Looks like Mark Penn -- Hillary Clinton's chief strategist -- met with Colombia's ambassador to the US this week to advise him on how best to pass a bilateral free trade pact.. So, on the one hand, Clinton voices opposition to this Free Trade Pact while running for president amidst electorates that are against further free trade deals. On the other hand, she pays Mark Penn hundreds of thousands of dollars to act as her chief adviser, and he's meeting with official representatives of the Colombian government in order to help them craft a strategy that will lead to the passage of such an act. Penn will say that he's doing this as CEO of Burson-Marsteller, his political PR firm (which has a nice large unionbusting division, as some of you will remember). But Mark Penn has not been exposed to Gamma Rays which split his person into two unrelated beings, one of whom works for Clinton, the other for BM. Rather, governments and clients paying Penn's firm millions of dollars aren't unaware that the CEO and guy they're meeting with has Hillary Clinton's ear. And Hillary Clinton isn't unaware that Mark Penn has a responsibility to advocate for the interests of these clients. In 2000, George W. Bush dealt with these problems by insisting Karl Rove step down from his other companies in order to work on the campaign. Clinton has done nothing of the kind, leading to all sorts of huge conflicts of interest. It's time for Clinton to make Penn step down. Either from her campaign, or from his other jobs.
