During March, two dramatic press conferences were held — one in
Albany, NY and one in Raleigh, NC. I’m sure all of you heard about
the former, while only North Carolinians probably heard about the
latter. But there are important lessons to be learned from both.

FORMER NEW YORK GOVERNOR ELIOT SPITZER

First came the revelation of sordid details about the Governor’s
consorting with highly paid prostitutes and arranging for at least
one of them to be illegally transported over state lines for a
tryst. How totally embarrassing and humiliating for himself and
his wife, who stood stoically by his side! Having built his career
on the image of “Mr. Clean,” prosecuting those who broke the law –
with particular attention on prostitution rings — he had to admit
to being a huge hypocrite. It was the hypocrisy that made it
headline news and the subject matter of the late night comedians’
jokes. So the first lesson is my oft-repeated statement in our
workshops: First you have to DO the right thing before you can SAY
the right thing.

At the podium, he did look somewhat contrite. But, as I listened,
he still did not sound sincerely apologetic. He said he had
disappointed himself, his family, and the citizens of NY
(noticeably putting himself first). He even started off his
statement calling attention to the things he had done right in his
public life. And, apparently not sure at that point whether or not
he would be forced to resign, he did not mention his plans in that
regard. It left me wondering if he was just arrogant enough to
think he might somehow get away with it.

None of these things — hypocrisy, arrogance, and thinking you are
above the law — are going to leave people with a good taste in
their mouths when your press conference is over.

CURRENT NORTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR MIKE EASLEY

Back in 2001, North Carolina’s General Assembly passed legislation
intended to decentralize and privatize the care of the mentally
ill. These ill-advised “reforms” led to horrible and widespread
instances of patients being poorly cared for (even abused), some
private agencies becoming very wealthy, and the taxpayers footing a
tremendous bill.

Over a period of several weeks in February, the Raleigh News and
Observer had run a series of articles that exposed all of this.
While the series ran, the Governor steadfastly refused to provide
his comments. Finally, with the pressure building to a crescendo,
he agreed to hold a press conference on March 4th.

I wish you could see the videotape of this debacle. The Governor
and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services
took to the podium and laid down the ground rules for the press
conference — not a bad idea. Among them, the conference would
last for an hour and each reporter would be allowed just one
question. Then they proceeded to make comments for 47 minutes.
When they finally opened up the floor for 13 minutes of questions,
when a reporter attempted to ask a follow-up question, the Governor
haughtily dressed him down, saying he would not “reward bad
behavior.”

When another reporter questioned the Governor’s assertion that he
had “adamantly opposed the reform measure when they were proposed,”
the Governor could supply absolutely no documentation to support
that claim. (None surfaced later either.) With this aura of
confrontation so evident, it is no wonder that one of the
photographs that landed on the newspaper’s front page article and
on their website showed the Governor standing off to the side with
an expression of absolute fear on his face while the Secretary had
very obvious beads of sweat standing out on his forehead and upper
lip.

At the end of the hour, the Governor and the Secretary beat a hasty
retreat. To top it all off, in order to avoid any additional
questions, the Governor sent a decoy out to his official car in the
front while he slipped out the back! Talk about looking like you
have something to hide!

I was one of three public relations/crisis management professionals
called by the newspaper to provide an assessment of how well I
thought the Governor did in this press conference. We all agreed
it was a terrible performance.

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN DONE BETTER?

First there is the fact that it would certainly have been much
better to avoid these crises. Mr. Spitzer shouldn’t have broken
the law. His was not a case of a momentary weakness. He had to
engage in a great deal of pre-planning to arrange for the money
transfers and the transportation of the woman to Washington, D.C.
And Governor Easley should have (1) fought harder against the
“reforms” when first proposed and (2) overseen the new system much
better so he could have caught the problems before they escalated
to crisis proportions. First, DO the right thing. Prevent the
crisis.

Given the fact that they had to hold those press conferences, there
are some things they could have done to improve the outcome. Mr.
Spitzer could have foregone patting himself on the back and gone
right to the sincere apology to his family and the citizens of New
York. He could have indicated right away that he would step down
and that he would be taking steps immediately to make a smooth
transition to the Lt. Governor.

And Mr. Easley should have been better prepared for what he knew was
going to be a tough press conference. He should have worked ahead
of time to put himself through his paces, holding mock interviews
with staff members throwing tough questions at him. He should have
made his (and his Secretary’s) introductory remarks brief and to
the point, without making any broad statements which he was not
prepared to back up. He should not have tried to muzzle the
reporters. It’s not a bad idea to set some ground rules, but it’s
never a good idea to get confrontational with them. And ducking
and hiding at the end just made him look afraid and foolish.

Press conferences in difficult situations are never fun. But you
don’t have to do things that make them even worse than they need to
be.

# # #

NOTE: There has been a slight delay in getting the 2008 new
edition of “Keeping Cool on the Hot Seat: Dealing Effectively with
the Media in Times of Crisis” published. For those of you who
already ordered it at the pre-publication price of $15.95 (plus
shipping),it should be here early next week and will be sent off to
you ASAP.

For the rest of you, it means there is still time to let me know
you want to take advantage of this offer. Just e-mail me at
jchent@earthlink.net and let me know you want one.

Until next month….KEEP COOL!

Judy Hoffman
jchent@earthlink.net
www.judyhoffman.com
1-800-848-3907 PIN 2145

JCH Enterprises, 116 Nelson Lane, Clayton, NC 27527, USA