Thursday, September 4, 2008

Good cop/bad cop at the conventions works a little differently from in the streets movies. Robert Reich details "public affairs" and "government affairs" representatives at the Denver (and moving on to the Minnesota) Convention:
The two types often work for the same big companies but they seem to operate at cross purposes. For example, I met a public affairs person who talked about the great strides his company was making in green technologies. But the government affairs people from the same company have been actively lobbying against environmental laws and regulations.

Another public affairs person was touting her companies' dedication to its communities – gifts to local schools and playgrounds, for example. But in the sky boxes were lobbyists from the same firm that have been demanding tax abatements from those same communities, as a condition for keeping jobs there. And those tax abatements have meant less revenues for local schools and playgrounds.

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