Mark Penn Gone

At least kinda sorta. Here's Maggie Williams' statement:

After the events of the last few days, Mark Penn has asked to give up his role as Chief Strategist of the Clinton Campaign; Mark, and Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates, Inc. will continue to provide polling and advice to the campaign.

Geoff Garin and Howard Wolfson will coordinate the campaign's strategic message team going forward.

What exactly the demotion from Chief Strategist to guy who provides polling and advice means I couldn't quite say, but good semi-riddance.

UPDATE: Perhaps with reduced campaign responsibilities (and no more Colombia work) Penn will have more time for sniper training.

Comments

too little, too late

Posted by Natascha | April 6, 2008 7:37 PM

Given Hillary's adoption of Dubya's political style (transparent lies, loyalty valued over competence, total unwillingness to admit error), I'd guess this means Penn is demoted in name only (though they may try to limit his exposure as a spin-surrogate).

Posted by jimBOB | April 6, 2008 7:38 PM

!!!THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!!!!!! FOR HILLARY!!!!!

Posted by not idiotic | April 6, 2008 7:45 PM

I think you read this wrong. It seems to me like the Clinton campaign is trying to get the benefit of firing Penn (distancing themselves from the Colombia mess) without actually doing it. Penn is not gone and he's hasn't stopped being a senior advisor to the campaign, but you (and a bunch of other folks in the MSM and the 'sphere) give Hillary credit for dumping him (at least in the headlines).

Mark Penn is like Hillary's Rumsfeld--she just can't quit him.

Posted by ben | April 6, 2008 7:49 PM

"I wake up in the morning and seem to hear someone in the house sighing and saying that last night someone died.

I immediately ask to find out who it is, and learn that it is the sharpest, most calculating fellow in town.

Ah, is this not happiness? "

-- Chin Shengt'an (17th Century )

Posted by Don Williams | April 6, 2008 7:50 PM

While it's nice that they are apparently finally yanking Penn from the conference call circuit (this is what I understand from Ambinder's post), this does not address the larger issue of the judgement of a presidential candidate who has stuck with him for so long. Unlike Wright, Rezko, Ayers, etc., Mark Penn is not some guy Hillary Clinton knows. He was the, uh, mastermind of her campaign. Plus of course it's too late to help with the nomination.

Posted by about time | April 6, 2008 7:58 PM

She can't fire him completely. She owes the fat slob money.

Posted by Jake | April 6, 2008 8:02 PM

Well, that was money well spent.

Posted by Bill | April 6, 2008 8:05 PM

And people wonder why the world has Clinton fatigue? You have to carefully parse anything these people say to get at the truth.

Mark Penn has asked to give up his role as Chief Strategist of the Clinton Campaign; Mark, and Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates, Inc. will continue to provide polling and advice to the campaign.

So, if I am reading this right and who knows with the Clintons, he was not fired, he asked to resign, but his resignation was not accepted. But, he will still be performing all of his old duties except "coordinate the campaign's strategic message". It doesn't even say if he still has his title. It seems like he still has all of his basic job functions. So what is his new title? "Vendor"?

Posted by Bubba | April 6, 2008 8:06 PM

Hillary's 35 years of experience have taught her how to fire people. Not so much on how to pick people to run a campaign.

Posted by Helter | April 6, 2008 8:08 PM

Maybe the problem is the Penn is Hillary's Dick Morris. As soon as she cuts him loose, he could turn around and crap all over her candidacy. There's got to be a ton of crap he knows about the Clinton campaign that he could unleash as soon as he hits the Sunday talk show circuit.

Posted by ben | April 6, 2008 8:08 PM

Ouch! Just read Kirchik's review of your book. Why didn't you respond to it?

It must be hard to peak that early. Hang in there kid.

Posted by Ringo Meza | April 6, 2008 8:12 PM

Maybe the problem is the Penn is Hillary's Dick Morris. As soon as she cuts him loose, he could turn around and crap all over her candidacy. There's got to be a ton of crap he knows about the Clinton campaign that he could unleash as soon as he hits the Sunday talk show circuit. Posted by ben | April 6, 2008 8:08 PM

That's an interesting theory and probably pretty close to the truth. However, I bet it went down a little more like this.

AFL/CIO: You're fucking us with the locals Hillary. They don't trust you.

HC: Trust me, I'll take care of it.

HC (to MW): What should I do?

MW: Well, we have got to distance ourselves from him somehow.

HC (to MP): You screwed me, now you need to fix this.

MW (to MP): Fix this? You need to get out of here.

MP (to MW and HC): I am not going anywhere until I get paid!

HC: Okay, okay. I've got an idea. Maggie, type this up.

Posted by Bubba | April 6, 2008 8:17 PM

He did respond to it.

Posted by mad6798j | April 6, 2008 8:19 PM

Ha. No longer Chief Strategist, but he's still giving advice. Is he just an associate strategist now?

Maybe someone will tell her to drop out now. *fingers firmly crossed*

Posted by socctty | April 6, 2008 8:19 PM

With Penn gone, she might just sweep the rest of the primaries.

Posted by 55 | April 6, 2008 8:24 PM

I don't know what's more pathetic; that he wants to quit, or that she won't let him.

Posted by Client #11 | April 6, 2008 8:33 PM

No longer Chief Strategist, but he's still giving advice. Is he just an associate strategist now? - socctty

Good one. On a related note, I cannot even keep up with all of the Clinton's lies and spinnig this weekend.

1. Penn was not meeting with the Colombians on behalf of Hillary.
False - The Colombians said they didn't know who he was representing.

2. We gave $10m of our $109m to charity
False - They gave $10m to their Family Foundation, which is a tax write-off and the barely gave any of that money away until after Hillary started her run for office. They still have $5m of that money sitting in that account.

3. I was against the war before Obama, if we start counting in 2005.
False - It is just a ridiculous claim and typical Clinton to pick some arbritrary date to start counting from and also clearly false

4. A pregnant woman could not get health care and died because she did not have $100
False

5. Mark Penn is "giv[ing] his role in the campaign"
False - And contradicted by their very own campaign statement. He gave up is title only.

I am sure there is more, but really, this is crazy and only just over this past weekend.

Good grief. I think I am going to go over to TalkLeft or Hillaryis44 and read how this is such good news for Hillary and the other famous comeback, "what did you say again? Hey, look it's Rev. Wright".

Posted by Bubba | April 6, 2008 8:36 PM

I'm not quite sure what was meant by the suggestion that "the Colombians" said they didn't know who Penn was representing. The Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Tourism of Colombia -- the agency which took out the various lobbying contracts to push the Free Trade Agreement (TLC) -- announced they were terminating their contract with Burston-Marsteller because Penn's comments showed a "lack of respect" for Colombians, which they declared "unacceptable".

El Gobierno colombiano informó que canceló un contrato con la firma Burson-Marsteller para una campaña por el TLC entre Colombia y Estados Unidos, firma que dirige en Estados Unidos Mark Penn, asesor de la aspirante presidencial demócrata Hillary Clinton, quien precisamente se opone a ese acuerdo comercial.

"Ante reclamos de representantes sindicales estadounidenses, el Presidente de Burson-Marsteller, Sr. Mark Penn, se declaró "arrepentido" de haberse reunido con la Embajadora Carolina Barco, el 31 de marzo pasado. El Gobierno considera que esta declaración es una falta de respeto hacia los colombianos, lo cual es inaceptable", según el comunicado del Gobierno.

El mismo escrito explicó que ese contrato con esa firma fue suscrito por el Ministerio de Comercio, Industria y Turismo, que decidió darlo por terminado. Burson-Marsteller adelantaba "gestiones de relaciones públicas en Estados Unidos para Colombia, de cara a la aprobación del Tratado de Libre Comercio (TLC) y el Plan Colombia", añadió el texto oficial.

http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/negocios/articulo-gobierno-cancelo-contrato-firma-lobby-el-tlc-eeuu

Posted by El Cid | April 6, 2008 8:50 PM

Didn't I read awhile back that Penn claimed he was just a pollster, not chief strategist? So they're firing him from a position he doesn't have?

Posted by jimBOB | April 6, 2008 8:59 PM

I'm not quite sure what was meant by the suggestion that "the Colombians" said they didn't know who Penn was representing. - El Cid

Well, of course from this article in the Wall Street Journal. The [Colombian] spokesman said he didn't know if Mr. Penn was representing Sen. Clinton or Burson-Marsteller, which signed a $300,000, one-year contract with the Colombian Embassy in March 2007 to work on behalf of the trade deal and anti-drug-trafficking initiatives, according to the Justice Department filings.

Posted by Bubba | April 6, 2008 9:01 PM

When did Hillary Clinton figure out that Mark Penn and Burson-Marsteller were working for Columbia?

A person within the Clinton campaign said Sunday that Mrs. Clinton was “disappointed” that Mr. Penn had taken on Colombia as a client and had met with Colombian officials to advise them on how to win passage of a pact she has publicly denounced.

Mrs. Clinton was said to be furious when she learned that he was employed by and consulting with the Colombians on the trade treaty.

This is not exactly new information.

COHA analysis January 24th, 2008

Burson-Marsteller in South America

The Foreign Agents Registration Unit of the U.S. Department of Justice details a $300,000 contract between the Colombian government and Burson-Marsteller, one of the world’s larger public relations firms. Its mission is to lobby Washington opinion makers for the passage of the FTA with Colombia. Other U.S. firms which were contracted to work to advance Bogotá’s interests in the U.S. were the lobbying firm Glover Park Group ($40,000 per month) and Johnson, Madigan, Peck, Boland & Stewart (who have been paid $35,000 per month).

Regarding Burson-Marsteller, this international public relations firm was a favorite Washington feed bag for some of the worst human rights violators in the Americas who visited the U.S. Capital during the 1970s and 1980s. Of all the military juntas that seized power during this period, demonstrably, the very worst was Argentina (which became one of Burson-Marsteller’s prime clients).

It is estimated that the ruling military state killed upwards of 30,000 innocent civilians during its period of rule (1976 -1983). Burson-Marsteller, along with its co-equal during this era (when it came to nurturing brutal hemispheric regimes) – Patton Boggs – high ethical standards were not their trademark. This was the case even after Burson was repeatedly informed of the butcheries being routinely performed by the ruling Argentine military junta against a variety of the nation’s social sectors, including liberal Catholic priests, as well as Jewish students and faculty members at major Argentine universities. Rather than acknowledge the unsavory nature of their clients, Burson scornfully rejected such claims that their clients were little better than psychopaths, and enthusiastically fulfilled the terms of their representational contract with the Argentine military authorities, with their American account supervisors accusing the firm’s critics of being “Marxist agitators.”

Lobbying in favor of the Colombian FTA has been both intensive and expensive, and has spawned a bulldog effort to enthrone half truths on the part of Bogotá and U.S. authorities. The current campaign includes high officials of the U.S. State Department, as well as hired lobbying sources working to enact the FTA project, even though Colombia today demonstrably has one of the worst human rights violation records in the entire hemisphere.

Posted by Fabio | April 6, 2008 9:03 PM

Bubba: I get it, I was misinterpreting your comment as a literal suggestion that Colombia didn't know whom they had contracted, versus the Colombians' complaining that their contracted firm's president appeared to have conflicts of interest.

Posted by El Cid | April 6, 2008 9:05 PM

This reminds me of the time the Spurs fired Manu Ginobli from the starting lineup.

Posted by joejoejoe | April 6, 2008 9:05 PM

Oh shoot, I screwed up the blockquotes. In any event, that is the truth. But wait, there's more....

On the same day as the meeting, the Colombians made a couple of interesting statements.

1. They falsely claimed that Obama representatives met with them.

A spokesman for Colombia's President Álvaro Uribe said the ambassador met with Mr. Penn to discuss the bilateral agenda. "There have also been meetings with the advisers to the campaigns of Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain," he said. "It's the embassy's job to explain Colombia's reality."

2. Uribe also lashed out at Obama in the press

Uribe said opposition to the trade agreement would deal a serious blow to U.S. relations with Colombia, one of Washington's strongest allies in South America where anti-American attitudes have been resurging in recent years. "I deplore that Sen. Obama, apparently because he wants to be president of the U.S., ignores all that Colombia has achieved," he said.

Coincidence? To me the facts look remarkably similar to what happened with NAFTA and Canada leading up the vote in Ohio.

Posted by Bubba | April 6, 2008 9:30 PM

I had a good laugh over at TalkLeft, they refuse to acknowledge that Penn is actually not out of the campaign, but that they just took his title away. Here is a quote from someone who just refuses to read the actual press release.

You want to believe what you want to believe. As if you do not know what it means.

They even link to this CNN article that says this in the lede.

Mark Penn and his political consulting firm will continue advise the New York senator's Democratic presidential bid, but Penn will give up his job as chief strategist, campaign manager Maggie Williams said.

I guess I have truly discovered the difference between Clinton supporters and everyone else. Clinton supporters take everything that the Clintons say at each and every moment at face value, without using any critical thought about what it means and without considering if that statement actually conflicts with anything that they have said or done in the past. Or if what the Clinton's say is even logical or credible.

While I think what Randi Rhodes said about Hillary is way over the top, there is absolute truth in this statement, Because her deal is always, 'Read the fine print, assh*le'

Some folks actually read the fine print and others just like to sign away and then wonder what happened later. But then they feel assured when the Clinton's tell them not to worry, just as they are getting screwed on that one issue that was most important to them is getting sold out. It's not their fault they tell you. It was those evil Republicans or those evil men or those evil "Obamabots" or whatever. It's nuts.

Posted by Bubba | April 6, 2008 9:50 PM

One more thing you have to remember is that Mark Penn was the Clintons' chief strategist because they like the sort of amoral bastard that will simultaneously work for them, the Colombian government, Microsoft, and John McCain. To them, politics isn't about principles and ideals, it's about winning and they don't mind making a deal with the devil to win. They don't mind that Penn was dealing access to Clinton to the Colombians, they just don't like that he hurt their chances by getting caught. You have to remember that Penn signed with Colombia just two months after Hillary declared her candidacy. They had to know he was working for them.

I imagine on the big reasons why they don't want to release detailed tax returns for 2007 was that they were dealing influence for "speaking fees" and "consulting fees" and donations to the Clinton library during the time that Clinton was "inevitable" and the GE looked like a cakewalk. If Bill would sell out his integrity in 2005 (via the Kazakh-Uranium deal), why wouldn't he take advantage of his wife becoming president?

Posted by ben | April 6, 2008 10:27 PM

"Mr. Penn, care to comment on your reassignm...er, resignation?"

"Bo shuda! Bring me Solo and the Wookiee. They will all suffer for this outrage!"

Posted by Scientific | April 6, 2008 10:29 PM

They should have fired him a long time ago, as a chief strategist he didn't seem to do much strategizing beyond a "lets kick their asses on Feb. 4th." And just so the Clintons know, "throwing the kitchen sink at them" is not a strategy, it's a last ditch effort to sling everything remaining of your emptied arsenal, and it appears to not be working.

Good job Penn.

Posted by tom.a | April 6, 2008 10:31 PM

Mark Penn is the underpants gnome of political strategery, except that he does manage to turn massive profits.

Posted by marcj | April 6, 2008 10:53 PM

Whether he's gone or not, Hillary is done. All that remains is the shouting, to salvage ego, to build cred for whatever her next political goal is.

She didn't make it this time, and she will be saddled by the taint of talented, but curiously rather soulless operatives like Penn and Wolfson.

All left brain, no heart. That's the indelible mark of the Clinton siege engine with the square wheels.

Posted by James Lawrence | April 6, 2008 10:58 PM

Whether he's gone or not, Hillary is done. All that remains is the shouting, to salvage ego, to build cred for whatever her next political goal is. She didn't make it this time, and she will be saddled by the taint of talented, but curiously rather soulless operatives like Penn and Wolfson. All left brain, no heart. That's the indelible mark of the Clinton siege engine with the square wheels. Posted by James Lawrence | April 6, 2008 10:58 PM

What I don't understand is how the meme is "will Barack blow it?" instead of "how the hell did Hillary blow it?". Lets look at the tape.

Last year, Clinton had tons of money already raised, all the name recognition you could ever ask for, hundreds of superdelegates already lineup up to support her, and her husband, the last Democratic President who was considered a bit of a "rockstar" among most Democrats. So how does she go from that to this? A reporter should write that story each and every day.

What is also interesting is how badly she miscalculated everything. Going back to Feb. 2005 where it is obvious she was already contemplating her Presidential run, despite the fact that she was telling NY voters that she had not decided about that yet so she could be reelected.

We also find out what that magical Commander-in-Chief Threshold is according to Hillary back in 2005.

She soon told New York Daily News editors and reporters that it was important for Democrats to combat the idea that they're soft on national security issues like Iraq.

"If you can't persuade a majority of people that you're going to be strong and tough where we need to protect America and our [national] interests, you can't cross the [electoral] threshold," she said.
So I guess that's why she feels that only she and McCain pass that threshold. If you cannot pursuade a majority of people to go to follow you down a disasterous war that was the worst foreign policy mistake in the history of our country, then I guess you are not fit to be President. War for the sake of war to prove that you are tough for no other strategic reason. Also note that they assumed that she meant "electoral" when she was talking about threshold's back in 2005. I think it is pretty clear that she was talking about the Presidency for herself. Voting for a stupid war, when a majority of Dems voted against it, just to look strong and tough is really horrible the more you think about it.

Posted by Bubba | April 6, 2008 11:29 PM

Maybe Columbia can now hire Austan Goolsbee to solicit support for the free trade deal.

Posted by Fred | April 6, 2008 11:52 PM

I bet to a political science professor at some huge university like Harvard or Ohio State or UC-Berkeley, the Clinton campaign must be a gold mine of what-ifs and answers to previously unanswered questions. It must inspire in them the wonder and amazement that an evolutionary biologist must feel when they stumble across a fish with feet and lungs, or a reptile with quasi-wings.

As in, it's something that must be preserved in order to obtain the most amount of information out of it, as such a unique and spectacular item is so hard to come across.

(The analogy sort of falls apart after that)

Posted by socctty | April 7, 2008 2:21 AM

Penn was a plague on her campaign. She is well rid of him. That Hillary didn't choose to terminate him and his mind blowing incompetence long ago is one of the strongest arguements against her candidacy in my mind (and I'm a Clinton supporter).

Posted by Minnesota | April 7, 2008 8:24 AM

It is a disservice for the Media to claim that Mark Penn has been fired or has stepped down or that he will not be affiliated with the campaign. This is contradicted in Maggie Williams' statement which says "After the events of the last few days, Mark Penn has asked to give up his role as Chief Strategist of the Clinton Campaign; Mark, and Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates, Inc. will continue to provide polling and advice to the campaign. " From the following statement it is accurate for the Media to say he has been DEMOTED! Although many in the Media are trying to insinuate that he has been fired or has stepped down, this is a FABRICATION and Media has a right to inform Truth and not falsifications.

'"The president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, James Hoffa, said through an aide tonight that the change is of little significance, since Mr. Penn will continue to advise and poll for Mrs. Clinton's presidential bid. "Demotion doesn't answer General President Hoffa's concerns. Mark Penn is still on her payroll and Burson-Marsteller's payroll," a spokeswoman for Mr. Hoffa, Leigh Strope, said. "Title demotion doesn't indicate loss of influence."' "In a statement on Friday, Mr. Hoffa called for Mr. Penn's ouster. "Someone like Mark Penn should not be dictating strategy, and possibly legislation, for a Democratic candidate for president," the Teamster leader said."

Anyone with any Political smarts and savvy, should know that the Clintons are not REALLY getting rid of Penn and that this is just a smoke screen -- he is far too valuable to them and knows WAY too much for them to push him under the bus. He will still be pulling the strings behind that Wizard of Oz Curtin, as they say,polling and advising! This is just more double talk, double speak, misstate, misspeak and misspoke moment. Mark Penn should step down for Real!

Posted by Angellight | April 7, 2008 9:06 AM

It amuses me that the Clinton Campaign could not even manage to handle dealing with Penn in a straightforward fashion. I can only assume Penn was advising them on how to deal with himself, since this has all the markers of a Penn-designed strategy.

Posted by DTM | April 7, 2008 10:18 AM