http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/clinton_aide_colombia/2008/04/05/85755.html
Colombia Fires Top Clinton Aide's Firm
Saturday, April 5, 2008
WA****NGTON -- The Colombian government said Saturday it has fired Mark
Penn's public relations firm after the chief campaign strategist for
Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton apologized for meeting with Colombian
officials pu****ng a trade deal with the U.S.
Colombian officials said they terminated their contract with lobbying and
public relations giant Burson-Marsteller in response to a statement
released
Friday by Penn, the firm's chief executive, calling the meeting an "error
in
judgment." Clinton opposes the trade deal.
"The Colombian government considers this a lack of respect to Colombians,
and finds this response unacceptable," government officials said in a news
release. The government will continue its push for a free trade agreement
with the United States, they added.
The Wall Street Journal re****ted Friday that Penn had met with the
Colombian
ambassador March 31.
Clinton advisers said the meeting was not connected to the campaign, but
made clear the candidate was not happy to learn it. Penn later issued a
statement expressing regrets.
"The meeting was an error in judgment that will not be repeated and I am
sorry for it," he said. "The senator's well-known opposition to this trade
deal is clear and was not discussed."
The Colombian government is trying to secure congressional passage of the
agreement signed in 2006 by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and the Bush
administration.
According to Justice Department filings, Colombia agreed last year to pay
Burson-Marsteller $300,000 to help "educate members of the U.S. Congress
and
other audiences" about the trade deal and secure continued U.S. funding
for
the $5 billion anti-narcotics program Plan Colombia.
Clinton and Barack Obama, her Democratic rival, oppose the deal. Clinton
told the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO this week that the United States needs new
trade policies before it has new trade deals. "That includes no trade deal
with Colombia while violence against trade unionists continues in that
country," she said.
Penn's political consulting firm, Penn, Schoen & Berland, has been paid
$10.8 million so far by Clinton's campaign.
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