Adviser becoming a liability for Hillary Clinton

[Omaha Steve]

Source: telegraph.co.uk

By Philip Sherwell in New York, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 11:35pm BST 07/07/2007

Hillary Clinton's chief strategist has been accused of illegally monitoring the emails 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 Mr Penn's high-profile business dealings are threatening to embarrass the Democratic presidential front-runner.

His dual role - as Sen 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.


Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/08/wclinton108.xml

[billyoc]

1. She might as well keep him.

It's not like we're going to forget about him if you can him, and he has great influence with Clinton's business base(her real base).

[aquart]

3. IOW, she's condemned no matter what she does.

[billyoc]

6. Yes. The DLC is irredeemable.

They have to be stopped no matter the cost. Their neo-liberal trade policies are far worse than anything
the bush administration could ever dream of, because they can wrap themselves in a veneer of liberalism.

[papau]

2. Amazing that a non story like this gets printed in the Nation - but they have a campaign going to

"get" Clinton The article "Adviser becoming a liability for Hillary Clinton"

refers to the very well known fact that this superb pollster took the CEO job Burson-Marsteller and that that operation has corporate clients. Equally well known is that He is recused from all but the Microsoft account for the duration of the campaign - but that is not mentioned - the story is a rewrite of the AP story http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/03/america/NA-GEN-US-Clinton-Pollster-Sued.php

"A lawsuit filed in New York by a former employee of Penn's polling firm, Penn, Schoen & Berland, alleges that when the employee left the firm and started a rival consulting business, workers at PSB hacked into his BlackBerry and illegally monitored his email. The lawsuit, filed in mid-June and reported by the AP on Wednesday, claims that Penn approved of the surveillance.

The backstory is a complicated one. Penn originally sued his former partner Mike Berland and Mitchell Markel in Manhattan court for allegedly violating a non-compete clause with PSB. In response, Markel filed a countersuit detailing the supposed improper email monitoring. As of now, it's impossible to know who to believe. Penn, through an attorney, has denied any wrongdoing. But it should be noted that Penn sued a former close colleague of his, pollster Peter Brodnitz--who's worked for Tim Kaine and Harold Ford Jr--when Brodnitz left PSB in 2004. And his firm threatened legal action when former employees started a "PSB survivors" message board documenting what they perceived as personally abusive and unethical behavior in the workplace."

Michelle Malkin has been pushing the Rosen story via the Sun for several months now since the orginal World News Net and Fox News lies re this story in 2005 seem to have had no legs.

Since you want the Rosen charge noted hear at DU, perhaps we should also note that the Rosen indictment over fund raising reporting in 2000 made no mention of any Clinton involvement in any criminal activity and there was NO mention in the indictment of her overseeing this individual in any criminal activity - indeed the indictment even went so far as to omit her name. Even more interesting is the omission of the fact Rosen already went to trial and he was found innocent http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/28/politics/28clinton.html?ex=1274932800&en=5c9f27f03e65c93f&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

Perhaps our non-political "Justice" Department is going to try to retry the case?

Here is the AP story:
"Hillary Rodham Clinton's pollster sued for e-mail eavesdropping
The Associated Press
Published: July 3, 2007

NEW YORK: Hillary Rodham Clinton's chief strategist is being accused of illegal eavesdropping in a civil lawsuit that alleges he and his polling firm monitored the personal e-mails of a former associate who started a rival company.

Mitchell E. Markel, a former vice president at polling firm Penn, Schoen & Berland, claims in the suit that the firm began monitoring all messages sent from his personal Blackberry device nearly a month after he had resigned and become president of his new business. The suit claims that the founder of the firm, Mark Penn, who is Clinton's strategist and pollster, knew about and approved of the monitoring, which the suit says violates federal wiretapping laws.

Penn, Schoen & Berland, a world-renowned firm that has helped elect clients like former President Clinton and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is accused of hacking into Markel's Blackberry and rigging his e-mail accounts to send blind carbon copies of his e-mails to another account that it had set up. The suit says the Blackberry that Markel used was always his own, never the property of his former employer.

"Through this unlawful interception scheme, defendants clandestinely received confidential and proprietary information of Markel's company ... including pricing, strategy and work product, and proprietary information of other companies whose e-mails were also intercepted," the suit says.

Howard Rubin, an attorney for Penn, Schoen & Berland, disputed the claim that the e-mails were private or that the firm engaged in unauthorized monitoring."


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[Doctor_J]

7. Didn't the Nation endorse Nader in 2000?

They are probably on the "Kucinich or Bust" bandwagon

[fujiyama]

9. No. They did not

They actually had a very good editorial leading up to the election trying to convince people to vote for Gore.

[William769]

4. You seem to be going out of your way on Clinton this weekend.

Thanks, it's a proven fact that going after her only emboldens her with the public.

Thanks again for your help Omaha Steve.

[Omaha Steve]

5. When I posted the first Edwards haircut story I took crap too

Being the front runner means there is a lot of crap sent Hillary's way. If you only want to hear good things about Hillary, stick to her web site alone. I have nothing against Hillary. I was upset when I was sick late last fall and couldn't go see her in person at a fund raiser.

All I did was post stories that are out there. I would think seeing them gives us all time to break down the info and make corrections, fill in the blanks, etc... Then the next day at the water cooler we can offer the other side of the story. You won't see any bad light stories on Hillary for the rest of the weekend from me. But then a story I think is a positive, others may not.

[Psephos]

10. You'll always take crap from those who don't like what you say - just ignore it

I'd far rather see unpopular posts than harmonious threads where everyone has the same opinion - like they do in cults.

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. ...going after her only emboldens her with the public...

I don't think that word means what you think it means.

Because as you use it, it makes no sense, gramatically.