into the river from 1947 until 1977.

At GE's April 25 annual meeting, Welch ripped into the EPA's plan as a "Clinton/Browner proposal to undertake the largest and most environmentally destructive environmental dredging project in history."

Dredging would wind up destroying the river in an attempt to save it, he said.

Welch said the EPA's plan was an example of a "political agenda defeating sound science."

Bankrolls anti-dredging campaign

Welch said the company had to create an advertising campaign to "give voice to the anti-dredging point of view, and to put some facts on the table for fair discussion and debate."

GE also is backing hudsonvoice.com to showcase the amount of support it has for leaving the Hudson. It claims that 60 river communities oppose dredging, and that the EPA has received more than 50,000 postcards, e-mails and telegrams against its plan.

But GE's claim that Democrats in Washington wanted to punish GE doesn't hold much water these days. Current EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman supported dredging when she was Republican Governor of New Jersey.

New York Republican Governor George Pataki wants the river dredged.

Acting New Jersey Republican Governor Donald DiFrancesco supports dredging.

It was okay to dump PCBs into the Hudson 40 years ago, but times have changed. People are more environmentally attuned these days.

General Electric's op-ed ad that ran in the New York Times says the company has already spent $200 million to clean the Upper Hudson River, and will spend whatever it takes to finish the job.

GE has every right to voice its opinion, but it is starting to sound like a broken record. The forces are lined up in favor of dredging.

The timing is perfect for GE to support dredging. That would allow Welch to go out on even a higher note to pitch his book.

Incoming CEO Jeffrey Immelt can start with a clean slate.

Most importantly, GE loses its reputation as a corporate polluter of the Hudson, and becomes an environmental superstar by cleaning up its own mess.

Marina Ein has the toughest crisis job in the U.S., which is defending Rep. Gary Condit in the Chandra Levy story. Her headaches are compounded by the decision of Condit's lawyer to muzzle the Congressman. The only images of Condit shown on TV and in the press are pictures of him holding his jacket while running from one meeting to another. That's in sharp contrast to images of the Washington police searching various locales for the missing intern. The Levy family, which has skillfully presented its case in the press, has added more PR firepower to its team. Washington, D.C., counselor Judy Smith, of Monica Lewinsky fame, is now working with the Porter Novelli team for the Levys.

"A Manager's Guide to Privacy Issues" is a publication just put out by GCI Group. Privacy could very well be the civil rights concern of this decade, according to Hubert H. Humphrey III, a senior VP at GCI. Humphrey was Minnesota's Attorney General from 1982-1998, and chaired the Internet Task Force of the National Assn. of Attorneys General.

"Godforsaken" describes the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, according to an op-ed piece by Jonah Goldberg in the indispensable Washington Times. Just back from a trip to the ANWR, he refutes arguments made by environmentalists that President Bush's plan to drill there would despoil one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Goldberg said the caribou would probably support drilling because it would provide them shelter from the trillions of mosquitoes and parasitic warble flies that make life a living hell for the animals. He raps drilling opponents who succeed by appealing to the imaginations of guilty liberal environmentalists.