Meg Whitman former eBay head honcho is running for Governor of California. She has held multiple town hall meeting around the state to promote her agenda. Obviously with such open forums tough questions arise from the audience.
At a recent town hall in Modesto, Whitman was asked a question, I can’t tell if it was from a reporter or audience member, in which she was asked – “Have you or any members of your family been arrested or run afoul of the law?”
Whitman immediately focuses in on herself, trying to make a joke by saying that she has had a “few traffic tickets.”
The crucial part of this story is that around the time the question was asked Whitman’s son Griff had been arrested for assaulting a woman at a bar. Whitman does not mention this.
So the PIO question of the day is –
- Did Whitman do a shrewd job of crisis communications spin by focusing on herself in a light hearted manner hoping to deflect answering the serious situation with her son? As the questioner asked “you or any member of your family?” Whitman was evasive, but was it intentional?
Also on The Fire PIO…
- Even the Walls have Ears – November 24, 2010
- How do I Address a Judge? – November 18, 2010
- A PIO Social Media Christmas – December 22, 2010
Posted by Connie Lewis
Group: U.S. Government Relations & Public Affairs
Subject: New comment (1) on “Dodging a Question? | The Fire PIO”
Looks to me like she missed a prime opportunity to control the information that WILL come out about her son being arrested for assaulting a woman in a bar. We’ve seen time and again politicians and electeds try to hide the truth–only to have it backfire and then made worse by the non-disclosure. While, possibly, Whitman could claim she misunderstood the question or didn’t hear the whole question, had she bridged to a ‘but my son…’ statement, she would come out on top of what now could be a very damaging situation for her campaign.
Posted by Kalen Arreola
Group: U.S. Government Relations & Public Affairs
Subject: New comment (2) on “Dodging a Question? | The Fire PIO”
Only two ways you can look at this – either she didn’t hear the question or pay attention to the question – or she evaded giving an answer. Given her background, I would say that she dodged. I think that spending a fortune on the primaries shows her true colors on its own. She could have chosen to handle her campaign in a different way versus launching a massive PR campaign before her opponents even shot out of the gate.
Any perceived lack of candor or transperancy will usually come back to haunt you, especially in the digital age. There are now too many ways for the information you are hiding or don’t want to talk about to leak out. There are too many platforms for those who want to broadcast the “truth” to do so.
Address it completely and get it behind you or you will likely be dealing with it for a long time.
Dave