Andrea Batista Schlesinger

Wanted: [Press] Secretary of the Treasury

I have an idea for incoming White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten, who is apparently on the look-out for a new Secretary of the Treasury.

Forget Stan O'Neill of Merrill-Lynch or Hank Paulsen of Goldman Sachs. Barking up the wrong tree.

How about Margery Kraus, President and CEO of APCO Worldwide, which "specializes in coalition building, grassroots advocacy, media relations, online communication, opinion research, positioning and strategic counsel." Their client list includes the American Tort Reform Association and Pfizer and the World Wide Wrestling Foundation, all of which should prepare them for this task. Kraus was even named 2005 PR Professional of the Year by PR Week, and their firm is 2006 Agency of the Year!

Overqualified? How about the CEO of Burson-Marstellar. Or Alex Castellanos of National Media. Or Mike Murphy of the D.C. navigators.

What recommends all of these folks to the position of Secretary of the Treasury?

They all make The Hill's list of top public relations and public affairs firms.

It's pretty clear that what the White House is looking for from a new Secretary of the Treasury is not someone who fulfills its stated function of serving as "principal economic advisor to the President and play[ing] a critical role in policy-making by bringing an economic and government financial policy perspective to issues facing the government. The Secretary is responsible for formulating and recommending domestic and international financial, economic, and tax policy, participating in the formulation of broad fiscal policies that have general significance for the economy, and managing the public debt."

Instead, they are looking for someone, as the New York Times reports this morning and as has been buzzing for at least the year, who "could more powerfully communicate the administration's message that the American economy is strong."

Ah. Well, let's take a look at the news of the last month or so alone. The Wall Street Journal article on March 28 reports that "Wages Fail to Keep Pace With Productivity Increases, Aggravating Income Inequality" (March 27, subscription required). The day before, we learned that America now has a record number of millionaires. Today's New York Times reports that the "benefit of lower taxes on investments was far more concentrated on the very wealthiest." And The Economist reports that "The Bush administration has acknowledged that it will grossly overshoot its budget deficit target for fiscal year 2006."

The White House is looking for someone to powerfully communicate an untruth. Bolten wants someone who can "help reassure financial markets worried about record-high budget and trade deficits." Well since budget and trade deficits are indeed record-high, a pretty serious stain on the claim that the economy is strong, how exactly would the markets be reassured? Perhaps by spinning them elsewhere. Is it any wonder that the administration has never been satisfied with their Treasury Secretaries?

Reminds me of an exchange from "Thank You for Smoking," a movie I saw this weekend. The main character and tobacco lobbyist, Nick Naylor, explains to his son how he can win any debate by demonstrating that you don't have to actually win, you just have to successfully frame the debate. Want to stop someone from proving that vanilla ice cream is better than chocolate? Emphasize that the important issue is freedom of flavor choice. In other words, just change the topic.

The White House wants the markets and the people to be spun. And so what they need is to be more direct about their process. Help wanted: Professional Financial Spinner. Hey, maybe Nick Naylor is available. And then at least we can cut to the chase.

Andrea Batista Schlesinger: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 1:41 PM, Apr 05, 2006 in Economy | Federal Budget | Government Accountability
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