April 16, 2008
Bob LeDrew and the sad tale of Ottawa’s Mayor
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And to prove that ‘cluelessness’ is not just a corporate affliction, Ottawa’s Mayor Larry O’Brien has given us a spectacular example of how NOT to engage with the media.
I’ve been interested in politics — as an observer — for a long time. And since buying a house here in Ottawa in 2000, my interest in civic politics has been keen. And I’m a flack.
With all of that, I have to shake my head in disbelief at the utter hash that Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien has made of his public image.
Bob goes on to describe how, in a moment of what can only be described as ’sheer genius’, Mayor O’Brien just ever so slightly over-reacted. To wit:
Apparently, one of O’Brien’s two sons found some posts on a political blog, Apply Liberally, to be annoying, and left what the blogger says were “insulting” messages on the blog.
When CBC reporter Alistair Steele asked O’Brien about his son’s behaviour during a previously scheduled interview, O’Brien seems to have gone just a teeny bit apes**t. He grabbed Steele’s audio recorder, tried to stop it, then tried to erase what had already been recorded, and then ordered Steele to leave, carrying on the interview with an Ottawa Sun reporter.
Bob has a fantastic breakdown of Mayor O’Brien’s chequered political history, and as Bob says at the end of his article,
So if he’s going to stay, he’s got to pull in his profile, get his office and his persona under control, and consolidate whatever support he has on council and within the city’s administration.
Right now, he’s bobbing in the water and the journalists are humming the theme from Jaws.
I bet they are! Great article, Bob!
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Filed under: PR, blogging, customer service, ethics, interviews, politics, public speaking
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