The Wall Street Journal reports that Clinton strategist Mark Penn has met with the Colombian ambassador to discuss a free-trade agreement that might see Congress as early as next week.
Now, there's nothing wrong with candidate representatives meeting with foreign officials to discuss policy. But Penn's role in this raises some serious questions.
You see, one of Penn's firms, Burson-Marsteller Worldwide, "has a contract with the South American nation to promote congressional approval of the trade deal", a deal that Hillary Clinton openly opposes.
Penn's other firm, of course, has benefited financially in its role with the Cinton campaign.
Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, Mr. Penn's campaign-consulting firm, received more than $10 million in payments from the Clinton campaign as of the end of February, according to federal election filings.
So, Penn is profitting on both sides of the trade issue. Yet, this conflict of interest does not keep him from involving himself in trade talks. The big question, who did Penn represent when he met with Columbian officials?
Attendance by the adviser, Mark Penn, was confirmed by two Colombian officials. He wasn't there in his campaign role, but in his separate job as chief executive of Burson-Marsteller Worldwide...
Howard Wolfson, communications director for Sen. Clinton's campaign, said in an email that "Mark was not there on behalf of the campaign"...
[A spokesman for Colombia's President Álvaro Uribe]said he didn't know if Mr. Penn was representing Sen. Clinton or Burson-Marsteller
I'll give HRC the benefit of the doubt that Penn had his lobbyist hat on and left his strategist hat at home; but I would like less ambiguity on this. Still, it doesn't reflect well on the Clinton campaign that Penn's conflict of interest is being completely igonored. This is the kind of thing that needs to stay out of the government.
And let's not forget, this "is one of several examples of the firm advising clients on causes Sen. Clinton has opposed."
UPDATE: Thanks to DelicateMonster, et. al. for the background on Colombian President Uribe's contrasting relationships with Barack Obama and the Clintons.