Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Team Pinocchio can't wash away Flint

Hundreds of years ago, when I was a journalism student, we studied advertising and public relations along with journalism.

The upshot: we learned that the very best advertising was purchased journalism. You could learn from advertising in those days, prior to the advent of fine print and flat out telling a bald-faced lie. One of the best ad agencies, McCann Erickson, which I believe at the time had offices in Troy (they’re global now), had a neat, three-word phrase that summed up their business philosophy – Truth Well Told.

I was thinking of that phrase after I read that Gov. Rick Snyder went out and signed up not one but two public relations agencies to address the mess in Flint (two PR agencies + one governor = Team Pinocchio). I flipped on the news and happened to catch an interview with Kevin Dietz of WDIV and Snyder.

Snyder told Dietz the story of Flint had not been communicated well, which is why he needed two PR agencies. I took that to mean Snyder hadn’t been exonerated yet and it was going to be a tough sell, hence the need for two agencies. Dietz immediately followed up and asked Snyder if the money for the agencies wouldn’t be better spent on direct aid to Flint.

Snyder’s answer: “The agencies are being paid for with private funds.”

That sounded even more ominous, like Snyder calling in a HAZMAT team and then saying, “HAZMAT team? What HAZMAT team? I don’t see any HAZMAT team. Oh … you mean those guys over there in the rubber suits?  That HAZMAT team? Oh, those are just a few friends who like to dress in rubber outfits. Pay no attention to them.”

A few minutes ago I called the governor’s office and asked for the names of the two PR agencies now under contract to Snyder. I was politely told their names weren’t relevant and since they weren’t being paid for with taxpayer dollars, they were pretty much none of my business. I’d wanted to research the agencies and see who their other clients were – like maybe Blackwater, for instance. Perhaps Kevin Dietz will have better luck.

It’s time for the governor to stop sniffing glue. The facts are these:

1.      Snyder and 10 PR agencies couldn’t spin the governor out of this mess.

2.      As Snyder comes ever closer to tossing a few bodies under the bus in order to save himself, he is willingly forgetting that he’s the man at the top. The responsibility does and will continue to rest with him. He wanted this job, remember?

3.      I’m sure you’ve heard Snyder’s response to calls for his resignation -- “I want to fix this mess.” What Snyder wants is not relevant. We, the people, want him to take ownership of his problem. It doesn’t matter what he knew when, or how many teams of investigators from different agencies are investigating. It’s his problem because he’s the head cheese of Michigan.

I grew up around here and Flint was always thought of as an auto town, which was fine. I remember when GM stopped using Flint water in its plants because it was screwing up the machinery. What more does anyone need to know about this  problem?


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