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Road to political redemption easier for local figures
By K. Burnell Evans, The Daily Progress – 11/17/2012
Good news for embattled Albemarle County Supervisor Christopher J. Dumler:
In the wake of scandal, voters are more likely to forgive a local politician than they are a national figure, image consultants say.
In the case of local figures, “there are attachments there that are very personal ... there’s an intimacy there, there’s a personal investment, and that’s not as true on a national level,” said Eric Dezenhall, a 30-year veteran of crisis communications and the founder of the Washington-based high stakes consultancy firm Dezenhall Resources Ltd.
A rising star in the local Democratic Party and the youngest supervisor in county history, Dumler was arrested last month on a forcible sodomy charge. He denies the charge. State or national figures in his circumstances likely would suffer a “death from a thousand cuts” at the hands of talk show hosts and newscasters, Dezenhall said.
Ex-CIA Director David Petraeus spared himself from that fate when he resigned from office last week following the revelation of his affair with biographer, Paula Broadwell, said Brian Kirwin, a political consultant with Rourk Public Relations in Virginia Beach.
“There’s a whole giant echo chamber on the national level that’s just not there for local politics,” Kirwin said. “In the industry, how bad a scandal is is measured by how long it lasts. That would have lasted.”
Although public relations experts say there is no universal playbook for crisis management, they have the same advice for public figures operating on any level and fighting any allegation: Be honest, be direct and be consistent.
“In the absence of facts, you get a lot of people out there just making up stories,” said Marijean Jaggers of Jaggers Communications in Charlottesville. “That [misinformation] moves very quickly, especially through social media.”
Technology has been a game-changer in the way firms manage and process a message. It has also helped perpetuate myths about what clients can expect from crisis managers.
“It’s Hollywood stuff — popular culture has developed a mystical belief in the power of spin,” Dezenhall said. “Clients don’t just want their life back, they want their life back at its theoretical peak.”
The most challenging part of high-stakes communications is managing expectations, he said.
“People come in here and say they want to get ahead of the story and there’s no such thing,” he said. “It’s one of those things that people who have never been in a world-class firestorm say [and] it’s ridiculous.”
Whether or not public figures “survive” the story depends on what the story is and whether it’s true. When the story includes a national figure the calculus becomes trickier.
“On a national level, collateral damage comes into play,” Kirwin said. “There would be many more people affected and if they didn’t believe the person was innocent, there would be increased pressure to resign.”
One truth in the nebulous case-by-case world of crisis management: If you’re guilty, don’t fight it.
And another: Politicians do not throw in the towel unless their backs are unequivocally against the wall.
“It’s very hard to say what the point of no return is,” Kirwin said. “Frequently an inner circle of close family friends and supporters will lay it out for them.”
And one more: The American people are open to redemption.
“I think there is a tremendous capacity for forgiveness in the American public, especially when a flawed leader can overcome their flaws,” said Bob Gibson, executive director of the Sorenson Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia.
Gibson pointed to the reemergence of former President Bill Clinton, who was impeached by Congress after admitting to lying under oath about a sexual encounter with a White House intern.
“People get seriously disappointed when these political figures let them down — it’s like a betrayal,” he said. “But these people who massively disappointed their supporters can be returned to a level of respect.”
Still, consultants maintain that recovery — although possible — is never guaranteed.
If Dumler is exonerated, the question won’t be how soon he can get his life back, but how much of it he’ll regain, Dezenhall said.
“This is not something that people will ever feel good about,” he said. “They may feel less bad about it, but they will never feel good about it.”
Dumler spokeswoman Susan Payne of Payne, Ross & Associates did not respond to requests for comment.
Contact for political reporters
Brian Kirwin, political consultant
(757) 718-3225
brian@rourkpr.com
About our political consulting firm
Brian Kirwin of the Rourk Public Relations agency is a top Republican political consultant, image consultant and crisis manager in Virginia. Kirwin and the agency's PR experts also provide crisis communications and crisis management for political incumbents and challengers in
Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Hampton, Newport News, Hampton Roads and throughout Virginia.
