Mark Penn stopped riding two horses today - he was forced to step down as Hillary Clinton’s chief strategist. He continues as CEO of Burson-Marsteller. Seems he stopped in on a client meeting with the Government of Colombia - who hired B-M to promote the country (and a Free Trade Agreement that Hillary opposed).

So it wasn’t appropriate for Clinton’s strategist to attend THAT meeting. But no one’s raised the issue of Penn acting as CEO of a global PR firm while dedicating himself to the Clinton campaign. How much was Camp Hillary reimbursing B-M for those services?

The departure comes at an awful time for Hillary. She’s falling in the polls. She didn’t dodge sniper fire in Bosnia. She’d also called for healthcare reform referencing the case of a woman who died in childbirth in Ohio because she didn’t have healthcare coverage. Ooops - girl is fine, baby is fine and both had private healthcare cover.

Penn definitely brought immense depth to the Hillary campaign. He’s a top strategist who authored “Micro Trends”.

But running a global PR firm and leading a presidential campaign was bound to end in conflict of interest. That said it makes it easier for companies aligned with the Republican Party. They’re free to chose anyone but B-M - no conflict!