An
article in this past Saturday’s Detroit
Free Press reported that Gov. Rick Snyder has hired Mercury LLC, a national public relations firm known for
its expertise in crisis management, to “help with communications during the
Flint water crisis.” In addition, the governor also hired another
communications expert, Bill Nowling, who is a former Snyder press secretary and
also worked for former Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr.
The
announcement was made by Snyder’s current chief of staff, Jarrod Agen, who (oh,
by the way) is married to Mercury LLC’s senior vice president. The article
noted that she operates out of the firm’s Ft. Lauderdale, Florida office. So,
we had a spokesman telling us that additional spokespersons have been hired to
speak to us. The familiar put down “How many people does it take to change a
light bulb?” comes to mind.
The rationale for this, said Agen is “because of the extreme interest from both statewide and national media.” He added this extra help will “help our staff stay focused on helping the people of Flint.” In case anyone wondered, he pointed out that state funds would not be used. The news story explained said that Snyder has “a number of non-public funds, largely supported by corporate donors, which he could use to pay the communications experts.”
Talk about tone
deaf.
The last thing
that Rick Snyder should be doing with the Flint Water Crisis is appearing more
remote; more insulated from the city’s residents and the severity of their
situation.
The perception
that comes with hiring a PR firm (correct or not) is to spin the story, gloss
over the rough edges, attempt to re-arrange the narrative, and, by doing all of
that, portray the client in the best possible light.
Snyder, in his
State of the State address, took full responsibility, although he did
off-handedly mention that others at the local, state, and federal level made
mistakes that “broke the people of Flint’s trust in their government.” I’m not sure, in that spin of the story, if
the governor was seeking some company with his misery playing the martyr card.
I’ll speculate
(like any good armchair psychologist would) that a man who built a successful business, considers
himself an entrepreneur, and defied the odds by getting elected governor on his
first try at public office might possess a good deal of self-confidence and
self-regard. He might understandably regard himself as quite competent. To be
portrayed as clueless and out of touch would be upsetting, even galling.
Abraham Lincoln famously
said, of the Civil War, that he had imagined himself to be in control of
events, but had to admit that events seemed to control him. The manner in which
the Flint Water Crisis evolved and became headline news and then a state and
national scandal would suggest a similar scenario has occurred for the
governor. Instead of leading the
procession through virtue of his business know-how, he now finds himself
chasing the parade. Instead of staying above the political fray, he’s now caught
in the partisan crossfire.
Perhaps, in an
ironic twist, an underlying cause for this broken trust in Flint and how he is
now perceived is that he lacks experience in retail politics. Unlike many
politicians moving up the ladder, he hasn’t had to lick envelopes, knock on
doors, listen to voters’ concerns and gripes, and glad hand everyone in sight.
While he hasn’t spent
a lot of time in the political trenches, to effectively solve this crisis and
to salvage the remaining three years of his administration, that’s what he
needs to do. The governor needs to be his own spokesman, explaining the
situation and fielding the hard questions, rather than seeming to hide behind a
PR firm. If he wants to repair the broken trust and regain the image of
competence, he needs to be out there, front and center, dealing directly with
the people he serves.
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