Scandal-management when facing legal or political hot water.
In the decades after Watergate, Washington figures in legal or political hot water heard some familiar words of wisdom:
The coverup is almost always worse than the crime. Never hunker down. Above all, never lie.
Lately, though, the evidence is mounting that this tried-and-true advice may no longer be true.
Recent evidence suggests that hunkering down can sometimes work just fine, in a political and news media environment that has changed significantly in recent years.
One option commonly taken by political figures is to try to "get in front of the story" by voluntarily disclosing as much information as possible, and by projecting an aura of nondefensive cooperation with legal and media inquiries. At the other end of the spectrum is a strategy of denouncing questions as illegitimate or politically motivated, disclosing little information, and hoping the storm will pass.
DeLay, who is facing questions about his connections to lobbyists, has taken a middle course. His aides have responded to questions from reporters examining public records. At the same time, he has gone on the offensive.
During Watergate, President Richard M. Nixon was forced to resign when fellow Republicans denounced his coverup as unacceptable. In the current political climate, some critics believe, Democrats and Republicans know that no matter how much the opposition brays, colleagues from a politician's own party are unlikely to join in. According to Allison, this means there is "less incentive to do anything other than hunker down."
The most famous example of a politician who hunkered down and survived to tell about it is former president Bill Clinton. He has said he believes that if he had told the truth about his relationship with Monica S. Lewinsky in the first days after the scandal erupted in January 1998, the uproar would have forced him from office. By the time he acknowledged the affair seven months later, polls suggested that a majority of the public had long since concluded that Clinton was probably lying but that the matter was a private transgression.
Lanny J. Davis, a Washington lawyer and scandal-management expert, [has written] a scandal-management book, "Truth to Tell: Tell It Early, Tell It All, Tell It Yourself."
Robert Bennett, a Washington lawyer who has made a career defending such people, said Davis vastly oversimplifies. It is "a good general rule" that institutions, such as the Catholic Church in its sex abuse scandals, compound their troubles by covering up, he said. But he said it is equally true that sometimes people are better off clamming up. "It's not necessarily the case that you try to get it all out, get it out quickly and move on," he said. "What is it that you are laying out? What are you going to get from the government for laying it out?"
(4-12-05, The Washington Post.)
The coverup is almost always worse than the crime. Never hunker down. Above all, never lie.
Lately, though, the evidence is mounting that this tried-and-true advice may no longer be true.
Recent evidence suggests that hunkering down can sometimes work just fine, in a political and news media environment that has changed significantly in recent years.
One option commonly taken by political figures is to try to "get in front of the story" by voluntarily disclosing as much information as possible, and by projecting an aura of nondefensive cooperation with legal and media inquiries. At the other end of the spectrum is a strategy of denouncing questions as illegitimate or politically motivated, disclosing little information, and hoping the storm will pass.
DeLay, who is facing questions about his connections to lobbyists, has taken a middle course. His aides have responded to questions from reporters examining public records. At the same time, he has gone on the offensive.
During Watergate, President Richard M. Nixon was forced to resign when fellow Republicans denounced his coverup as unacceptable. In the current political climate, some critics believe, Democrats and Republicans know that no matter how much the opposition brays, colleagues from a politician's own party are unlikely to join in. According to Allison, this means there is "less incentive to do anything other than hunker down."
The most famous example of a politician who hunkered down and survived to tell about it is former president Bill Clinton. He has said he believes that if he had told the truth about his relationship with Monica S. Lewinsky in the first days after the scandal erupted in January 1998, the uproar would have forced him from office. By the time he acknowledged the affair seven months later, polls suggested that a majority of the public had long since concluded that Clinton was probably lying but that the matter was a private transgression.
Lanny J. Davis, a Washington lawyer and scandal-management expert, [has written] a scandal-management book, "Truth to Tell: Tell It Early, Tell It All, Tell It Yourself."
Robert Bennett, a Washington lawyer who has made a career defending such people, said Davis vastly oversimplifies. It is "a good general rule" that institutions, such as the Catholic Church in its sex abuse scandals, compound their troubles by covering up, he said. But he said it is equally true that sometimes people are better off clamming up. "It's not necessarily the case that you try to get it all out, get it out quickly and move on," he said. "What is it that you are laying out? What are you going to get from the government for laying it out?"
(4-12-05, The Washington Post.)
posted by Sid Cottingham | 5:05 AM
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