Potomac Flacks: Foley, NRCC Flacks Held Damage Control Call Two Days Before Story Broke

November 06, 2006

Foley, NRCC Flacks Held Damage Control Call Two Days Before Story Broke

Markfoley_1 NY Daily News' Ben Smith reports that ex-Rep. Mark Foley's spokesguy Jason Kello and NRCC spokesguy Carl Forti participated in a damage-control planning call a full two days before the story broke on Friday, Sept. 29:

NRCC Communications Director Carl Forti and Reynolds' then-Chief of Staff Kirk Fordham took part in the first call the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 27, and another call the next day, Forti acknowledged yesterday.

ABC News approached the Foley campaign on Tuesday, Sept. 26, with a set of e-mails in which Foley asked a former page for his photograph.

The conference call the next evening, described by a Capitol Hill staffer familiar with the talks as focused on "damage control," also included Foley's Florida-based political consultant, Richard Johnston, and his communications director, Jason Kello, according to two people familiar with the call.

Posted by Matt Mackowiak on November 6, 2006 in Capitol Hill , Crisis Comms | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

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Matt Mackowiak is a Washington, D.C. and Austin,TX-based Republican strategist and communications consultant and President of Potomac Strategy Group, LLC. In his career he has managed a winning Congressional campaign and worked in the U.S. Senate, at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, at a leading international PR firm, on a presidential campaign in Iowa and in White House presidential advance. Follow him on Twitter - @MattMackowiak

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