[bigboydan]

Hillary's strategist is 'a liability'

The Telegraph Group
Published: July 09, 2007, 00:25

New York: Hillary Clinton's chief strategist has been accused of illegally monitoring the e-mails of a former business associate who started a rival company, according to a lawsuit filed in New York last week.

Mark Penn, a polling guru who secretly advised Tony Blair on tactics to win over traditional Tory voters before the 2005 general election, has denied the allegation.

The case is the latest example of how Penn's high-profile business dealings are threatening to embarrass the Democratic presidential front-runner.

His dual role - as Clinton's adviser and chief executive of the public relations company Burson-Marsteller - is hampering her campaign to woo the trade union support crucial for any Democrat seeking the party nomination.

The presidents of two big labour unions wrote to Clinton last month to complain that Penn's firm, which represents Cintas, a uniform rental company fighting a unionisation drive, was involved in an "effort to undermine workers' rights".

In a subsequent interview, Teamsters union leader James Hoffa said: "If Hillary is pro-worker and pro-union, she will certainly take steps to rein in Penn. He cannot serve two masters, working for a pro-union candidate and anti-union companies."

Hoffa is the son of Jimmy Hoffa, the legendary Teamsters' boss and gangster associate, who was presumed murdered by a Mob hitman after he disappeared in 1975. Penn said he had "zero involvement" in BursonMarsteller's work for Cintas. "There is no connection whatsoever with her pro-union record," he said.

Contradictions

Leaked comments from Penn's internal blog for colleagues at Burson-Marsteller, which has a staff of 2,500, have revealed further instances of apparent contradictions between his business interests and Clinton campaign policy positions that he helps shape and promote.

The PR firm represents energy, tobacco and pharmaceutical companies, some of whose interests are at odds with Clinton's public stance on the environment and health care.

It is not the first time the outside interests of senior political advisers have posed potential problems for Washington's leaders.

During the 2000 presidential campaign, George W Bush insisted Karl Rove, his chief strategist, cease lucrative work for his political consultancy.

Penn, however, denied there was any conflict of interest. "I don't think there's any obligation that the firm's clients agree on every issue that's out there either with themselves or Clinton," he told Bloomberg News.

[G. K. TEMUJIN]

Blommberg may be well loved in the People's Republic of New York. But he is very disliked in Red state U. S.