I hope you're sitting down for this one.
The Washington Post uncovered evidence that a department in Governor Sara Palin's administration paid money to a PR consultant.
Alaska's Department of Natural Resources wanted more press attention in the Continental 48 for its proposed natural gas pipeline. So it signed a $31,000 contract with a Boston-area PR person to pitch the state's "upstart governor" as the project's champion and spokesperson.
Part of the consultant's job was to arrange media interviews, which the Post -- one suspicious eye-brow clearly raised -- explained is "a function performed in many states by government employees."
Of course, the same can be said for other state government functions that hire outside expertise, like accountants, advertisers, crises planners, economic development experts, educators, designers, diversity training teams, electricians, engineers, land planners, lawyers, leadership development experts, management consultants, marketers, occupational health experts, organizational effectiveness consultants, plumbers, process engineers, researchers, safety inspectors, trainers, writers and many others.
But hiring an PR expert for publicity work?
Now that's a controversy.
. . . . . . . . .
