Apple Inc (AAPL): OT: more on Joe Trippi's departure ......

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langostino

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Friday, 01/30/2004 12:09:09 AM

Friday, January 30, 2004 12:09:09 AM

OT: more on Joe Trippi's departure ...

For those Dean supporters feeling like Joe Trippi got a raw deal, I wouldn't be feeling too sorry for him. He walked off with an obscene bankfull of cash from the "little guys" he used the internet to suck in.

Most Dean supporters are largely ignorant of the inner workings of campaigns and thus are unaware of the game. While conflicts of interest are growing in the modern era, there may never have been one as thoroughly corrupt as Joe Trippi's. At this point, Dean supporters must be wondering where the heck that $45 million wandered off too. Answer: the lionshare went to Catapult Strategies and Trippi, McMahon & Squier.

That's right, as Campaign Director, Trippi directed that $45 million. Whom did he hire for communications strategy, ad development, etc., etc.? Two firms: Catapult Strategies and Trippi, McMahon & Squier. Yes, Joe Trippi is a principal owner of both. He had the campaign hire his private businesses.
http://www.getcatapult.com/index.html
http://www.tmsnewmedia.com/clips.html

In an honest bidding process, would either of these firms have been able to win the business of a major Presidential campaign? Not a chance. Not even close. (Look at the lightweight nature and extremely short length of their client lists and the amateurish quality of their work). Most charitably, they could be described as minor league. Bottom line: Trippi sold out Dean, the Dean supporters and donors, and saddled them second rate products so he could line his own pockets.

If you knew how the political t.v. ad business works in detail, I can provide some of that too -- but suffice it to say it only gets uglier.

The Dean camp didn't just pull their ads for the Feb 3 states because they finally began to check up on their effectiveness and found Trippi had been covering up their poor uptake rates, but because the deals Trippi cut on behalf of the campaign with his own firms essentially sold the campaign up a river and grossly overpaid the firms (read: himself).

If you are a Dean fan, and especially if you are a Dean contributor, this might be painful to see all t.v. ads pulled temporarily while new deals can be put in place, but it sure beats having Joe Trippi make off with any more of your money than he already has. Especially now that it's in such short supply.