Reader Says Some Political Consultants Are Jacks of All Trades, Masters of None

From the tipline:

It’s the sort of item in a story that escapes most people, but it demonstrates why Oklahoma politics is sometimes considered so backwards and full of cognitive dissonance.

In yesterday’s story from The Oklahoman Reporter Tony Thorton, one of the finest reporters from that formerly important paper, lobbyist Pat Hall is identified as disgraced state auditor Jeff McMahan’s principle political consultant as well as his damage control architect. With all due respect to Mr. Hall, having a lobbyist/political consultant/crisis management person involved in any aspect of your capitol business is idiotic. Hiring a lobbyist, if they are scrupulously checked for conflicts of interests is fine. Having a political consultant is fine. Having a media/crisis management consultant is fine. Having a hybrid of the three or more public affairs subsets is, frankly, stupid. I’ve even have heard of a couple of characters who claim to be lobbyists/political consultants/media-crisis managers/pollsters/advertising agency/PR consultants in Oklahoma, and Oklahoma City have bad reputations for taking their unsuspecting clients for a ride. In fact, several insiders I know roll off the same names of four or five ad agency/PR companies from Tulsa and Oklahoma City as the main public affairs con artist headliners. “You’d think the dummies they keep screwing would eventually learn,” one individual who performs only lobbying services tol me recently.

There’s a name for people who are careless enough to hire someone like the above con artists: fools. I’m sure many of Hall’s clients, and perhaps a hundred more individuals calling themselves lobbyists, have no idea about their other clients. Frankly, it’s time to smarten up.