Leak sinks Matt's PR efforts (Big Dig/Swift Boat/John Kerry/GOP/Mitt linkages?)

WASHINGTON - Embattled Massachusetts Turnpike Authority chief Matthew Amorello has hired the high-powered GOP public relations team that guided the controversial Swift Boat Veterans For Truth's assault on Sen. John F. Kerry's presidential bid to quell the raging Big Dig leak scandal.

The Turnpike Authority last month retained Alexandria, Va.-based Creative Response Concepts for a three-month ``interim'' deal worth $75,000, officials confirmed.

After the Herald inquired about the firm's work and Bay State congressmen complained, Turnpike officials indicated they would cut the company loose - but sources said the firm was still expected to be paid.

``The firm came highly recommended, and its broad client base simply wasn't a factor,'' Turnpike spokesman Doug Hanchett said when initially asked about the contract.

But last night, Hanchett said, ``Their work has been completed. We don't need them any more.'' He refused to go into further details.

``This is just the latest breathtakingly stupid decision by the Republicans in charge of the Big Dig,'' Kerry spokesman David Wade said. ``Will the taxpayers get a refund?''

The former spokesman for the swift boat group, Michael Russell, a Creative Response vice president, is working directly with the Turnpike communications staff.

Creative Response, run by veteran conservative Republican political operatives, handled public relations for the swift boat group's $25 million campaign to vilify Kerry's war record.

Turnpike officials yesterday defended the firm's hiring because of ``intense national interest'' in the leak story that broke in early November - and initially downplayed any suggestion of controversy.

The hiring of the GOP PR firm came as Gov. Mitt Romney [related, bio] demanded Amorello's resignation.

Creative Response, with ties to the Republican National Committee and conservative groups such as the Christian Coalition, handled public relations for Swift Boat Veterans For Truth - whose TV attack ads accusing Kerry of lying to earn his combat medals helped sink his presidential bid.cw2

Creative Response also helped publicize the bestselling anti-Kerry book ``Unfit for Duty.'' Outraged Democrats branded the charges as a vicious smear campaign, but many believe Kerry's loss was due in part to his sluggish response to the charges.

A source close to Big Dig management, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, ``This was a bone-headed move, pure and simple. A red flag should have gone up somewhere along the line.''

Here's some more info from the Globe

A spokesman for the authority last night said the agency had decided that it no longer needed the services of Creative Response Concepts and its senior vice president Mike Russell, after just three weeks on the job. Russell handled the firm's work for the swift boat veterans, whose multimillion-dollar ad blitz in battleground states was a key element in undercutting Kerry's candidacy.
In a statement that reflects the deep bitterness about the swift boat group's tactics, a Kerry spokesman blasted the decision to hire Russell and his firm, calling it ''just the latest breathtakingly stupid decision by the Republicans in charge of the Big Dig."
''Do they have so little respect for Massachusetts taxpayers that they believe the answer to years of waste, fraud, and abuse is to lavish more taxpayer money on a discredited partisan hack to spin the Big Dig?" said David Wade, Kerry's press aide, after the news circulated that the firm had lost the contract. ''Will the taxpayers get a refund? Add this to the list of serious questions Matt Amorello must answer before the only reasonable verdict is that, like Mike Russell, he doesn't have a shred of credibility left."
Last night, Russell responded sharply.
''I'm sorry the Kerry campaign is coming unglued over this, but the bottom line is the election is over," he said. He noted that his firm was hired to do a specific job, and said, ''There was no political motivation in the hiring of CRC, nor was there any political motivation in our efforts to get the word out about this terrific project."

So basically the big hoopla is the Dems whining about this PR firm being used.

They will probably succeed. They appointed a Judge-'lawyer' who
claims he went to Harvard Law school, but his record shows only
summer courses. [Harvard motto = Veritas]
Such judicial resume-fraud, in Massachusetts and other Democrat-controlled states, portends 'judge control'
which is quite useful for the contractors, litigants and
especially those that appointed the 'Harvard'-lawyer Judge.

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