DEMOCRATIC grumping is suddenly growing a lot louder over the fact that Hillary Rodham Clinton’s polling firm and Al Gore’s media man are working for megabucks Republican mayoral contender Mike Bloomberg.
Especially because Sen. Clinton (D-N.Y.) helped engineer a Democratic National Committee contract for pollster Mark Penn – and other DNC consultants have contracts that bar them from working for Republicans.
What’s really irritating is the fact that Bloomberg’s pollsters reportedly asked potential GOP primary voters if they knew that rival Herman Badillo was a longtime Democrat, and if that would sway them against him.
“Of course the Democratic Party wants to take over the mayor’s chair in New York – so why is the DNC hiring someone who’s trying to elect a Republican?” grouses a Democratic source.
“What you hear when you ask is that Bill and Hillary do a lot for the Democratic Party and they’re enamored of Mark Penn – so [DNC chief] Terry McAuliffe had to hire him.”
McAuliffe’s DNC spokeswoman Maria Cardona said it’s actually Penn’s partner, Doug Schoen, who’s doing the work for Bloomberg, although Penn shares the profits. She said Penn has promised not to tell his partner anything he learned from DNC polls.
Aides to Clinton – normally among the most partisan Democrats – said she had no comment on the Penn firm’s work across party lines.
Penn didn’t return calls, but partner Schoen said it’s appropriate because Bloomberg is “a former Democrat and a longtime client of this firm.”
Bloomberg’s paid more than $1 million to Penn & Schoen and over $10 million to Knapp’s firm, although most of that were payments to TV stations to run ads.