Not Again…Burson Takes it on the Chin

Mark Penn makes it easy to violate the 11th commandment...

Let’s get this on the record and out of the way early…I like to think of myself as politically semi-independent. I lean a little toward being more fiscally conservative as I approach retirement but definitely to the left on social issues. But as the politics of 2010 go, I would definitely be considered a liberal latte-sipping leftist. Ok that being the case, then why am I constantly criticizing Mark Penn, the self-anointed political PR guru, advisor to Hilary and other Democrats, and head of one of the great old PR institutions and my alma mater, Burson-Marsteller?

Why…because he makes it so easy. Burson-Marsteller supposedly under his expert guidance continues to make dumb decisions…not necessarily for the clients, but for itself.

The latest is a recent report that federal records show that Burson and sister company, Penn, Schoen & Berland, were paid $5.97 million by the FCC to promote the national switch from analog to digital television last Spring. Granted, $4.36 of this amount was spent on paid advertising through it’s parent, Young & Rubicam, but Burson readily and proudly admits that it was compensated $1.3 million in “professional fees for the work of a team of professionals.” Considering that the entire program supposedly lasted less than three months, that indeed is a team of at least very expensive professionals. And if I remember my days at Burson correctly, they all carried hefty titles and more importantly, even heftier hourly billing rates.

It’s hard to fathom the stupidity or frankly, the immorality, of such billing and even harder to understand in this supposed age of “change in politics as usual,” the hypocrisy of allowing it to happen. I had hoped that this new administration would at the very least be more diligent in its management of the sycophants who follow new leadership into office if not less inclined to such behavior. If not however, then we loyalists need and should not shrink from criticizing those of our own…PR profession or political party.

Burson itself is not without blame in this. Is it the recession or Penn’s greed that has clouded Burson-Marsteller’s judgment to such a degree that it cannot afford to turn down what is an obvious conflict of interest at worst, or at best a sketchy communication strategy…to haul in a few more million?

But my real question to the board of Burson-Marsteller or to whomever Mark Penn answers to these days, is why he continues to enjoy their loyalty when he continues to abdicate his responsibility of sound judgment and even, God forbid, good PR sense…