Stop the Presses

Before Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was published in 1906, unsanitary and filth-infested meat packing was standard operating procedure. After the best-selling book, a repulsed nation made the meat packing industry a public target. The Food & Drug Administration was created. And the meat packing industry knew that they could never go back to the way they used to do things.

The release of The Jungle proved to be the meat packing industry’s ‘tipping point’–the point when prior behavior is no longer standard, but instead, incriminating. A similar tipping point has just been reached by those government contract firms providing goods and services for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

As a nation prepares for war, anyone who willingly volunteers to help fight that war–even as a private government contractor–is often viewed as a patriot and a hero, a defender of freedom. But if that war becomes unpopular, people naturally begin looking for villains to blame. And nothing says ‘villain’ more boldly than a government contractor accused of being a war profiteer.

Especially if one of those contractors has charged the government their equivalent of a million dollars to ship two washers.

Companies involved in government war contracting–especially those newer companies that exist in a market with multiple competitors–must be aware that now is time to bring together your crisis team: legal counsel, public relations and government relations professionals. Now is also the time to establish privilege with your outside counsel. Figuratively wrapping your company in the American flag works when the war is supported by the majority; but when the tide turns, old messages no longer have the same effect.

There are around 80 current investigations into allegations of contract fraud, with more than 20 cases having been referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution. And we can only imagine that number will grow. With that in mind, it is key that government contracting companies work with legal and communications counsel now to perform internal discovery so that they understand if and to what extent wrong-doing may exist. Behavior that wouldn’t have raised an eyebrow three years ago will raise investigators’ blood pressure today. Government investigators are actively looking for contractors who can become ‘message cases’– companies whose wrongdoings cut through all of the noise and, tragically, tell the story in a way the public can easily digest.

You must work with your crisis team to determine your risks. If you do find the proverbial million dollar shipping bill lurking in your e-mails, financial records or safety information, your legal, government relations and media relations team should work together to determine the best strategy for self-reporting–one that will satisfy any legal requirement while salvaging the company and the brand as much as possible.

Today, I want to take a moment to provide some analysis on recent public apologies that fall on opposing edges of the apology spectrum.

On the ‘waited too long’ end of the spectrum we have pro football player Michael Vick–nearly three months elapsed from the time that he was accused of illegal dog fighting until the time he actually issued an apology. And when he finally did apologize–virtually everyone saw it as too little too late. While he can recover, it scores low on the courage and integrity scale.

And on the ‘apologized too soon’ end of the spectrum we have Senator Larry Craig, who was in such a hurry to issue his apology that he apparently bypassed legal and crisis communications counsel, his chief of staff, and good sense in general, and rather than just apologize, he pled guilty.

Consider this: Senator Craig was so mortified of the charges being brought against him that he didn’t seek the advice of an attorney, crisis communications counsel, staff, family or friends. He went it alone to try and keep it quiet, acting as if this were the political environment of the early 1970’s, where members of Congress could count on a Las Vegas ‘what happens here, stays here’ approach to Congressional misdeeds. In accepting the plea for disorderly conduct, rather than fighting the charges levied against him, he also accepted responsibility, and guilt. And in doing this, he tied his own hands–when the charges were brought to light, claiming innocence was not a viable option. Had he met with legal and communications counsel–or anyone not overwhelmed by the moment–he would have been aware of that.

Adding to all of this is the oddity of Craig’s vehement public statement: ‘I am not gay. I have never been gay.‘ It’s like Craig was accused of fumbling in a football game and claimed, ‘I did not strike out.’ One has nothing to do with the other. Craig was being charged with inappropriately soliciting sex, not with explaining the nature of his sexual leanings. If a married man inappropriately pursues sex with a strange woman, upon finding out that she was a vice officer, would he suddenly claim, ‘But I’m not heterosexual!’

In Vick’s case, an apology should have been heartfelt and immediate. In Craig’s case, the Senator should have understood that the case against him was so subjective that loudly and vehemently denying any charges was the only way to save his legacy.

And the story continues. The NFL mulls over whether Vick should be allowed to ever play the sport again. Craig resigns, and the Republican Party breathes a sigh of relief, feeling that now they’ll have a better chance of preserving his seat in heavily Republican Idaho.

Hindsight is certainly 20/20, but perhaps these two situations help build the case for learning from others’ mistakes by seeking counsel– both legal and communications–prior to actually needing them. Make sure you have a legal and crisis communications team now, before you need it, and that trust amongst your team members is high. Looking for a the right crisis communications and legal team from outside of a bathroom stall or police station is likely not going to be the best time to get to this task.