Posted by Laura Glendinning in News and Analysis on December 9, 2009
WASHINGTON, D.C. (YBH.ME) – A recent review of Federal spending revealed $5.97 million from the $787 billion stimulus helped preserve only three jobs at public relations firm Burson-Marsteller. The global PR and communications firm is headed by Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton’s pollster during her failed 2008 bid for the Presidency. The money was given to the firm in May to pay for a promotional campaign to inform households about the upcoming national switch-over to digital television. A disclosure report notes $2.7 million of the $6 million was given to the firm’s polling division, Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates.
Stimulus Recipient Mark Penn
When Hillary ceded her party’s nomination to Barack Obama, her campaign was promised debt forgiveness of $6 million, the money owed to Penn’s company. Clinton insiders, even at the time, questioned the high cost of Penn’s consulting efforts, and the value of his advice to cast Clinton as the steady insider, when the fresh take of “hope and change” is the campaign that succeeded.Liz Oxhorn, White House spokeswoman, formerly of Senator Harry Reid’s office, defended stimulus allocations today following a press conference in which Republican Senators John McCain and Tom Coburn lambasted the spending choices. “In the end, even if there are a few unwise projects, it is only a handful out of the over 50,000 projects that have been approved to date,” said Oxhorn.
The Burston-Marsteller website today posted a statement disputing the charge that the $6 million was a pay-off, not a legitimate contract. They said:
Of the $4.36 million actually spent, most went for the media buy and to a long list of 3rd party vendors.
Penn Schoen Berland total fees for creation of the ad campaign were $142,000. The rest was disbursed to a media buy of $2.439 million that went to newspapers and local radio stations around the country and $147,000 to advertising production houses. Its total fees were $142,000.00.
Burson Marsteller received a total of $1,375,000 in professional fees.
The heavily politically-connected firm states they learned of the chance to bid on the FCC information campaign through a website called www.fedbizopps.gov. While the site does exist, it is hard to reconcile that a firm as connected to the Secretary of State, and other White House staffers, would rely solely on a public website to learn of job bids.
Clinton’s heavy $20 million of campaign debt has been almost completely paid off – except an outstanding item of $995,500 listed due to Penn’s firm.