Mothra Pesters Godzilla
As Mothra swoops in, Godzilla swats her away, but that Mothra, she's persistent, and she doesn't give up.
Neither does the Oakland Tribune.
Right after we at the Pepper wrote about how the Chron and the Trib live in parallel universes, we spotted a headline on the Trib's website, posted Saturday:
Bridge builder's new flack a true PR virtuoso
Them's fightin' words! And who is this "flack," pray tell? Why none other than Chris Lehane. Back in the days when we at the Pepper were running Presidential Candy, Lehane was the heartbreaking strategist who ditched John Kerry at his lowest and ran off for greener pastures (if you can call Wesley Clark greener pastures).
Lehane is a hired gun extraordinaire. He also worked for Clinton and Gore, but progressives can't stand him. His chief skill is making his employer's opponents look bad, and he's had equal-opportunity targets, like Bill Bradley and George II. We at the Pepper are nervous that Lehane is going to turn his wrath on the workers who reported KFM Joint Venture in the first place.
Lehane's price tag also won't make anyone happy. When he was working for Gray Davis during the 2001 energy crisis, Lehane and his wingman, Mark Fabiani, were making $30,000 a month. They're probably making even more with KFM ... oh, and isn't that part of our tax money?
This is what we at the Pepper call a BIG DEAL. Naturally, the Chron would want to get into the act, wouldn't it?
Not so. Instead, the Chron buried the Lehane hiring in the Matier & Ross political gossip column, which swatted aside the complaints, saying they were originally about working conditions and not worth the fuss.
Sample line: "Apprentice welder Gustave Link ... was only complaining about what he thought were dangerous working conditions at the bridge site."
"Only complaining." We at the Pepper assume that M&R don't have to cross the bridge every day - otherwise, wouldn't they want the men and women working on the bridge feeling safe and comfy instead of scared as crap and therefore careless? (And we at the Pepper love the "only complaining" in reference to working conditions. We're surprised M&R didn't say "kvetching" instead.)
About Lehane, M&R and the Chron had this to say: "The joint venture contractor, KFM, has hired high-powered PR consultant Chris Lehane (mouthpiece for the likes of Bill Clinton, Al Gore, Michael Moore and Marion Jones) to help deal with the political fallout."
End of story.
Mothra ain't going away, Matier and Ross. This story will get bigger - why else would KFM have hired someone known for dirty politics as their PR guy? - and Mothra is going to win the battle.