Wal-Mart hires PR wiz for new post
Wal-Mart hires PR wiz for new post
BY LYNDA EDWARDS
Posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Leslie Dach, a top public relations executive who used political savvy and paid bloggers to battle Wal-Mart Stores Inc. ’s critics, will become one of the retailer’s new executives, reporting directly to Chief Executive H. Lee Scott.
The world’s biggest retailer felt the need for a media master after being bombarded by criticism from Washingtonbased WakeUpWal-Mart. com and Wal-MartWatch. com.
Both union-supported groups were founded last year. They criticized Wal-Mart’s treatment of workers, wages and employee health insurance policies. The groups use Web sites, leaked documents and chat rooms to win public support and political influence.
Wal-Mart said Monday that Dach’s title will be executive vice president of corporate affairs and government relations. Wal-Mart has 18 other executive vice presidents. Dach’s responsibilities will include overseeing Wal-Mart media and government relations and the Wal-Mart Foundation, the largest corporate foundation in the United States.
“This is a new job; we have never had an executive vice president over corporate affairs or anyone in corporate affairs reporting directly to Lee Scott,” Wal-Mart spokesman Sarah Clark said.
Wal-Mart has responded to critics by introducing catastrophic health insurance costing workers as little as $ 11 per month. Scott also announced an environmental initiative to make Wal-Mart greener and cleaner. Dach helped orchestrate media coverage of both.
Dach, 52, will begin his job in late August and comes armed with powerful political contacts.
He is the former communications director of the Dukakis for President Committee and worked on both of Bill Clinton’s presidential campaigns. While working for Edelman, a global public relations firm, he helped the Democrats craft a response to the Republican convention in 2004. At Edelman, Dach worked with a man who helped shape President Ronald Reagan’s image and message, Michael Deaver.
“Leslie has been a part of our transformation over the last year,” Scott said in a statement. “He brings new perspective, diverse talents and tremendous expertise to his role as a member of our strategic and executive teams. I look forward to his continued involvement as we transform our business for the future.”
In Wal-Mart’s Bentonville headquarters, Dach created a war room of public relations tacticians charged with combating Wal-Mart’s cyber-savvy critics. The war room monitored what critics were saying and countered with their own press releases.
Dach was criticized for recruiting bloggers such as Mike Krempasky, co-founder of Red-State. com. Krempasky’s political blog site savaged many Democrats and wrongly claimed former U. S. Sen. Max Cleland, DGa., a Silver Star winner who lost three limbs in the Vietnam War, was not a war hero.
“We have many voices among our bloggers, bipartisan voices across the political spectrum,” Dach said Monday by phone from Washington.
When asked what he felt was the most successful element of his Wal-Mart media campaign, Dach cited Wal-Mart’s work with nongovernmental organizations and policymakers to find solutions to health-care and environmental crises as having the biggest impact on public opinion.
Dach serves on the National Audubon Society’s board of directors. His team worked on press coverage of former Vice President Al Gore’s visit to Wal-Mart’s headquarters this month. Gore showed his global warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, and spoke to the audience.
“I’m always looking at ways retailers get their message to consumers,” Dach said. “I think retailers will start using mobile instruments, cell phones, as a new way to reach out.”
Dach declined to say whether his new job will prompt a restructuring of Wal-Mart’s public relations staff members, known as the reputation management department.
“Today’s announcement isn’t surprising, given the huge amount of time and money Wal-Mart spends on Edelman damage control,” Wal-Mart Watch spokesman Nu Wexler said. “Their choice of yet another public relations executive to head up a major department makes us question the true intentions of Wal-Mart’s purported transformation.”
Clinton White House Chief of Staff Thomas “Mack” McLarty III has a rosier view. His Washington firm, Kissinger McLarty Associates, briefs Wal-Mart about political and economic conditions in nations where Wal-Mart operates. McLarty, who still has a house in Little Rock, hosted a dinner in his Washington home last July for Scott and some prominent Democrats. Scott assured the guests that Wal-Mart is not a partisan GOP corporation.
“There were no current office holders at the dinner so we didn’t have the dynamic of an office holder dealing with pending legislation,” McLarty said.
He said guests were impressed by Wal-Mart’s job creation and record of promoting leaders from the ranks of clerks. McLarty sees similarities between Wal-Mart’s lower-income core customers and voters comprising the Democratic base.
“Leslie [Dach ] is a man of integrity who reaches across party lines,” McLarty said. “He can make sure everyone’s on the same team even if they’re marching to different drummers.”
Democratic strategist and Washington public relations firm owner Tony Podesta worked with Dach on several political campaigns. He believes Wal-Mart will offer Dach a new form of political clout.
“I was shocked he’s leaving Edelman because he had exciting work there,” Podesta said. “But Wal-Mart is not an arm of the Republican National Committee. Probably more Democrats than Republicans work for Wal-Mart. Democrats should be thrilled Leslie is in Wal-Mart’s halls as Lee Scott’s counselor.”
Copyright © 2001-2006 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved.
BY LYNDA EDWARDS
Posted on Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Leslie Dach, a top public relations executive who used political savvy and paid bloggers to battle Wal-Mart Stores Inc. ’s critics, will become one of the retailer’s new executives, reporting directly to Chief Executive H. Lee Scott.
The world’s biggest retailer felt the need for a media master after being bombarded by criticism from Washingtonbased WakeUpWal-Mart. com and Wal-MartWatch. com.
Both union-supported groups were founded last year. They criticized Wal-Mart’s treatment of workers, wages and employee health insurance policies. The groups use Web sites, leaked documents and chat rooms to win public support and political influence.
Wal-Mart said Monday that Dach’s title will be executive vice president of corporate affairs and government relations. Wal-Mart has 18 other executive vice presidents. Dach’s responsibilities will include overseeing Wal-Mart media and government relations and the Wal-Mart Foundation, the largest corporate foundation in the United States.
“This is a new job; we have never had an executive vice president over corporate affairs or anyone in corporate affairs reporting directly to Lee Scott,” Wal-Mart spokesman Sarah Clark said.
Wal-Mart has responded to critics by introducing catastrophic health insurance costing workers as little as $ 11 per month. Scott also announced an environmental initiative to make Wal-Mart greener and cleaner. Dach helped orchestrate media coverage of both.
Dach, 52, will begin his job in late August and comes armed with powerful political contacts.
He is the former communications director of the Dukakis for President Committee and worked on both of Bill Clinton’s presidential campaigns. While working for Edelman, a global public relations firm, he helped the Democrats craft a response to the Republican convention in 2004. At Edelman, Dach worked with a man who helped shape President Ronald Reagan’s image and message, Michael Deaver.
“Leslie has been a part of our transformation over the last year,” Scott said in a statement. “He brings new perspective, diverse talents and tremendous expertise to his role as a member of our strategic and executive teams. I look forward to his continued involvement as we transform our business for the future.”
In Wal-Mart’s Bentonville headquarters, Dach created a war room of public relations tacticians charged with combating Wal-Mart’s cyber-savvy critics. The war room monitored what critics were saying and countered with their own press releases.
Dach was criticized for recruiting bloggers such as Mike Krempasky, co-founder of Red-State. com. Krempasky’s political blog site savaged many Democrats and wrongly claimed former U. S. Sen. Max Cleland, DGa., a Silver Star winner who lost three limbs in the Vietnam War, was not a war hero.
“We have many voices among our bloggers, bipartisan voices across the political spectrum,” Dach said Monday by phone from Washington.
When asked what he felt was the most successful element of his Wal-Mart media campaign, Dach cited Wal-Mart’s work with nongovernmental organizations and policymakers to find solutions to health-care and environmental crises as having the biggest impact on public opinion.
Dach serves on the National Audubon Society’s board of directors. His team worked on press coverage of former Vice President Al Gore’s visit to Wal-Mart’s headquarters this month. Gore showed his global warming documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, and spoke to the audience.
“I’m always looking at ways retailers get their message to consumers,” Dach said. “I think retailers will start using mobile instruments, cell phones, as a new way to reach out.”
Dach declined to say whether his new job will prompt a restructuring of Wal-Mart’s public relations staff members, known as the reputation management department.
“Today’s announcement isn’t surprising, given the huge amount of time and money Wal-Mart spends on Edelman damage control,” Wal-Mart Watch spokesman Nu Wexler said. “Their choice of yet another public relations executive to head up a major department makes us question the true intentions of Wal-Mart’s purported transformation.”
Clinton White House Chief of Staff Thomas “Mack” McLarty III has a rosier view. His Washington firm, Kissinger McLarty Associates, briefs Wal-Mart about political and economic conditions in nations where Wal-Mart operates. McLarty, who still has a house in Little Rock, hosted a dinner in his Washington home last July for Scott and some prominent Democrats. Scott assured the guests that Wal-Mart is not a partisan GOP corporation.
“There were no current office holders at the dinner so we didn’t have the dynamic of an office holder dealing with pending legislation,” McLarty said.
He said guests were impressed by Wal-Mart’s job creation and record of promoting leaders from the ranks of clerks. McLarty sees similarities between Wal-Mart’s lower-income core customers and voters comprising the Democratic base.
“Leslie [Dach ] is a man of integrity who reaches across party lines,” McLarty said. “He can make sure everyone’s on the same team even if they’re marching to different drummers.”
Democratic strategist and Washington public relations firm owner Tony Podesta worked with Dach on several political campaigns. He believes Wal-Mart will offer Dach a new form of political clout.
“I was shocked he’s leaving Edelman because he had exciting work there,” Podesta said. “But Wal-Mart is not an arm of the Republican National Committee. Probably more Democrats than Republicans work for Wal-Mart. Democrats should be thrilled Leslie is in Wal-Mart’s halls as Lee Scott’s counselor.”
Copyright © 2001-2006 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved.
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