Another Change in Sen. Clinton's Campaign

Less than two months after replacing campaign manager Patti Doyle with longtime friend Maggie Williams, Sen. Clinton’s campaign made yet another major change on April 6th. Mark Penn, the senior strategist and pollster for Sen. Clinton’s presidential bid left the campaign.

On March 31st Penn met with Colombian government representatives in an effort to have his company promote the Colombian Free Trade Agreement. Throughout her campaign, Sen. Clinton has made very clear her opposition to this trade deal.

Although Penn, who is the CEO of the public relations and lobbying firm Burson-Marsteller, held the meeting as a representative for his company and not for Sen. Clinton's campaign, he was asked to resign as chief strategist.

According to campaign manager Maggie Williams, Pollster Geoff Garin and communications director Howard Wolfson will now lead Sen. Clinton’s campaign strategy. However Williams states that, “Mark, and Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates, Inc. [Penn’s consulting firm] will continue to provide polling and advice to the campaign.”

Unfortunately, this past event has ended his longtime relationship with the Clintons. Penn created polling and strategic advice in Bill’s 1996 re-election campaign and also crafted Hillary’s 2000 Senate campaign.

As reported in the PBS Reporter's Blog, several of Mark Penn’s clients go against Sen. Clinton’s campaign stances. For example, Sen. Clinton has emphasized union support. However, Penn’s company provides public relations advice to other companies who are trying to defeat union organization. While Clinton has also criticized the home mortgage industry, Penn’s company represents the nation’s largest home mortgage lender, Countrywide Financial.

Penn had considerable influence over Sen. Clinton’s campaign despite the fact that he was known to have sparked a lot of controversy. It has been reported that Penn argued and shouted often with other members of Sen. Clinton’s campaign team.

In my opinion, Sen. Clinton’s high campaign turnover is leading voters to question her ability to appropriately choose elected officials if she were to be president.