Mark Penn, chief campaign strategist for Hillary Clinton,
met with Colombia's ambassador to the U.S. to discuss a bilateral free-trade agreement, The Wall
Street Journal reported. Sen. Clinton was against the idea of a trade deal with
Colombia. This wasn't a mission related to his campaign role.
He did that in order to accomplish his second role, as chief
executive of Burson-Marsteller Worldwide, an international communications and
lobbying firm. According to fillings to the Justice Department, the company has
signed a contract with the South American nation to promote congressional
approval of the trade deal, The WSJ reports.
After the meeting he publicly expressed his regrets,
apologizing, attitude which offended the Colombian government and determined it
to fire him. The news were released Saturday morning after the WSJ reported
that Mr. Penn had met with Colombia's ambassador to the U.S on Monday.
At the same time, the Colombian government was offended by a
statement made by Mr. Penn after the meeting. He said it was “an error in
judgement.”
“The Colombian government considers this a lack of respect
to Colombians, and finds this response unacceptable,” the embassy said in a
statement, quoted by the WSJ.
It looks like trying to work on both fronts took Mr. Penn in
the wrong direction. On the one hand he wanted to represent Sen. Clinton
interests in the political campaign. On the other hand, although he knew New
York's Sen. Clinton's criticism of free trade was an important issue in her
campaign, he also wanted to represent Colombia in the trade matter. As a
result, someone else took the decision for him and made him choose between the
two jobs.
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