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BP [7], now officially responsible for the worst oil spill disaster in U.S. history, has hired former Vice President Dick Cheney [8]'s campaign press secretary, Anne Womack-Kolton, to head its American public relations efforts. Womack is a former employee of the PR firm APCO Worldwide [9], perhaps best known for its work on behalf of the tobacco industry [10]. In 1995, Philip Morris [11] hired APCO to orchestrate a massive national "tort reform [12]" movement, and in 1993, PM hired APCO to organize the front group [13] The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition [14] to attack the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [15] after it rated secondhand smoke [16] a Group A Human Carcinogen, the same rating the agency gives asbestos and radon gas. Womack also served as a White House spokesperson [17], defending Bush's White House Office Of Faith-Based Initiatives. In announcing Womack-Kolton's hiring, BP only mentioned that she had been director of public affairs for the Department of Energy (DOE) under George W. Bush, but a DOE press release [18] boasts about her links to Cheney.
Links:
[1] http://dev.prwatch.org/users/5684/anne-landman
[2] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/corporations/corporate-campaigns
[3] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/energy
[4] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/environment
[5] http://dev.prwatch.org/topics/public-relations
[6] http://www.addtoany.com/share_save?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fdev.prwatch.org%2Fspin%2F2010%2F06%2F9109%2Fbp-hires-dick-cheneys-former-campaign-press-secretary&linkname=BP%20Hires%20Dick%20Cheney%27s%20Former%20Campaign%20Press%20Secretary%20
[7] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/BP
[8] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dick_Cheney
[9] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/APCO_Worldwide
[10] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/tobacco_industry
[11] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Philip_Morris
[12] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/tort_reform
[13] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/front_group
[14] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/The_Advancement_of_Sound_Science_Coalition
[15] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S._Environmental_Protection_Agency
[16] http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/secondhand_smoke
[17] http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0101/013001p1.htm
[18] http://www.energy.gov/news/archives/1576.htm
[19] http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/06/bp_hires_former_dick_cheney_spox_to_run_pr_ops.php