PRSA to Senate: Don’t use the PR industry as a ‘punching bag’

An investigation into the Obama Administration’s PR and advertising spend draws a sharp response from the Public Relations Society of America.

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That’s the message from the Public Relations Society of America to a Senate subcommittee investigating the Obama administration’s PR and advertising spend.

In an Op-Ed in Thursday’s Roll Call, PRSA chair and CEO Gerard F. Corbett says the probe—by Sens. Claire McCaskill (D–Mo.) and Rob Portman (R–Ohio)—is “detrimental to restoring the public’s trust in politicians.”

The Senators’ effort is a wide-ranging probe into all “contracts for the acquisition of public relations, publicity, advertising, communications, or similar services” of 11 government agencies dating back to Oct. 1, 2008, according to Roll Call.

Corbett says he shares the Senators’ concerns over how the government spends taxpayer dollars, but questions their seeming desire to use the PR industry as “punching bag for America’s dysfunctional political system.”

He continues:

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