Another Torrent BP Works to Stem: Its C.E.O.

Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

As this is being posted, BP is attempting yet another cap of the oil well that has spawned a potentially planetary disaster, but obviously a national one. Yet according to CNN Anderson Cooper 360, while this tragedy continues to unfold, BP is spending millions of dollars crafting its image via advertisements/PR and hiring more lobbyists. Along these lines, see the below articles.

The New York Times

By JAD MOUAWAD and CLIFFORD KRAUSS

Published: June 3, 2010

Excerpt:

..."The company has enlisted the help of the Brunswick Group, a public relations and crisis management firm, to deal with the accident. It has dedicated the home page of its Web site, BP.com, to the crisis and taken out full-page advertisements in major newspapers.

BP has also hired a new head of media relations in the United States, Anne Womack Kolton, who worked at Brunswick and is a former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney and Energy Department spokeswoman.

In Washington, BP has become a toxic political symbol that is a target on all fronts, even as it is seeking to work with the government get out of its current predicament.

Before the spill, BP had maintained a low profile in Washington relative to other companies, with its lobbying work and political contributions usually trailing other oil-and-gas giants like Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Conoco Phillips. Unlike many other companies with federal interests, BP kept most of its lobbying work in-house, although it had retained several prominent Washington lobbyists, including Ken Duberstein and Tony Podesta, to make its case on issues including tax incentives for gas production and climate control regulations." More>>>>

And the following excerpt:

For new ad campaign, BP looks outside Madison Avenue

Posted: June 3rd, 2010 06:42 PM ET

From CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash

..."Even before the oil spill, BP had beefed up its Washington presence, spending more than $3.5 million in the first three months of this year on lobbying, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.

The lobbying firms working for BP are among the most influential in Washington, including the Podesta Group (headed by Tony Podesta, one of Washington's top lobbyists and the brother of former Clinton Chief of Staff John Podesta) and the Duberstein Group (headed by former Reagan Chief of Staff Ken Duberstein). They were originally hired to represent BP's interests as major energy and financial legislation moves through Congress.

However, sources involved in BP's lobbying efforts, say that since the April 20 oil rig explosion, the lobbying firms have had an all-hands-on-deck approach in trying to help BP deal with the myriad of congressional inquiries." More>>>>