Penn Recuses Himself From Firm's Anti-Labor Work

Two days before Hillary Clinton is due to participate in a major union political forum, her chief strategist, Mark Penn, said that while he will not step down as CEO, he will cede all oversight responsibilities for his company's labor relations clients to other managers.

Penn is CEO of Burson-Marsteller, which has employed experts that help companies combat union efforts to organize their workers.

"I've recused myself from working on any management-side labor relations work," Penn said in an interview.

Penn said that WPP, which owns his firm, Burson Marsteller, has a "conscience clause" that allows employees and managers to refuse to work for particular clients.

The New York Times reported Monday that two union presidents, Bruce Raynor of UniteHere, and James Hoffa of the Teamsters, wrote to Clinton detailing their objections to some of Burson-Marsteller’s clients. One was Cintas, a California-based laundry company that hired the PR firm to prevent UniteHere and the Teamsters from organizing there. Penn was not yet the company’s CEO. Earlier this year, several liberal magazines have blasted Penn for a history of representing corporate clients and for not shutting down Burson-Marsteller’s anti-labor practice.

On Tuesday, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney joined a growing register of important Democrats asking Clinton address the issue. Andrew Stern, the president of the nation’s largest union, the Service Employees, also expressed his concerns to the campaign, although an SEIU official was not able to say whether Stern had spoken to Clinton.

Several labor officials contacted campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle to share their belief that Clinton’s efforts to court union workers might be stunted unless she was able to convince Penn to take a leave of absence from the company for the duration of the campaign.

In an e-mail last night, Penn called "the basic underlying concept of the question" and the unstated allegations "simply false – I have never personally done such work."

"And there is a very good reason why -- my father was an organizer and later leader of the poultry workers union in New York. According to my mother he was even held during negotiations and let out of confinement only after the contract is signed. I have strong personal sympathies with the labor movement."

Penn said that he had never worked for the management side of labor relations and has had no contacts with those clients. "There are no meetings, no statements, no client contact of any kind to support this," he said.

Two of Penn’s friends said he has been personally hurt by the accusations and has reached out to many labor officials in personal e-mails and telephone calls.

Clinton campaign advisers said that Clinton’s record in support of labor speaks for itself and that they did not expect the questions about Penn to have any long-lasting ramifications.

"I've known Mark for more than twenty years and I've certainly never known him to engage in any anti-labor activities," said Harold Ickes, a top Clinton adviser and a legendary labor organizer in New York.

Penn has been called Clinton's most influential political adviser, a description that campaign officials do not dispute. It’s not clear whether the story, which has received little press attention, has been widely circulated among union workers.

Clinton participates in an AFL-CIO forum this Saturday in Detroit.

Her spokesman, Howard Wolfson, said Penn "is an extremely valued and vital member of our team and Hillary is pleased that he has not done this work in the past and will be recusing himself from any possible involvement in the future."